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Reading others

August 28, 2007   

I think everyone likes to think that they can read other people well. I am one such person. 😀 I just took a test linked from an article in the Scientic American that discusses the role of the ability to read other people:

We must understand “where others are coming from” not only to pursue our individual goals but also to facilitate social harmony more generally. Specifically, we need to recognize that other people can have thoughts, beliefs, desires and feelings that differ from our own — and that those thoughts, ideas, and desires can drive their behavior. This understanding in turn allows us to predict how others will behave.

As I love learning/thinking about people and why they behave the way they do, I naturally enjoyed this article quite a bit.

I also took the test that was linked, because, well, I love taking tests. 🙂

I scored a 29 out of a possible 36. I think they said the average was around 26 and that those with Asperger syndrome hover around 21. I wonder if there will be a correlation in results between this test and the one AngryChad posted from NewsWeek.

8 Comments
Seppo
August 28, 2007 at 12:41 pm

30/36

Angry Chad
August 28, 2007 at 12:44 pm

I’m constantly baffled by the motives of others. Most people just don’t make sense to me and I’m generally a terrible judge of character. Maybe even worse than that, is the fact that I have no desire to figure out why people do the things they do.

That said, I’m really, really surprised I scored a 32 on this test. I fully expected to somehow score into negative numbers.

ei-nyung
August 28, 2007 at 1:02 pm

It looks like even if you don’t know why people feel the way they do, you know what they are feeling. 😀

Instead of “I don’t know and I don’t care,” it’s more a case of “I know and I don’t care.” Hee!

hapacheese
August 28, 2007 at 1:48 pm

33/36, baybee! 😀

I’M IN YOUR HEAD!!!

h
August 28, 2007 at 2:49 pm

Ei-Nyung not only thinks she is, but actually IS really really good at reading other people. I’m shocked you scored so low.

Given what Chad said, I’m shocked he scored so high.

I therefore declare the test junk, without having taken it. So there. 🙂

Andre Alforque
August 28, 2007 at 7:41 pm

17. I can’t read people’s eyes, though, and guessed for most of them. I do better with a mixture of tones and body language, than reading faces.

roopa
August 29, 2007 at 8:58 am

32 🙂

I love this stuff and usually think I can read people too, but definitely took some time to sort some of them out.

I read somewhere (blink?) that we show our true emotions quickly, before the mask shows up, so if you can catch it quickly, it means a lot. So I’d be curious to know how time factors in. Maybe it just confirms that I’m easily taken in by liars.

Along these lines, westerners tend to look at mouths and easterners at eyes when judging emotion, and mouths are easier to manipulate. Someone discovered this by looking at how emoticons in Japan vs. the US are different. for example, 🙂 vs. ^_^ for happy.

And for a final touch of nerdliness, I noted which emotions I mistook, which are interesting in their own way:
Mistook Embarrassed for Skeptical
Guilty for Friendly
Pensive for Irritated
Disappointed for Flirtatious

heh

Angry Chad
August 30, 2007 at 7:06 am

FYI, the whole test took me no longer than 5 minutes. I went though them *very* quickly. I find that if I spend too much time on stuff like this, I start second guessing myself.

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