5 Common Attributes of Charismatic People

Charismatic people all have certain attributes in common. They seem to attract attention with their presence. They process an effortless grace that changes atmosphere wherever they go. They uplift the spirits of those nearby and make others feel good about themselves. The secret to their invisible beauty is not magic, but a set of underlying psychological phenomenon that anyone can learn to increase their charisma. Dr. David j Lieberman, Ph.D, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of human behaviour and interpersonal relationships. Dr. Lieberman believes the ingredients of charisma consist of the following:

A charismatic person recognizes and points out the beauty in others.

Human are by nature social. Our consciousnesses constantly look for clues from our surroundings that hint to us where we belong. Clues such as positive recognition create affinity, which leads to the feeling of belonging. When being given positive reinforcement, such as “ Your hair looks great”, or affinity hints such as “ I like to play tennis too”, these comments triggers the “social belonging” mechanism, and increases the bonding of closeness between the person giving the comments and the person receiving the comments.

A charismatic person brings happiness.

People by consciousness make associations in unconscious categories. Emotion is the unconscious reflex mechanism that uses less brain energy as compare to logical reasoning and therefore is the most used association categories. When an event is delightful, the people in attendance are unconsciously categorized into people that are also delightful. A person who is especially charismatic creates their positive atmosphere state in any occasion.

They show up with a great uplifting smile. They are well dressed for the occasion. They greet everyone with good manners. Or, they are simply being sincere and paying attention to what is occurring at the moment. They make others feel respected by their well-mannered behaviours. When people are treated with respect, they feel their integrity is reinforced and in some occasions, restored. A sense of relief and calmness takes over, categorizing the person as someone who do not cause stress, and in that itself is a positive category that people often like to be surrounded by those who do not cause stress. This exterior-interior psychological association is so powerful that most often a genuine smile is all it takes to set off the positive categorization mechanism.

A charismatic person has youthful postures.

According to a study by J.M. Montepare and L. Zebrowitz-McArthur in 1988, people are more attracted to those whose body postures seem more youthful. The essential attributes are “reflex” and “mobility”. Good body posture is the foundation to a youthful looking body. Stand tall and straight, walk with comfortable well paced strides, head up and shoulders wide. Emily Post’s Etiquette has detailed step by step practices on how to achieve good body posture.

A charismatic person SEEMS to have confidence.

We can never determine the actual emotional state of anyone without uncertainly. However, attractive people will always seem confident. The attributes that make up the concept of having confidence are: happiness, passionate, good hospitality and acceptance. The opposite of all of these is stress. To prevent unnecessary stress, keeping the daily diet to a reasonable intake sugar and carbohydrate is a good start. The body breaks down sugar and carbohydrates into glucose molecules. A diet in high sugar or carbohydrate causes the pancreas to produce more insulin to break down the glucose molecules. A side effect of having a higher insulin presence in the body is the increase of redness in the face and increase of shortness of breath. The two are similar to that of a person who is in stress. Therefore, avoiding a diet high in sugar and or carbohydrate decreases the need of insulin production and thus reduces the chances of looking like being in stress.

A great smile also helps to increase confidence, literally. Smiling is associated with the ideas of good hospitality, acceptance and being in a relaxed state. The muscles that are necessary to trigger the action of smiling are connected to the neurons in the brain that fires the happiness signals. If we smile because the brain sends out signals of happiness, then the reverse process will also trigger the state of being happy by simply activating the muscles we need to smile, thus initiate the series of psychological assumptions from smile – happiness – no stress – relax – safe – confident in the given surrounding – confident.

A charismatic person does not lower their integrity for immediate satisfaction.

Try daring a charismatic person to take another drink when they seem like they certainly cannot. They will not touch that drink. They know where their limits are, and most of all they know which decisions are the more important ones to keep. Getting home in one piece is more important than showing off to others how much they can drink. Wearing comfortable high heels and stay “shoes on” for the entire evening is more important than looking fashionable but walk like stepping on pebble stones all night long. Letting others in need to take their sit is more important than their own relaxation needs. A charismatic person have a strong integrity that they do not need immediate short lived satisfaction in any way to make them feel happy. They know their own worth, have confidence and are not afraid to take risks that might seem to hurt their integrity. Refusing to show off does not hurt their integrity. Not taking up the latest fashion style does not hurt their integrity. Share with others what they have does not lesson what they own.

For a list of Dr. David J. Lieberman’s publications, please visit:

Dr. David J. Lieberman on Amazon

Sources taken from:

Make Peace With Anyone: Breakthrough Strategies To Quickly End Any Conflict, Feud, or Estrangement – January 12, 2001

You Can Read Anyone: Never be Fooled, Lied to, of Taken Advantage of Again – 2006

Get Anyone to do Anything: Never Feel Powerless Again – With Psychological Secrets To Control and Influence Any Situation – May 11, 2011