Meeting a new person is always a lottery. Almost everyone tries to smile and appear friendly and helpful during the meeting. Which is right, because the first impression is extremely important. But you often want to understand what's behind that smile, to understand the stranger as quickly as possible. Psychologists say that just one question can help with this.

As OBOZREVATEL has learned, it will reflect a person's inner world like a mirror. It will show his or her attitude to the world and the environment, the way of thinking and perception.

To find out more about a stranger, just ask them to tell you what they think about a third party. According to the findings of researchers from the University of Nebraska, people tend to see in others the traits they have in themselves. Thus, a selfish person will definitely notice the selfishness of another person, while a kind person will notice someone else's gentleness and inner peace.

As part of a related experiment, scientists asked participants to evaluate the characteristics of other people, both positive and negative. It turned out that the higher the subjects rated third parties, the happier and more emotionally stable they were. Conversely, those who rated others negatively tended to be selfish and more antisocial.

The researchers emphasised that this behaviour does not mean that people with a negative outlook have a poor self-esteem. Similarly, people with personality disorders may notice hostile and evil intentions of others and not recognise such behaviour in themselves.

Another disturbing pattern discovered by scientists is that people who tend to see the bad in others are more prone to depression and other psychological disorders.

Earlier, OBOZREVATEL told how scientists explained the attraction of people to each other.

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