I used to believe I could get a pretty good bead on a person by talking to them but nah. I got nothing.

I know nothing about football. Yet I predicted every missed penalty in the recent England Columbia shootout based on how anxious the penalty takers looked. There were witnesses. While this isn't exactly a scientific study - I think body language can be very revealing.
I've done some amateur acting. If people like a they talk about the story afterwards and their eyes light up when talking. If they're being nice but privately think the production was a car crash, I can tell. No eye contact. Words like interesting and different. Praise for the courage of people getting up on stage at all. Praise for a small item on the set.
On the separate question of bluntness versus evasion - it depends. If I think the boss is a jerk or a wedding dress is hideous, or a sensitve friend is a tone deaf singer,, I'll stay quiet. If I feel that I am being mistreated or that others are, and redress is possible, I'll speak out.

I was born with an antisocial personality "disorder", and one of the gifts from this curse is being able to pick up on what others are thinking or feeling. More times than I can remember, people have accused me of having ESP.. Which I don't believe in in a metaphysical sense.

This is different, but after I get to know somebody, I can usually paint a pretty accurate profile of that individual. I discourage people from asking me to do it for them, because an accurate profile always has some parts that the person would find unpleasant to confront. Some folks don't even take much effort to deconstruct. But I could not care less if someone reads me correctly, incorrectly, or not at all.

Yes you can, specially if they have a lot of tattoos !!

As a building contractor it was essential that I could read people and most people have the same tells if you have learned what to look for, any bad feelings I would get around certain people I would attribute to subliminal and instinctual reactions to perceived threats. At one point 70% of my employees had served some sort of criminal sentence because it was so hard to find anyone who was willing to learn a trade and the penal system trained them as part of their rehabilitation. Excons are generally pretty easy to get a read on and fall into one of two categories in my experience, those who are killing time until they wind up back in jail and those who will do anything to make sure they never go back to jail. Within the first week I generally knew if they were the former and not the latter, they were fired when I cut them their weeks pay cheque. Sociopaths are harder to get a read on in my experience, I just make it a point to keep them out of my circle.

Yeah. We rely on reading people and hide behind polite-ese far too much IMO. Open communication is a skill that has to be learned and it can be scary to lay out who you are warts and all. I think it makes for much better relationships and mental health.

When reading women l prefer to use Braille. ?

As an empath, I'm usually spot on with understanding people's feelings and motivations. It's important to still give them the space to communicate their thoughts and feelings, though. I don't expect anyone to "just know" what's going on in my head (especially when I don't know half of the time) and prefer just open and direct conversation. The world would be an easier place and if people said what they meant and meant what they said.

I’m usually pretty clueless about people.

I love to try and read people. I tend to pay attention to my gut instincts which are more often than not, correct. I have made some awful mistakes though when I let my emotions (not the same as instinctual) make the judgment calls!!! I have to work on that...........

Body language is something we should all attention to, because quite often people say things when questioned that are not true, but their body language gives them away. In general terms in relationships it would be a lot better if people made clear what was on their minds instead of expecting others to read their minds. In my experience this problem is common with married couples!

I've experienced that a great deal myself. It's more of an intuition type of thing instead of actually "reading" someone's thoughts and emotions. Being a strong empath allows that to happen. You take in people's energies, whether they're good or bad, and circumvent that by getting a broad understanding of what they're feeling from what they say and do. It's a blessing and a curse though. Before getting a good handling on dealing with all this, it's not to take in negative energy and it affect your own mood. With time and patience, eventually it just becomes second nature, and it really shines when people come to you for help. Having an understanding of knowing where someone is coming from does wonders on providing them advice and the like. That last part was kind of off topic to what you were saying, but still haha. Being able to possess such talents aren't all that uncommon, it's just kind of strange trying to tell someone that doesn't know what it's like how it all works.

One I like to use is do they like dogs

My initial instincts are usually spot on but as soon as you think or analyse that clarity is gone. I'm usually also fairly good at knowing if someone is full of shit or genuinely out of sorts but I don't put the radar on everybody I meet lol

My initial instincts are usually spot on but as soon as you think or analyse that clarity is gone. I'm usually also fairly good at knowing if someone is full of shit or genuinely out of sorts but I don't put the radar on everybody I meet lol

Well said, and what many people experienced, and still experience growing up. Assuming what people think or mean or intend is the quickest path to misunderstanding and conflict.

Being assertive is the "bridge over troubled waters." LLOL

It’s like reading a page from my biography!

I’ve been known amongst my friends to be able to understand their emotions and opinions on things before they do. I also like to tease people to see how they will react on things before befriending them. Like weather or not they laugh at a dead baby joke, or give me a shocked expression.

I don't think I can read a person
But I can "smell" things
Hate, animosity, stress, disdain.
I can smell and see these things on a person
I have an ex, she literally reeks of these aforementioned things
It keeps our interactions heavily strained and restrained.
She denies that she feels this way, but she knows she can't lie to me.
We don't talk often and Im inclined to believe its a good thing, well, for me anyway.

In some ways I am, in other ways I am pretty cue blind - I was a lecturer in Rogerian person centred counselling for many years - so if i am one to one with someone I can get them pretty well and see where they are coming from - Now I am living in a country I didnt start out from and so the clues are not there and obviously if they arent my clients I am not going to have rapport with them - sometmes I can barely make out what they are saying, even if its just a greeting. where i am living is far more religous than anything i have ever experienced before so as an atheist that is part of the mix too as I don't speak that language either - but non eof it is any bother to me as I am now 70y.o and pretty much out of the game - Nice when I meet someone I click with no bother if I don't .

Yes I can read a person. I'm a people watcher so very good at studying body language. I'm hardly ever wrong on it either. There's certain signs I look at when talking to people or watching other people and can sense when they are uncomfortable or lying

Just the riot act. Smeh! ? I find, after almost 80 years of intense observation and interaction with people, we have certain 'tells' that I use to try and figure out where someone's coming from. As for me, I am pretty straight forward and I speak my mind. That way, I hope it will enable people know where I'm at. No creo en Dios

I read people fairly well, but you never really know everything that's going on either so the more exposure and confirmation you get on every individual the better your read will be.

Apparently my read on totally crazy women is good. I've written several women off who I thought were interested and a few months later I found out they're addicts, are crazy needy or recently a woman I chose not to pursue ended up pregnant on the 3rd date. The consensus among friends is she trapped him.