5 Crazy Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone, Says Science

When we're babies, all we have to learn about the world is our five senses. We look carefully at everything, touch as much as we can, taste anything, smell, and of course, listen.

As we grow up into adults, we may depend less on our senses for information, and disregard the information we feel inside. But we can learn a lot, especially about other people just by looking at them. It sounds superficial but it isn't.

In a TIME article, Eric Barker says that there are things you can tell about someone just by looking at them.

​1. What their personality traits are

The results of the study suggest that personality is demonstrated through both static and expressive ways of appearing, and observers use this information to form accurate judgments for a variety of traits, like how outgoing someone is, their self-esteem level, and/or how religious they may be.

In addition, just by looking a photograph of someone in a relaxed pose, you can usually tell if they're emotionally stable, likeable, enjoyable to be around, and if they're lonely.

2. If someone has the potential to be an effective leader

According to an article in New Scientist, politicians with competent-looking faces have a greater chance of being elected, and CEOs who look dominant are more likely to run a profitable company.

3. If they're a criminal

In a study, participants were given a set of headshots of criminals and non-criminals, and were able to reliably distinguish between these two groups, after controlling for gender, race, age, attractiveness, and emotional displays, as well as any potential clues of picture origin. I guess there is a criminal type.

4. Their socioeconomic status

A study in Psychological Science suggests that nonverbal cues can give away a person's socioeconomic status (SES). Volunteers whose parents were from upper SES backgrounds displayed more disengagement-related behaviors compared to participants from lower SES backgrounds.

In addition, when a separate group of observers were shown 60 second clips of the videos, they were able to correctly guess the participants' SES background based on their body language.

5. If they're attracted to you

Body language can practically scream interest with clues like dilated pupils, raised eyebrows, smiling eyes, lip-licking (in a cute way), and if they touch their throat.