The essence of someone’s most deep-rooted personality traits can be revealed by one simple question:
“What do you think of Dave?”
It turns out, according to research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, that the way you describe others is directly linked to your own qualities and characteristics.
When asked to describe someone they knew, the test subjects who focused on the person in question’s positive personality traits tended themselves to be happy, enthusiastic, courteous, kind-hearted and emotionally stable.
Those, on the other hand, who emphasised flaws were found to exhibit higher levels of narcissism and antisocial behaviour.
"Your perceptions of others reveal so much about your own personality," says Dustin Wood, lead author of the study, about his findings. "Seeing others positively reveals our own positive traits, whereas the simple tendency to see people negatively indicates a greater likelihood of depression and various personality disorders."
So if you can’t think of anything nice to say about your colleagues, maybe it’s time to take a long hard look at yourself. (Or find yourself a new job – those guys are real douchebags.)
[Images; 20th Century Fox]
