How to judge other people's character?

I try not to judge, but I do form opinions. The way I form a picture of a person’s character is by observing them and transferring the observation to other settings, i.e. how would this person react to….xyz.
A number of communications training sessions I’ve taken part in have highlighted that your impression is made up of (approx.):
Visual (appearance, mannerism, posture, etc.) – 65%
Tone (pitch, pace, volume, projection, etc.) – 25%
Content (words, message) – 10%

I came across this article on first impressions. It’s an interesting read.

I rarely make a conscious effort to judge people, but I know that I’m certainly influenced by:

* Their physical condition: if they seem to look after themselves
* The way they speak, it is confident? Do they mumble or speak quietly?
* Their sense of humour
* The people they associate themselves with
* Mannerisms: do they stand up straight? Do they play with their hair or jewelry? .etc
* Their dress sense (it can often say a lot about their personality)

I’m guessing I’m not the only one either. wildflowers’ answer was good.

Thanks thats a great website!

Yeah, the guy who “doesn’t make a conscious effort to judge people” has a check list. Makes sense.

We don’t tend to judge people with bad intentions, we just automatically make a subconscious comparison in our internal deck of cards to what is acceptable; this allow us to make conscious decisions on classifying people in our internal categories we have established from past experience or information we have seen before. Wildflower hits the nail on the head in the way she classifies how communication takes place for interpersonal relationships. There are a number of books on the subject at hand, like How to get the best from yourself, How to mingle, etc

Sorry Wildflower, but what do you think forming an opinion is??? Well, I am here to tell anyone that is interested I do judge people and their character. “Character Counts”. And if you don’t have a criterion, you won’t know much about anyone you associate with. So, let’s get honest with ourselves, WE ALL JUDGE PEOPLE AND THEIR CHARACTER, and if you don’t then you will get what you deserve.
So, those of you that say “I try not to judge people” if you are married, how did you choose a mate, 1, 2, 3, I choose you??
Personally, I think a person that tries not to judge, is an idealist. Let’s get up and take control of our associations. Is it an acquaintance , friend, close friend? Are they dependable or not dependable? Do they have similar morals and ethics? Can’t know that unless you pay attention and then make a judgment.