Psychology Facts

How to Read a Mind through Observation


You can understand what other people are thinking by observing their movements. For example, whenever a person is holding his/her chest, this means that he or she is evaluating something. This is the position instinctively taken when we judge something, and we are examining various factors.


In 1971, Gerard I. Nierenberg, Henri H. Calero, and Gabriel Grayson published a book entitled "How to Read a Person Like a Book: Using Body Language to Know What People Are Thinking", where they explain the meaning of the various movements we make, depending on what we are thinking. This book was written for sellers. It shows them how they should interpret their audience's reactions when they are trying to sell them something.


For example, if their potential customers will cross their hands while listening to them, this means that their customers are in a protective position.

They are not accepting what they are listening to.

Sellers should not insist on trying to sell something to someone who is listening to them with crossed hands. They'll never succeed.

This is a very interesting book about the human behavior, which clearly reveals that our behavior follows pre-established behavioral patterns, even thought the authors didn't explain why our behavior is consistent and why it reveals our thoughts.


Often, children surprise us with their movements because they act like grown ups in many ways.

This happens because their behavior has already been pre-established by various behavioral patterns that automatically start working, depending on the stimuli of their environment. This is why they already "know" how to do many things.

This knowledge is inherited. It helps all children survive in their environment. This knowledge is also the base for complex achievements in the future.

You can understand what other people are thinking about what you are saying if you learn the bodily movements they adopt, depending on their thoughts.


For example, if someone is holding his/her head with his hands crossed behind his head, this means that he believes that he is at the top, controlling the situation.

If you don't want to reveal what you are thinking when you believe that you are at the top, don't make this gesture. On the other hand, you should be careful when you observe this gesture in someone else. This person believes that he/she is controlling the situation.

If you disagree with him, you should understand that you have no chances to convince him that he is wrong after seeing him holding his head with his hands. He is too self-confident.

In addition to understanding what other people think depending on their gestures, you can also understand what not to show them if you don't want to reveal your real opinion. Perhaps they can intuitively understand the meaning of your gestures, or they have read the book "How to Read a Person Like a Book".

You should read this book too, even if you are not a seller; it will give you many interesting clues.


However, this method for reading people's minds can be useful only for a limited number of movements, and for specific situations.

The best method to read people's minds and understand how they think and sense is through dream interpretation.


By interpreting your dreams, you will penetrate other people's psyche, like the unconscious mind that produces our dreams does. You'll understand who they really are and why they behave the way they do.

You'll have many explanations about them. You won't merely understand what they are thinking at the moment, based on their movements. You'll learn many secrets about their true personality, besides understanding their preferences.

Predicting people through color of their clothes

Red We can actually adjust our mood with the colour of our clothes. A fiery type, for example an Aries or Leo person, will have a tendency to choose a lot of red. As soon as we realise that red also indicates aggression, anger and stress, we can start to reduce the amount of red we wear. A red blouse covered with a pink jacket diminishes the effect of red and brings out more love than aggression. It is better to avoid red clothes if you are already overactive, go instead to the complementary colour. Red-haired people look superb in emerald green.

Pink will bring calmness to the fiery red people. It is a much calmer colour than red, but wearing too much pink will easily show a woman who refuses to face changes in life and always sees herself as a little girl (the female equivalent of the Peter Pan syndrome). Those who have a tendency to blush easily will instinctively avoid red, orange, even yellow clothes, and will choose the opposite of these colours – blue, green or violet –which will cool down the heat within.

Yellow is not always an easy colour to wear, but nowadays, each colour comes in so many different tones and we can always find a shade that suits us. It is certainly easier to wear gold than pale yellow. Strangely enough, people working with computers seem to be attracted to yellow outfits. When we feel like wearing yellow, it means we need a bit of uplifting, but wearing too much of such a colour will intensify a feeling of insecurity or fear. Working with the opposite colour in clothing is always an enjoyable experience and too much yellow will be easily counteracted by a violet or purple outfit. Yellow is also connected to the digestive and nervous systems. Does this mean that the urge to wear yellow today is due to the heavy drinking of the previous night? Listen to your body; the message sometimes is very clear yet we are not ready to face the truth.

Green also comes in a wide variety of tones – from pale clear green and olive green to darker green like emerald. As we have seen, green is the colour of balance, but too much green will not have this effect. One tone of green could look exquisite while another could make you sick just looking at it. An easy way to counteract too much green is to add a red brooch, or to wear a red or orange scarf on top of a green blouse. Green is the colour of the heart chakra and denotes a sensitive person, a sympathetic nature. Wearing too much green indicates that you need more personal space or that you are really ready for big changes in your life. Or are you perhaps too emotional at this time?

Turquoise is what we call a New Age colour. It is extremely popular in Australia. Even cars can be turquoise. This colour is also used more often by men these days than a few years ago. Its popularity all started with mountain and ski gear, which became predominantly turquoise and mauve in colour – in the 1960s such gear was only coloured bright red or blue. Even school bags are appearing more and more turquoise. Turquoise facilitates public and media communication. It is an easy colour to wear because it is refreshing, will ease communication and the nerves, as well as the digestive system. (Turquoise is a mixing of blue, green and yellow).

Blue is certainly the colour most worn in clothes – be it bright, pale or royal blue. Blue and navy blue have different connotations. Darker tones of blue suggest authority and power and entail more respect than light blue, which is more associated with fun. Blue is calming and cooling; it also facilitates communication (this is not the case, however, with the navy blue of police uniforms, which creates more a sense of authority). Blue induces peace and wearing blue pyjamas will improve the sleep pattern (blue sheets will also help).

Pale mauve and lilac are certainly easier to wear than deep purple or violet. These colours used to be associated with old ladies, while nowadays they are worn by people of all ages. Violet is associated with spirituality, but it could also indicate someone who has a tendency to depression or introversion. Violet is the colour associated with healing and wearing it will facilitate convalescence. It can also help during a time of grieving.

White is used mostly in summer and in tropical areas. It is the colour of purity and innocence, of feeling clean.

Black is always in fashion; it is worn a lot these days by young people. The colour is associated with self-denial. When we don’t feel secure in our environment, when we are in need of protection, we will instinctively wear black in order not to be seen, or to be seen as little as possible. Black is also associated with class, and it is always considered chic to wear a black evening dress or black tie.