I am certain it has happened to you that you meet someone seemingly wonderful, just to see a completely different side of them months or years down down the road. And then you stop and wonder where their charm, kindness, and generosity disappear, only to realize that all those traits came with strings attached. All of a sudden, what looked like confidence turned into pure arrogance.
As much as we speak of how important and impactful first impressions are, the truth is that they are more than often just misleading. Why is that? Because people tend to put their best foot forward when they meet someone new. For quite a long while now, psychologists have noted how much social behavior depends upon something known as the “persona”, which basically means the social mask that everyone wears. According to Carl Jung, people tend to hide aspects of themselves through these social