Socially, I can feel the "vibe" of the room. Sometimes it can hit you like a wave particularly if there seems to be hostility. Then afterwards, if I deemed the social interaction to be important I will "debrief" myself and will pick up the unusual things that occurred and try and piece it all together. Why did that person react that way when something was said? I think I do take things in, but process only afterwards when I wind down.
At work however, I am a completely different person (at least in important meetings). I am "in the moment", processing all the interactions in real time. I become hyper-logical as well. I suppose it's something I've learned to do, as it does deplete me. I also used to provide classroom training and I tried to read each person in real time to assess their understanding of the content I was delivering. I liked delivering the training but the effort expended in assessing each person made it debilitating for me in the end.
A chameleon I suppose.
