How to Analyze People on Sight. Elsie Lincoln Benedict

our environmental problem consists

      largely of the other fellow. Only those who learn to adapt themselves to

      their fellows can win great or lasting rewards.

      Externals Indicate Internal Nature

       To do this it is necessary to better understand our neighbors--to

      recognize that people differ from each other in their likes and

      dislikes, traits, talents, tendencies and capabilities. The combination

      of these makes each individual's nature. It is not difficult to

      understand others for with each group of these traits there always goes

      its corresponding physical makeup--the externals whereby the internal is

      invariably indicated. This is true of every species on the globe and of

      every subdivision within each species.

      Significance of Size, Shape and Structure

       All dogs belong to the same species but there is a great difference

      between the "nature" of a St. Bernard and that of a terrier, just as

      there is a decided difference between the natures of different human

      beings. But in both instances the actions, reactions and habits of each

      can be accurately anticipated on sight by the shape, size and structure

      of the two creatures.

      Differences in Breed

       When a terrier comes into the room you instinctively draw away unless

      you want to be jumped at and greeted effusively. But you make no such

      movement to protect yourself from a St. Bernard because you read, on

      sight, the different natures of these two from their external

      appearance.

       You know a rose, a violet, a sunflower and an orchid and what perfume

      you are sure to find in each, by the same method. All are flowers and

      all belong to the same species, just as all human beings belong to the

      same species. But their respective size, shape and structure tell you in

      advance and on sight what their respective characteristics are.

      The same is true of all human beings. They differ in certain

      fundamentals but always and invariably in accordance with their

      differences in size, shape and structure.

      The Instinct of Self-Preservation

       The reason for this is plain. Goaded by the instinct of

      self-preservation, man, like all other living things, has made heroic

      efforts to meet the demands of his environment. He has been more

      successful than any other creature and is, as a result, the most complex

      organism on the earth. But his most baffling complexities resolve

      themselves into comparatively simple terms once it is recognized that

      each internal change brought about by his environment brought with it

      the corresponding external mechanism without which he could not have

      survived.

      Interrelation of Body and Brain

       So today we see man a highly evolved creature who not only acts but

      thinks and feels. All these thoughts, feelings and emotions are

      interrelated.

      The body and the mind of man are so closely bound together that whatever

      affects one affects the other. An instantaneous change of mind instantly

      changes the muscles of the face. A violent thought instantly brings

      violent bodily movements.

      Movies and Face Muscles

       The moving picture industry--said to be the third largest in the

      world--is based largely on this interrelation. This industry would

      become extinct if something were to happen to sever the connection

      between external expressions and the internal nature of men and women.

      Tells Fundamentals

       How much do external characteristics tell about a man? They tell, with

      amazing accuracy, all the basic, fundamental principal traits of his

      nature. The size, shape and structure of a man's body tell more

      important facts about his real self--what he thinks and what he

      does--than the average mother ever knows about her own child.

      Learning to Read

       If this sounds impossible, if the seeming incongruity, multiplicity

      and heterogeneity of human qualities have baffled you, remember that

      this is exactly how the print in all books and newspapers baffled you

      before you learned to read.

      Not long ago I was reading stories aloud to a three-year old. She wanted

      to "see the pictures," and when told there were none had to be shown the

      book.

      "What funny little marks!" she cried, pointing to the print. "How do you

      get stories out of them?"

      Printing looked to all of us at first just masses of meaningless little

      marks.

      But after a few days at school how things did begin to clear up! It

      wasn't a jumble after all. There was something to it. It straightened

      itself out until the funny little marks became significant. Each of them

      had a meaning and the same meaning under all conditions. Through them

      your whole outlook on life became deepened and broadened--all because

      you learned the meaning of twenty-six little letters and their

      combinations!

      Reading People

       Learning to read men and women is a more delightful process than

      learning to read books, for every person you see is a true story, more

      romantic and absorbing than any ever bound in covers.

      Learning to read people is also a simpler process than learning to read

      books because there are fewer letters in the human alphabet. Though man

      seems to the untrained eye a mystifying mass of "funny little marks," he

      is not now difficult to analyze.

      Only a Few Feelings

       This is because there are after all but a few kinds of human feelings.

      Some form of hunger, love, hate, fear, hope or ambition gives rise to

      every human emotion and every human thought.

      Thoughts Bring Actions

       Now our actions follow our thoughts. Every thought, however

      transitory, causes muscular action, which leaves its trace in that part

      of the physical organism which is most closely allied to it.

      Physiology and Psychology Interwoven

       Look into the mirror the next time you are angry, happy, surprised,

      tired or sorrowful and note the changes wrought by your emotions in your

      facial