How To Read People: 5 Secrets Backed By Research - Barking Up The Wrong Tree

A class ring. T-shirts with slogans. Tattoos. Pay attention to them because they're usually accurate signs. Here's Sam :

Now this is all pretty personal. So what about if you're trying to read someone in a professional context?

Want to know if someone is good at their job? Then watch them do it for thirty seconds - or even just six seconds . Your guess about their competence is more likely to be right than wrong:

Want to know if someone's smart? Research says this is hard to tell from mere appearance when evaluating adults. But there's a trick that can help. Are they funny? Because funny people are smart :

And there's one other thing to listen for while they're yakking. The word "I" can be very telling...

Powerful people don't say it much . Less powerful people say it the most:

(To learn what Harvard research says will make you happier and more successful, click here .)

Okay, so you know when to trust your gut. Now there are a gazillion studies on behavior, so let's focus on reading people to get answers to the questions we all want to know, like...

Of course, people trying to deceive or manipulate you are going to fake signals that they are trustworthy.