Modified: 2020-04-21
Scientific trait theories end up with a similar kind of description after asking people a long list of questions. Those questions have been grouped together into clusters by a technique known as factor analysis. Then those clusters are given arbitrary names. An older classification of this type is the 16 PF, where PF stands for personality factor. That test ends up describing individuals via 16 factors. Other approaches yield from 3 (Eysenck) to 5 (Norman) factors. The Five Factor Theory has proven to be very popular. The factors are easily remembered by the acronyms CANOE or OCEAN. They stand for:
Conscientiousness
Agreeableness
Neuroticism
Openness
Extraversion
The MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) is more similar to the 16 PF in its approach. It asks subjects nearly 500 questions and ends up with 14 scales or traits to describe subjects. The MMPI and 16 PF and other such instruments popularized the term personality profile because the results can be graphed in such a manner.
Another secret trait approach is used at airports. It is the Skyjacker Profile. It was developed to catch potential skyjackers before they boarded a plane. It is administered by observation by airport personnel. Few know the behaviors sampled, and I urge you not to try to see what they are because you may miss your next flight.
Police have also developed a similar behavioral assessment, a drug-runner profile. Courts have ruled that using such profiles violates constitutional rights. Police may get around such restrictions by stopping people who meet the profile for other violations (e.g.,. taillight out, speeding, or registration violations). Members of our department, for instance, were stopped once while returning from Houston, apparently because they were driving the speed limit and nobody else was, had a nice out-of-state car, and a woman was driving with two men. The police detained the trio for awhile, and finally asked if they could have a dog sniff the car. When the woman said that she thought that would be neat, because she had never seen a drug dog in action, the police let them go. No citation was issued. Many drugs are confiscated along that particular stretch of road, however.
You should be aware, however, that personality profiling is nowhere near the exact science it is often portrayed on TV.