Upon meeting someone for the first time, be it in the workplace or at a causal gathering, we cannot know their personality traits straight away. This is why it takes time to get to know someone.
Most of the time this is a hard thing to uncover because the majority of people never show their true nature in the beginning. Most of us want to represent ourselves in the best light possible and therefore only let our positive traits shine.
This is probably due to the fact that we want to seem more attractive and likeable to others upon our first meeting, because as we have been told, first impressions tend to last. There is no second chance for first impressions.
We are often inclined to ask ourselves if the person we are dealing with is even worth our time, since we know so little about them. Thus, how can we determine if spending time with someone will have a fruitful outcome?
Unfortunately, there is no real way to find out at the very beginning, which means we must take the risk.
According to a new study led by the University of Nebraska, there is one specific question you can ask to reveal one’s complete personality, and that is what they think about someone else.
That’s right – asking someone to give you an opinion of another person may be just the thing you need to find out who they are.
Psychology Professor Dustin Wood from Wake Forest University stated that our perceptions of others, or how we view them, depends on how we view ourselves. Therefore, if we think positively of ourselves, this will also reflect how we see others.
Depending on how happy you are on your own will determine how others perceive your personality as well. If you think optimistically of yourself, this will reflect in your behavior and others will pick up the positive vibes.
The opposite is also true. If you are constantly putting yourself down and thinking negatively, this is how others will perceive you, as the vibes you send will be negative. People tend to stay away from such individuals.
Apart from the typical positive-negative outlooks, there are also extremes such as narcissism and self-absorbency. These type of people are mostly self-critical and hypocritical at the same time, which inflict negative emotions onto others.
Professor Wood illustrates:
We as individuals tend to mirror our emotions onto others and therefore can identify many traits within them that we contain. Oftentimes, when we discover something irritating in another person, it is usually a characteristic we dislike about ourselves.
Therefore, the next time you want to learn more about a person, listen to them speaking about someone else. They may in fact be describing themselves.
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A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.