We all like to think we have a pretty good handle on what other people are like. But actually, our guesses are often wildly off-base.

Being able to read other people and understand their intentions, motivations, and feelings, is a skill we can all cultivate. But it’s something that some people just seem to have a natural ability to do.

Without working on it, these are people who can figure out what makes other people tick and quickly understand what they are all about.

As you can imagine, this can be massively useful both at work and in personal relationships.

Have you ever wondered if you have an ability to read other people that is higher than average?

If so, there are some signs that can tip you off.

Signs like:

1) You’re curious

The truth is, you won’t learn much in this world unless you want to.

Often, being good at reading other people comes from knowing them really well. And that’s something that comes naturally from curiosity.

Some people are just more naturally curious than others. They want to know what makes other people tick, and want to understand the reasons why people do things on a deeper level.

Often, this leads them to spend more time around other people and ask them questions about who they are, what they are interested in, and what kind of lives they lead.

And the more they learn about people, the more able they are to read them.

So if you often find yourself wondering about other people’s lives and asking questions to figure them out better, you’re probably a natural when it comes to reading them.

2) You’ve met many different types of people

Does it ever seem to you as though the range of personalities you encounter fall into certain types?

I’m not talking about stereotyping people. After all, ultimately, we are all individuals with our own unique blend of traits and preferences.

With that said, there are some common personality types that can provide useful shortcuts to understanding others. And if you’ve met a lot of different personalities, you’ll start to see that for yourself.

Often, this depends on the kind of lives we lead. If you’ve spent your whole life in the same small town, you won’t have had access to the same range of different personality types as if you live in a major city and have traveled around a lot.

When I was a kid, I was surrounded by people from the same kind of cultural and economic background as my own family, so naturally, I thought that’s just how all people were.

It wasn’t until I left and moved to a new country that I realized that there is an incredible variety of different personality types out there that you can encounter.

Meeting lots of different personality types makes it easier to read others. If you’ve met a broad range of people, it may have helped you enhance your people-reading skills.

3) You notice small details

The devil is in the details. And certainly, the details of a person’s appearance and mannerisms can almost instantly reveal the kind of person they are.

“People who read others well are trained to read the invisible,” says psychologist Judith Orloff. “They’ve learned to utilize what I call their “super-senses” to look further than where you usually put your attention to access life-changing intuitive insights.”

For example, there are things called micro-expressions.

These are facial expressions too small and quick for most people to notice, but because they are part of the subconscious of a person, they can often reveal more about their inner thoughts than their regular facial expressions.

The same is true of a person’s appearance. A person’s clothes, jewelry, hairstyle and tattoos are all intended to tell you something about them, whether the person is aware of that or not.

Then there’s the things people say. Often, people say more than they mean to, or tell you about themselves through the things they choose not to say.

To put it simply, being observant helps you read other people. So if you find that you notice small details that others miss, it may be because you are naturally good at reading them.

4) You can understand other people’s feelings

We are all capable of empathy to a greater or lesser extent. The ability to put ourselves in the position of other people and feel the emotions they are feeling is a key part of being human.

But heightened empathy can also help you read other people better.

Understanding and even feeling the emotions of others helps you understand them. We all like to think that our decisions are completely rational, but the reality is that we tend to make decisions with our emotions first, and then use rationality to justify them.

In other words, understand emotions, and you’ll understand people.

“Empathy is often defined as understanding another person’s experience by imagining oneself in that other person’s situation,” write Hodges and Myers in the Encyclopedia of Social Psychology. “One understands the other person’s experience as if it were being experienced by the self, but without the self actually experiencing it.”

This empathetic ability is key to understanding other people.

5) You’re good at giving gifts

This is one of the more subtle signs of a great ability to read people. And it’s one I’ve often found myself envying, especially around Christmas and birthdays.

I’m one of those people who never knows what to get for others. And so I’m jealous of those who always seem to have a great idea for a gift.

Being good at giving gifts is a sign that you understand other people’s preferences and desires without needing to be told. If you always know the perfect item someone would want, it’s a good sign that you can read them easily.

6) People seek out your advice

People notice when you give good advice, and when you don’t. And if people keep coming back to you time and time again for your opinions, it’s a good sign that they have learned to respect them.

The thing is, people who are good at reading others often give great advice because they understand the motivations not just of the person they are talking to, but also of the people they’re talking about.

This means they can predict the reactions of others and can anticipate how their advice might change things.

This can often make you seem as though you are really wise and smart. But in reality, it might just be that you are great at reading other people.

7) You are intuitive

Sometimes, we all get gut feelings about situations and about other people. Unfortunately, these instinctive feelings aren’t always correct.

But if you often find that your intuition is proved correct, it may be because you have sharpened your intuitive skills by being great at reading people.

If you’ve ever had the experience of taking an instant dislike to someone only to later find out that they are a bad person, or have liked someone straightaway and found that they were everything you hoped, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

A heightened ability to read others makes your intuition much more powerful.

8) You have healthy relationships

This is another more subtle indication of someone who is great at reading people. But it’s probably also one of the best side effects of the ability.

Getting along with others isn’t always easy. We all have different moods and complex emotions that can easily cause friction in our personal relationships.

If you have lots of strong friendships that have stood the test of time or have been able to spend years in relationships with romantic partners, it indicates that you are easy to get along with. And that may also indicate you read other people well.

Your ability to read others means you know when to leave them alone, when to spend time around them, when to offer them advice, and when to keep your mouth shut. These are all traits that can help you build and maintain strong and healthy relationships.

So take a look at the relationships in your life. If they’re good, it might be an indication that you are good at understanding others.

The gift of understanding

Humans are complicated. Understanding them isn’t easy. It’s why fields like psychology have been developed, to help us figure out both each other and ourselves.

If you have these traits, you are probably naturally good at reading people. And as you can see from this list, there are all kinds of advantages to being able to understand those around you.