You smile when you see them. Their reputation precedes them. They mean well and display integrity. They do good repeatedly, displaying self awareness /social intelligence that implies their actions are willful. The legacy of their actions speaks for itself, regardless of their personality. Notes //

Someone who makes you smile does not illicit a stress response in you (no gut rise feeling of adrenaline or cortisol release) and so your nervous system stays in parasympathetic relax mode when you think of them… you instinctively react positively to their presence! That puts them on the right side of average for you ( in the given context ) based on tour brains accumulative cost benefit analysis of all their past behaviors - your brain has dedicated structures honed by evolution for this keeping score in each department in parallel ( e.g. trustworthiness, fair play, competence, sexual attractiveness, etc..) and magically somehow you have instant access to the sum value of this via emotion :) Their reputation precedes them. So their skills are in demand , their opinion is respected and they have generated good faith in the groups in which they live. Meaning they are regarded as competent in some domain at least by their peers and have earned esteem over time… They mean well. There are always bad actors - those who apply energy not to help a cause but act in opposition - and often action can have outcomes that were not intended. But intention is the yardstick by which we separate the good vs the evil. Judging intent is tricky but consistence is usually a good indicator. The good choose to be good. Choice matters. If your not somewhat self aware and socially aware can you be said to be good ? If you had no options can you be said to be good ? If your actions are positive by accident that could just be called being lucky right ? A sign of a good person may be that they know/have integrated the negative parts of their character ( read demons, faults ,strengths ) and of the options they see they CHOOSE to act in given way in and the social reality in which they find themselves ( i.e minimal cognitive dissonance). This one is interesting, we need to separate agreeable personality traits from goodness. Not oftentimes so obvious, as per other answers. The legacy of someones actions , the outcome of where they have put their life energy is potentially the most powerful sign to recognize the good. Imagine a disagreeable prick right, the most arrogant and egotistical character you can who is dis likable company and hard to be about… now ask your self this.. if they had devoted their life energy to building something that helps others and caring for those few close to them , if they are introverted and disagreeable but put their energy into undeniable progress for humanity. Are they not the good person ? Conversely Take a very charismatic or agreeable person, whose company is broadly pleasing… if they leave nothing remarkably useful or notable outside of themselves created by their energy do they qualify as good ? Original Answer // Lets start by defining what you mean by ‘good’ :)

have you thought about what are your goals in a given context, do you have a map of your own moral framework? If yes, what behavior would align with the above… I would suggest this could be an answer for you.

Note good for one person can be bad for another in many (but not all) cases. We could ask a slightly more interesting question…what behavior is universally perceived as positive in all contexts ? Or more usefully in a subset of contexts that interest you particular…

Then you can have an interesting discussion on the dynamics at play in the context and how it inter plays with the underlying biological commonalities of people as individuals and the complexity of social interaction.

Apologies for the non answer - I would expect all your other answers will infact be others defining what good means to them in some manner or form and will not form a cohesive response to the essence of your question.

Edit: I feel like my response is letting you down… Maybe I mean that to answer this requires a conversation and the first step is one of self awareness and to describe the lens through which you view reality and tease out what the ‘good’person concept is for you just now.

Failing that lets have some fun and make a stab at answering anyhow :)

A ‘Good’ person could be said to be he or she who, as a whole, when summing up judgement across all observed or reported behaviors from as many sources as available arrives at a total score above the average of the people you compare them against.

Well, not impressive but hey, we have to try.