How to Analyze People on Sight. Elsie Lincoln Benedict
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with which many human Fords disguise themselves. The chances are
that you have overlooked a dozen Pierces this week because their paint
was rusty. Perchance you are a Pierce yourself, drawing a Ford salary
because you don't know you are a high-powered machine capable of making
ten times the speed you have been making on your highway of life.
Superficialities Sway Us
If so your mistake is only natural. The world classifies human beings
according to their superficialities. To the world a human motorcycle can
pass for a Rolls-Royce any day if sufficiently camouflaged with
diamonds, curls, French heels and plucked eyebrows.
Bicycles in Congress
In the same manner many a bicycle in human form gets elected to
Congress because he plays his machinery for all it is worth and gets a
hundred per cent service out of it. Every such person learned early in
life what kind of car he was and capitalized its natural tendencies.
Don't Judge by Veneer
Nothing is more unsafe than to attempt to judge the actual natures of
people by their clothes, houses, religious faith, political
affiliations, prejudices, dialect, etiquette or customs. These are only
the veneer laid on by upbringing, teachers, preachers, traditions and
other forces of suggestion, and it is a veneer so thin that trifles
scratch it off.
The Real Always There
But the real individual is always there, filled with the tendencies of
his type, bending always toward them, constantly seeking opportunities
to run as he was built to run, forever striving toward self-expression.
It is this ever-active urge which causes him to revert, in the manifold
activities of everyday life, to the methods, manners and peculiarities
common to his type.
This means that unless he gets into an environment, a vocation and a
marriage which permits of his doing what he _wants_ to do he will be
miserable, inefficient, unsuccessful and sometimes criminal.
Causes of Crime
That this is the true explanation of crime has been recognized for
many years by leading thinkers. Two prison wardens--Thomas Tynan of
Colorado and Thomas Mott Osborne of Sing Sing--effectively initiated
penal reforms based upon it.
Every crime, like every personal problem, arises from some kind of
situation wherein instinct is thwarted by outside influence.
Human Analysis teaches you to recognize, on sight, the predominant
instincts of any individual--in brief, what that individual is inclined
to do under all the general situations of his life. You know what the
world tries to compel him to do. If the discrepancy between these two is
beyond the reach of his type he refuses to do what society demands.
This and this only is back of every human digression from indiscretion
to murder.
It is as vain to expect to eradicate these inborn trends and put others
in their places as to make a sewing machine out of an airplane or an oak
out of a pine. The most man can do for his neighbor is to understand and
inspire him. The most he can do for himself is to understand and
organize his inborn capacities.
Find Your Own Type
The first problem of your happiness is to find out what type you are
yourself--which you will know after reading this book--and to build your
future accordingly.
Knowing and Helping Others
The second is to learn how to analyze others to the end that your
relationships with them may be harmonious and mutually advantageous.
Take every individual according to the way he was born, accept him as
that kind of mechanism and deal with him in the manner befitting that
mechanism. In this way and this only will you be able to impress or to
help others.
In this way only will you be able to achieve real success. In this way
only will you be able to help your fellowman find the work, the
environment and the marriage wherein he can be happy and successful.
The Four C's
To get the maximum of pleasure and knowledge out of this interesting
course there are four things to remember as _your_ part of the contract.
Read CONCENTRATEDLY
Think of _what_ you are reading _while_ you are reading it.
Concentration is a very simple thing. The next C is
Observe CAREFULLY
Look at people carefully (but not starefully) when analyzing them.
Don't jump at conclusions. We humans have a great way of twisting facts
to fit our conclusion as soon as we have made one. But don't spend all
your time getting ready to decide and forget to decide at all, like the
man who was going to jump a ditch. He ran so far back to get a good
start each time that he never had the strength to jump when he got
there. Get a good start by observing carefully. Then
Decide CONFIDENTLY
Be sure you are right and then go ahead. Make a decision and make it
with the confidence that you are right. If you will determine now to
follow this rule it will compel you to follow the first two because, in
order to be sure you are right, to be certain you are not misjudging
anybody, you will read each rule concentratedly and observe each person
carefully beforehand.
Practise CONSTANTLY
"Practice makes perfect." Take this for your motto if you would become
expert in analyzing people. It is one easily followed for you come in
contact with people everywhere--at home, amongst your business
associates, with your friends and on the street. Remember you can only
benefit from a thing as you use it. A car that you never took out of the
garage would be of no value to you. So get full value out of this course
by using it at all times.
These Rules Your Tools
These rules are scientific. They are true and they are true always.
They are very valuable tools for the furtherance of your progress
through life.
An understanding of people is the greatest weapon you can