--- title: 5 Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone: Backed By Research description: Areas of discovery range from personality to job performance to political preference canonical: https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/ author: Eric Barker article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-01-23T05:01:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:38.232Z article:section: Ideas og:title: 5 Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone: Backed By Research og:description: Areas of discovery range from personality to job performance to political preference og:url: https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 5 Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone: Backed By Research twitter:description: Areas of discovery range from personality to job performance to political preference twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # 5 Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone: Backed By Research ## Video: 10 Books Everyone Should Read, According to Successful People [Watch (HLS stream): 10 Books Everyone Should Read, According to Successful People](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Bdu4TTCk.m3u8) (1:07)  _Published 2016-01-27_ by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jan 23, 2015 5:01 AM UTC by [Eric Barker](https://time.com/author/eric-barker/) ## Eric Barker Jan 23, 2015 5:01 AM UTC ## Here are the things you can tell just by looking at someone * As for personality, you can generally trust your gut when guessing [extraversion, self-esteem, and religiosity](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/how-much-can-you-tell-about-someones-personal). If you have a spontaneously taken photo of them you can add in [agreeableness, emotional stability, openness, likability, and loneliness](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/personalities-judged-by-physical-appearance-a). Your predictions are probably more accurate [when evaluating good-looking people](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/is-it-easier-to-tell-what-beautiful-people-ar). **_Eric Barker:_**[_How To Stop Being Lazy And Get More Done – 5 Expert Tips_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/08/how-to-stop-being-lazy/) * Who is a good leader? The [face will tell you](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-how-successful-a-firm-is-just-by). (True [for women](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-how-successful-a-female-ceos-com) as well as men.) Or just look at the [earlobes](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-judge-leadership-potential-by-looking). Not sure which team has the better quarterback? Make your guess [based on how handsome he is](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-better-nfl-quarterbacks-better-looking). You can probably [tell whether a politician is a Democrat or Republican](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-a-politician-is-liberal-or-co). Or even a non-politician. Or [which politician is likely to win](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/when-it-comes-to-politics-this-is-how-shallow). * We’re pretty good at telling [who is a criminal](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-who-is-a-criminal-just-by-lookin). At an above chance level you’ll be able to tell [which people are America’s Most Wanted and which are Nobel Peace Prize winners](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-nobel-peace-prize-winners-from-a). If you think someone might be a psychopath, [trust your gut](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/would-you-know-a-psychopath-if-you-saw-one). (And move quick, psychopaths are [quite good at sizing you up](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-psychopaths-assess-vulnerability-just-by) too.) Tattoos will tell you who is [most likely to commit more crime](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-which-criminals-are-more-likely). Heck, your gut can be trusted to tell you [if a neighborhood is unsafe](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/should-you-trust-your-gut-when-deciding-wheth). Still not sure if a man is [dangerous](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/slate-magazine-can-you-tell-if-a-man-is-dange)? Ask a [short guy](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/are-short-guys-better-at-determining-whos-a-b). Is this useful in daily life? Yeah, because you’ll know [who is more trustworthy](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-a-man-is-trustworthy-by-looki) or [cooperative](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-someone-is-cooperative-just-b). **_Eric Barker:_**[_6 Things The Most Productive People Do Every Day_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/06/most-productive-people/) * Want to know if someone is good at their job? [Watch them for six seconds and your guess is more likely to be right than wrong.](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-someone-is-good-at-their-job) Sometimes a glance can tell you [how smart someone is](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-how-smart-someone-is-just-by-loo). Or [whether they’re rich](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-someone-is-rich-by-a-quick-gl). * Ladies, want to know if he’s attracted to you? It’s all in [how long he looks at you](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-a-glance-tell-you-if-someone-finds-you-at). And guys might be able to look at you and tell [how much you orgasm](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-how-much-a-woman-orgasms-by-look), whether you are [currently fertile](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-a-woman-is-fertile-by-the-way) or whether [you’re a lesbian](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/can-you-tell-if-a-woman-is-a-lesbian-just-by). **_Eric Barker:_**[_New Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More Successful_](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/09/be-more-successful/) Want to be able to read people like Sherlock Holmes? Go [here](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2014/12/how-to-read-people/). **_This piece originally appeared on_** [**_Barking Up the Wrong Tree_**](http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/05/5-things-you-can-tell-about-someone-after-jus/)**_._** **Join over 250,000 readers. Get a free weekly update via email** [**here**](http://eepurl.com/o6uAD)**.** ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/"},"headline":"5 Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone: Backed By Research","datePublished":"2015-01-23T05:01:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:38.232Z","description":"Areas of discovery range from personality to job performance to political preference","url":"https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/","keywords":["Psychology","Research","Meetings"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eric Barker","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eric-barker/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/psychology/","name":"Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/","name":"5 Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Someone: Backed By Research"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"10 Books Everyone Should Read, According to Successful People","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Bdu4TTCk/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-01-27T15:44:41.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Bdu4TTCk.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/","duration":"PT1M7S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3676499/immediate-people-insights/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```