When you first meet someone, say a colleague or a new acquaintance, it’s hard to judge their character straight away.
This can be difficult because most people try to present the most positive version of themselves when meeting new people in an attempt to make them more attractive to them and it’s only when you get to know them that you discover their faults.
So how do you know if it’s going to be worth the time and effort to speak to them?
Usually, you don’t, and it means people are wary of one another until they decide whether this relationship is going to be worth their time and effort.
Science may have the answer though as a new study claims one question will reveal insight into a person’s personality, and that is by asking them what they think about someone else.
Dustin Wood, a professor of psychology at Wake Forest University, previously said: “Your perceptions of others reveal so much about your personality. Seeing others positively reveals our positive traits.”
How positively you view other people can be a sign of how happy and content a person is in their own life and how much other people like them.
Those who are perhaps unhappy or unsatisfied with their life will be more likely to give a negative view of others.
As are those who have higher levels of narcissism and those prone to anti-social behavior, as they tend to be quite critical of their outlook.
Wood explained: “A huge suite of negative personality traits is associated with viewing others negatively. The simple tendency to see people negatively indicates a greater likelihood of depression and various personality disorders.”
Asking for someone’s opinion about someone else also gives you a good indication of how they view themselves.
People usually tend to pick up on traits that they recognize in themselves.
So it is worth bearing in mind that when someone describes others, they could be revealing parts of their personality.
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