20 Sneaky Psychological Tricks Experts Say Can Charm People Immediately

Some people in life seem to be blessed with the innate ability to charm. But if smooth-talking doesn’t come naturally to you, don’t despair. Psychologists have determined that these simple tricks can help you connect with people fast — and some of these tactics are quite unexpected. 

20. Three simple signals

Psychologists have observed three important signals that we make when approaching another person which tell them that we’re nonthreatening. These signs are so subtle that we perhaps don’t even notice that we’re doing them. Even so, they’re instrumental in telling others that we are friends and not foes.

Schafer told Worklife, “Our brains are always surveying the environment for friend or foe signals. The three major things we do when we approach somebody that signals we’re not going to present a threat are: an eyebrow flash — a quick up and down movement of the eyebrow that lasts about a sixth of a second — a slight head tilt, and a smile.”

19. Get to know them — fast

There’s some evidence to show that the sooner people answer personal questions about themselves, the quicker a relationship can progress. Psychologist Jack Schafer is a former FBI special agent turned likability coach. And he told Worklife, “If I’m selling something, the more quickly I develop rapport and get you to say all sorts of intimate details about your life, the faster you will treat me as a friend and the faster I can get to my sell.”

And getting folk to open up to you in a short time is perhaps not as hard as you might think. Making presumptive statements is a great way to encourage people to share the details of their life. For instance, if you ask someone, “You must be around 30 years old?” they tend to respond by either confirming your hunch or by offering a correction.