One way we form impressions of others is to construct a Gestalt, a general sense of a person that’s either positive or negative. We discern a few traits, and, drawing upon information in our schemata, we arrive at a judgment based on these traits. The result is an impression of the person as a whole rather than as the sum of individual parts (Asch, 1946). For example, suppose you strike up a conversation with the person sitting next to you at lunch. The person is funny, friendly, and attractive—characteristics associated with positive information in your schemata. You immediately construct an overall positive impression (“I like this person!”) rather than spending additional time weighing the significance of his or her separate traits.

Gestalts form rapidly. This is one reason why people consider “first impressions” so consequential. Gestalts require relatively little mental or communicative effort. Thus, they’re useful for encounters in which we must render quick judgments about others with only limited information. Gestalts also are useful for interactions involving casual relationships (contacts with acquaintances or service providers) and contexts in which we are meeting and talking with a large number of people in a small amount of time (business conferences or parties). During such exchanges, it isn’t possible to carefully scrutinize every piece of information we perceive about others. Instead, we quickly form broad impressions and then mentally walk away from the interactions. But this also means that Gestalts have significant shortcomings.