People who report seeing UFOs do not fit the common stereotype of being mentally unstable or highly reactive.

Many people assume that those who see UFOs are just highly emotional or prone to imagining things. However, a scientific study of personality traits showed this stereotype is wrong. Researchers compared people who saw UFOs with those who had not. They found that the observers were actually quite normal, often scoring high in traits like openness and curiosity. Most people who see strange things in the sky never report them to anyone, mostly because they are afraid of being laughed at.