IMPRESSION FORMATION AND ITS INFLUENCE ON SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP AMONG STUDENTS IN HARAMAYA UNIVERSITY

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the level of impression formation and its influence on social relationships among students at Haramaya University. A convergent/concurrent mixed research design was applied. And participants that were chosen using a stratified sampling strategy provided the data via survey questionnaire and interview. The quantitative data were analyzed by using mean, independent sample t-test, and multiple linear regression. The study revealed that impression formation takes place through physical and social features. In a such way, there is high level of impression formation through physical features of (M =3.8 SD = 0.624), as well as through social features (M=3.7, SD=0.547). The study also revealed that there is no statistically significant gender difference in impression formation (t (294) =1, p >0.001. And there was no statistically significant residents’ difference in impression formation (t (294) =-1.76, p >0.001. Furthermore, the result shows that impression formation based on physical features (B=0.78, t=1.23, p>0.05) and social features (B=0.39, t=0.54, p=0.58) have no significant impact on social relations among students. The study concluded that there was no statistically significant influence of impression formation based on both physical and social features on the social relationships of students. Thus, it is recommended that more study is needed to learn about impression formation in relation to social relationships