Suzie Westbrook Martin

…learn how others are actually perceiving you. Find a handful of friends or colleagues and ask them, “What was your first impression of me when we met?” Write down their answers and search for themes.

… of us. For our ancestors, being cautious about social interactions came with a survival advantage. Banding together kept us safe, so those who were cut off from the group faced certain danger and even death. (This may be why social rejection activates the same parts of our brain as physical pain.)

m intellige…ially desirable characteristics, a phenomenon psychologists call the “illusory superiority effect.” Most of us hold statistically impossible beliefs that we are above average in everything, from intelligence to attractiveness to academic aptitude to job performance to driving ability.