Employment Research Institute's Chief Executive Officer, A. Harrison Barnes, in a webinar as he discussed how most decisions are based upon people’s perception and interpretation of the world around them and not on pure analysis.

Are you are a visual, an auditory or a kinesthetic person? It is very important to understand the sort of person you are in order to communicate better with everyone. For instance, designers generally think and talk in images and demonstrations at work such as graphs, diagrams, and visual procedures. These are visual people and how things ‘appear’ to them are important. Similarly, the auditory type of person acts more on how things ‘sound’ to him or her and are more interested in being around people, places and things that have pleasant sounds and tonalities. If you were to sell a car to an auditory person, he or she will focus more on the sound of the exhaust, the clicks, and so forth, and not so much on the looks or the feel of the car. Kinesthetic people act on how things ‘feel’ to them. They will gravitate towards those people and things that ‘feel’ good to them and generally tend to like hugs, handshakes and so forth. To sell a car to such a person you need to take him or her for a test drive.

Once you understand what sort of a person you are, you will be able to recognize if information can be presented in a way that you can absorb it, based on a specific communication style. Understanding your approach to information will also make you more successful in everything and with everyone you deal with.