People With These 12 Rare Traits Are (Almost) Never Fooled By Fake People
JKstock | ShutterstockProtecting yourself from being fooled by fake people is key to maintaining healthy relationships and building a happy, fulfilling life. It's not always easy to tell who is fake and who is authentic, especially in an era where everyone seems to project a perfect life online.
However, certain people have perfected the art of self-preservation. People with a few rare traits are truly almost never fooled by fake people. When it comes to negative energy, their antennae are up and their boundaries are strong.
People with these 12 rare traits are (almost) never fooled by fake people
1. They have deep intuition
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While everyone has some innate intuitive skills, those who are almost never fooled by fake people are better recognizing them and acknowledging the messages. Trusting your gut can be difficult, especially in the face of a long-term friendship or comfortable partner, but it's also one of the signs you are very good at recognizing fake people.
We protect and cultivate our emotional health with social connection, but that's impossible to achieve if we're being sabotaged and taken advantage of by fake friends and people in our lives. Get in touch with your intuition and adopt practices, like journaling or therapy, that help you to trust it when you're forced to reevaluate the relationships in your life.
2. They're comfortable with boundaries
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People who don't let themselves be fooled know how to set and maintain boundaries. Psychologist Seth J. Gillihan argues that partners and fake people in our lives who continuously overstep boundaries, even after communication about them, are likely to continue doing so. Their actions speak loudly, and anyone who disrespects your healthy boundaries probably doesn't value your well-being as much as they preach.
The people who prioritize their own emotional well-being, demand respect, and trust their intuition about fake people in their lives will always keep better company than others. Their boundaries are their truth, not something to be debated or disrespected for attention or validation.
3. They're empathetic
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Empaths, otherwise characterized as someone with great emotional intelligence skills, tend to be more cognizant of other people's body language, small micro-expressions, and emotions than others. They pick up on the little details in conversations and passing interactions that can reveal inner character traits and motivations. This helps protect them from being fooled by fake people.
While fake people might express misguided kindness and compliments, their micro-expressions tend to reveal their true nature. When someone is operating from a malicious and envious place, as a study from the journal Emotion explains, their small facial changes and expressions can clue others in on their true intentions.
4. They're confident and self-assured
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People who are almost never fooled by fake people tend to share two simple traits that greatly inform the health of their relationships: their ability to listen whilst also being assertive. They know what they deserve, the type of company they'd like to keep, and the respect they demand, and they're not afraid to use action to remind people.
When they start to feel disrespected or dismissed by someone in their life, a skill that often requires emotional intelligence and introspection, they're not afraid to set boundaries and end toxic relationships. While research shows that not everyone trusts their intuition equally, confidence helps boost people's self-assurance.
After all, truly knowing yourself is what protects people from being taken advantage of by negative and fake people.
5. They're good listeners
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People who are less likely to be fooled by fake people practice listening like it's a skill, because that's what it is: a crucial life skill.
Active listening is a difficult skill to learn, according to research from the University of Southern California, as concentrating solely on what someone is saying tends to spark anxiety-inducing physical experiences in the average person. However, over time and with practice, you can learn to listen, speak, and empathize with people amid even the most uncomfortable conversations.
When you're cued into the words someone is saying, you can also grasp their body language, facial expressions, and tone, giving you a much more full picture of their intentions, mood, and demeanor. That's exactly why being great at active listening is also one of the signs you are very good at recognizing fake people — you're not distracted, but fully aware of the person you're interacting with.
6. They celebrate others people's accomplishments
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Celebrating other people's accomplishments and relishing their joy is key to being a good friend. In addition, it sharpens your eye when looking for people who are fake or just out for themselves.
Insecure, envious, and fake people often try to redirect attention towards themselves, dismissing the excitement or success of others to refocus energy on their own achievements. They're always "one-upping" their friends and family in conversation, trying to feed into their own ego and needs for validation rather than genuinely supporting and celebrating others.
People who have a knack for picking up on these fake behaviors from others do the opposite. They ensure the people they care about have space to celebrate their wins, and prioritize friendships and relationships where their own wins are appropriately celebrated, but not necessarily the most important thing.
7. They stay mindful
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People who integrate mindfulness practices into their lives, like journaling, yin yoga, or even therapy, spark introspection tend to have healthier and more fulfilling relationships than their counterparts. When something bothers them or a comment hurts their feelings, resentment doesn't fester; instead, they take the time to heal and make a plan for open communication to address it.
When you're internally validated and conscious of your own strengths and weaknesses, you're better at reading people. You're not worried about their opinions of you, but rather, how you view them. This opens up a kind of self-awareness that spotlights toxic energy and
8. They're emotionally intelligent
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People who are emotionally intelligent tend to be better able to detect inauthenticity, and therefore are almost never fooled by fake people.
According to experts in nonverbal communication," there are certain groups of people more attuned to deception in relationships than others, and that skill generally revolves around social and emotional intelligence. It's not just about conversations, communication, and active listening skills, despite the influence those things have; it's also about sensitivity, compassion, and empathy.
Can you give grace to people who make mistakes? Can you pick up on toxic patterns in the people you hold most dear in life? How attuned are you to your own flaws and deceptions? All of these things help people stay emotionally attuned, which serves them better in their lives and makes them better friends and partners, too.
9. They're unique and authentic
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People who are never fooled by fake people have strong practical intelligence. According to a study from Creativity Research Journal, there's a correlation between a person's social and practical intelligence and their individuality. When you're self-assured in your identity, you can focus on the curious and intellectual pieces of your life and vice versa.
If you're comfortable in your own skin, you have the energy and ability to focus on other things, whether that be social connection, school, a career, or even further personal development and emotional intelligence. That is why confidence, self-assuredness, and a unique individuality are not just attractive traits, they're also helpful when you're looking for authentic friends rather than fake ones.
10. They don't seek external validation
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Self-assured and confident people don't need other people's approval in order to feel good about themselves. That means they're better able to judge people's character and tell if someone is being fake. They simply don't crave need that fake person to like them.
Because they're not worried about appeasing other people or trying to be liked, they can recognize the small tendencies, expressions, and passing comments that other people make in conversations with them. While it might be obvious to a self-assured person that a friend is toxic or "fake," someone who's actively trying to gain their acceptance might overlook the same fact.
11. They're sensitive
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Sensitive and empathetic people, who are more attuned to the less noticeable behaviors and tendencies in others, are more likely to recognize fake people in their lives than their typical peers. They're not only emotionally sensitive and versed in communication, they tend to be energetically inclined, picking up on the negative energy of fake people.
While it takes a great deal of introspection and self-discipline to hone in on that energetic talent and intuition, people who master it and embody that sensitive nature in their everyday lives find it easier to cultivate healthy relationships and avoid fake people.
12. They're forgiving but they don't forget
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People who are almost never fooled by fake people are forgiving, but that doesn't mean they forget what that person did. That's because they're gracious, but they're not pushovers.
Forgiving people give fake people opportunities to grow, evolve, and reimagine the healthier version of themselves in your relationship. They're empathetic to all the additional stressors and traumas that could inform someone's toxic behaviors. But they also have high enough standards not to be fooled by fake people time and again.
Zayda Slabbekoorn is a news and entertainment writer at YourTango who focuses on health and wellness, social policy, and human interest stories.
