Read People Like a Book: How to Analyze, Understand, and Predict People’s Emotions, Thoughts, Intentions, and Behaviors

“actions speak louder than words”

Projection is a defense mechanism that can cause considerable damage and chaos if not understood for what it is. In this case, we place unwanted and unclaimed feelings onto someone or something else rather than seeing that they are a part of ourselves. We do not recognize our own “dark side” and project it onto others, blaming them for our shortcomings or seeing our flaws in their actions.

Even the least emotionally and socially intelligent people can learn something about other people if they engage with them long enough.

dark exists because of light

we look for patterns.

denial and rationalization.

So, to get a grip on any behavior, to understand it, predict it, or even influence it somehow, you need to understand what is fueling it, i.e., you need to understand what motivates a person

To understand why people behave as they do, we need to examine the causes and drivers of that behavior: their motivations.

body language, what they say (and what they don’t say!), their tone of voice, their attitude, the context in which you are both having a conversation . .

we need to make efforts to remain as objective as possible. We cannot always trust our first impulse. If you did the test above and scored only twenty-six out of thirty-six, then you could reasonably conclude that ten out of every thirty-six encounters would have you incorrectly interpreting someone’s facial expression.

If that’s the case, what else are you missing?

On the other hand, the look in someone’s eyes is just a tiny portion of the information you have to work with in any social situation. You have their posture and