Most people often greet out of pity or insecurity.

The question ‘How are you (doing)?’ is the most common way of indirectly saying ‘Ask me how I am (doing)’.

We are often, if not usually, greeted mainly, or even merely, as an attempt to stop us from looking at the person greeting us, at least for a bit.

When greeting others, we usually ask them how they are doing, not because we sincerely care about how they are doing, but only because we want to be asked how we are doing.