Be alert, for instance, to the phenomenon of the masked opposite: when someone strikingly manifests a particular personality trait, that trait may well be a cover-up. The oily character who is ingratiatingly effusive with flattery may be hiding hostility and ill will; the aggressive bully may be hiding insecurity; the moralizer may be making a show of purity to hide nefarious desires. Whether they’re throwing dust in your eyes or their own—they may be trying to convince themselves that they’re not what they’re afraid they are—the opposite trait lurks below the surface.
