Waq 09IProfiling is the use of personal characteristics or behavior patterns to make

generalizations about a person.

Machiavellian psychology suggests that if you profile people around you, you'll be less inclined to be
involved in personal conflicts. How do you achieve this? First, you need to be receptive to the act of
reading people and focus your energy on the task. Once you've reached this awareness, understand
what you are looking for and master the act of listening. Keep the conversation flowing by asking
questions. Make sure to be familiar with any slang, exaggerations, sarcasm, self-criticism, or gossip, as
these characteristics can define the person you are profiling. Pay attention to body language and
whether acts are consistent with what is being said. Watch out for mistakes, because if repeated often,
the excuses are no longer valid.
The statements and actions of people can help you better understand who they are: their emotional
style, their self-esteem, their negative or positive directions, their goals, and if they're able to adapt
easily to their surroundings. You may not be able to read everything—after all, this is not a mind-reading
exercise—but you'll certainly have some greater insights into the person you're studying.

What is personality profiling?

Personality profiling – sometimes referred to as psychometric testing or psychological profiling –

is a means of measuring an individual’s personality in a particular situation. It is not a measure
of intelligence or ability – but of behaviour.

Profiling provides a snapshot view of the preferred behaviour that comes subconsciously to
most people. This is the behaviour with which they are ‘comfortable’ and can sustain for long
periods of time. This behaviour is social and intellectual – not physical.

Learning how to profile people has many advantages. While it is mostly used in criminal investigations,
profiling has come quite in handy in everyday situations.

Not only does it allow you to gain a deeper insight into people's actions, it also gives you an upper hand
in many situations.

In this article, I'll teach you a few simple but handy tips on how to profile people.

Tip #1: Pay Attention to Body Language.

People say one thing but do another. By looking at a person's body language, you'll be able to detect if
there is any discomfort or conflict in him.

A person who is lying, for example, will find it difficult to look at you in the eye. A relaxed posture, on
the other hand, can be (though not completely) a sign of innocence. Tense shoulders and stuttering can
mean that there is something the person isn't saying.
Tip #2: Watch Out for Reactions.

The way people react to certain things can also teach you more than a few things about them. For
example, a person who reacts visually - those who notice the stunning view above all else - are said to
respond more strongly to logic.

But what if the person is more attuned to the sound of the waves rolling? Those people are typically
called Auditories and respond more to verbal communication.

Tip #3: Observe Good Habits and Bad Habits.

If you want to know how to profile people, you've got to be a keen observer. One thing you can do as
practice is to identify the habits of the people around you.

Even if you don't know them personally or have only ever seen them once, it is possible for you to pick
up on their mannerisms simply by studying their actions.

Tip #4: Listen for Specific Words.

The words people use can say a lot about them and their personality.

People who use words like fabulous or fantastic are more likely to be flamboyant in nature than others.
People who use highfalutin words probably had a good education or are covering for one form of
insecurity or another.

From this alone, you can now hypothesize on the kind of things that the person is interested in.

Tip #5: Clothes Make the Man (Or Woman).

Learning how to profile people is also quite fun as it exercises your mind. It trains you to become more
observant and to look for things that other people may not have even thought of.

Looking at how they dress up, for example, can already tell you a lot of things. Do they dress sloppily or
are they obscenely neat?

These are just some of the ways on how to profile people. The more often you practice profiling, the
better you get at identifying types of people and personalities. Reading more about it won't hurt either!