The need to learn to understand people’s behavior most often occurs when you were proven wrong about others more than once. Since we are all more or less dependent on the people around us, understanding others’ behavior is one of the key life skills. How to develop it?

What is worth reading

Since the topic of today’s article is very general, I want to give some references to the theoretical material that will be useful.

First, be sure to read books on topics like body language, gestures, facial expressions that can say very, very much about the person.

If you do not mind a kind of stereotypical approach, you can also explore the physiognomy (judging character by facial features) and the psychology of temperaments.

3 Practical Strategies to Better Understand People’s Behavior

No matter how many books you may have read, without the practice, learning to understand people’s behavior is impossible. So you will need some practical experience. How to get it?

1. Develop and listen to your intuition

Very often, our inner voice tells us (mainly at the level of sensations or feelings) how we should treat a particular person.

Someone provokes in us a tingling on the back and a feeling of anxiety while other people immediately make us feel comfortable and confident. Or sometimes we just feel that “something is wrong about this person”.

Intuition tells us what we do not realize consciously but what is perceived and recognized on a subconscious level. Do not ignore the inner voice, because later, you will probably get a tangible confirmation of those vague feelings that warned you.

2. Train your mindfulness and concentration

Suppose that you have studied and even memorized the meaning of different body language signals. In order to apply this knowledge in practice, it is necessary to constantly stay focused on the object of your study.

After five minutes of talking to someone, it is easy to forget that you were going to watch and analyze the person you are talking to, so work on your ability to focus on the task at hand.

3. Make your conclusions in the appropriate situations

The proverb “a friend in need is a friend indeed” and the notion that a person can be known only in trouble or an emergency situation exists for a reason.

In usual circumstances, most of us follow certain patterns of behavior and wear a “protective” mask, pretending to be not what we are.

When one comes out of their comfort zone, it is very difficult to use this behavioral pattern, and only then you will see the ‘true face’ of the person.

To make a decision in such a situation, they will be following their own internal values, and you will understand what these values are and, therefore, what kind of person is in front of you.

Thus, one of the most effective ways to understand people’s behavior and personality is to watch them in difficult situations.


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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Ursula McIntosh

    Ok from my experience people do learnt behavior, the good behavior an the negative behavior. However we decide for self personally. So the way each person is trained is also a contributing factor with behavior. Are life experiences an true nature as well. How you feel eventually becomes your actions. I first hand have seen the luxury of association, that can play into it as well. An not to mention what level of society guidelines we fall under as well to blend in an not be to noticeable to the uninvited. So ask yourself who you are an choose to be because your the boss of you an can be whoever you want. As well as your behavior.

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