A demonstration of undergraduate students' first impressions and their ratings of pathology

An interactive team exercise based in the dual topic areas of social and abnormal psychology is described that employs videotaped case studies to sensitize students to the processes by which they form first impressions of other people, and to various issues regarding assessments of mental disorders. Each of three case studies is presented in two parts: Part I simulates a "first impression" condition--involving students' ratings of perceived pathology--by briefly showing only a patient (no soundtrack present), and Part 2 constitutes a "further disclosure" condition by giving more exposure-involving therapists' diagnoses and assessments-of the same patient with both sight and soundtrack presented. Data are reported from 12 introductory psychology classes in which students (N=367) rated the three patients on psychopathology as perceived severity of disorder as compared to the actual assessments (also contained on the videotapes) made by clinical psychologists and psychiatrists. The demonstration is useful in eliciting consistent and predictable first impressions from students, in stimulating classroom discussion about the value and accuracy of person perceptions and first impressions, and in alerting students to problems related to the identification of mental disorders.