10 types of questions to ask someone close to you

What kinds of questions can help you build trust with someone?

Getting to know someone is not a mechanical process that is completed simply by spending time with them.

You need to get a good understanding of their way of thinking and acting, and for that we often need to take the initiative. That's why it's important to Knowing the types of questions we can ask people close to us can help us to avoid "blind spots" in the relationship. in the relationship.

• Recommended article: "50 questions to get to know a person better".

Types of questions to ask to people close to you.

These are the main categories of questions that we can use to get to know better those we already know to a large extent and, incidentally, ourselves.

1. Questions about one's own relationship

The first group of types of questions are those that explicitly refer to the type of relationship that the other person believes he/she has with oneself.. These are questions that are best posed to people who are well known and intimate so as not to generate rejection and reactivity. However, they can be very beneficial in adapting one's own expectations to the framework of the relationship that the other person holds.

2. Questions about childhood

People close to us can give us access to more personal information about their past, something that will help us to understand them.This will help us to understand and empathize with them even more. Questions about childhood are one of those types of questions that, by probing into the person's early life, allow us to intuit what events helped shape his or her personality.

3. Questions about oneself

People with whom you have a close relationship offer the possibility of getting to know yourself better. offer the possibility of getting to know oneself better from another point of view.They are characterized by being more sincere than the rest. This allows us to ask them questions about ourselves. It may surprise us to see to what extent they see us differently from ourselves, even when it comes to those aspects of our personality that we believe define us.

4. Questions about one's own weaknesses

Technically, this type of question is part of the previous one, but its importance means that it must be emphasized. They give us the possibility of knowing the public image that we give and the aspects that others consider most improvable about ourselves.

5. Questions about one's own appearance

This would also belong to the category of questions about oneself, but it is more circumstantial. It serves to ask for sincere opinions about the appearance that is shown, and are important in those cases in which the person is not in a good mood.They are important in those cases in which we care highly or moderately about the image we give. However, these types of questions can become obsessive if we become "addicted" to them, so it's best to reserve them for special occasions. At the end of the day, beauty standards have a lot of power and can become too normative.

6. Questions about future plans

In this type of question, it is not only possible to ask about the more formal aspects of the other person's plans (such as the career path he or she wants to pursue), but it is also possible to ask about the other person's expectations for the future. but it is also possible to refer to the expectations and passions that drive the other person to that drive the other person to make plans to achieve certain goals.

7. What-if scenario questions

This type of question is very general and therefore can be asked to people we have just met, but when we use them with close people we can ask some hypothetical questions that only make sense in these cases. For example: do you think we would make good roommates? In this way you delve into what the other person thinks about the relationship and each other's way of being..

8. Questions about third parties

People close to you are more capable of offering honest opinions about other people that are not totally shaped by social pressure and the desire to belong to a group. This makes their opinions on the subject often more nuanced and richer in detail, and therefore useful for gaining more insight into others' ways of being.

9. Questions about political opinions

In many cultures it is frowned upon to ask about political opinions of people you don't know very well, which is why they are reserved.In many cultures it is frowned upon to ask about political opinions to people you don't know very well, and that's why they are reserved for people from the closest and most intimate environment. Inquiring about this can help you to understand the other person's way of seeing the world, and to learn about his or her ethical scale and priorities.

10. Questions about the family situation

Family problems are a big taboo in our society, but in some cases we can be in some cases we can become close enough to someone to ask them about it.. In this way we will know how we can help that person, if there are problems, and we will also better understand his or her behavior and way of thinking.