When was the last time you said something to someone and then wondered what was going on inside of them? One of the great things about learning essential psychological principles is that you not only understand yourself better, but also the people around you.

You learn not only to question yourself and find the underlying thoughts that create a certain behaviour or emotion, but you also learn to understand the thoughts and motivations of other people.

This happens more quickly with people you spend a lot of time with. Understanding them better gives you more flexibility in how you deal with them.

For example, when a person frequently uses words like “always,”, “everybody” or “nobody” in situations where those words don’t accurately describe what is going on, they are most likely overgeneralizing. “You always ignore me.” Or, “Everyone should appreciate criticism.”

Understanding this gives you a clue about how this person thinks and how to deal with them. People who overgeneralize disempower themselves because they see things as final and unable to change. That often makes them inflexible in their way of thinking about these “overgeneralized” topics. So whenever you deal with them you should be aware of this and keep your conversation as focused and detailed as possible. Remind that person that there are always choices whenever you see they slip into overgeneralizing.

This is just one example of how you can improve your communication and relationships with other people. You start by learning how to control your thoughts and emotions better. Once you have mastered this you can apply this to the people around you. You can help them with problems or communicate with them more effectively because you understand what makes them tick.