How I build a behavioural Profile
Guide on how to read people
If you have fallen down the rabbit hole of criminal profiling after watching shows like Criminal Minds, you are not alone.
I have always consumed media that fed my fascination of human behaviour and biology, but I got to a point where I needed something more to help me make sense of the world.
My problem was that I couldn’t bring my gut feeling and hunches to focus.I could sense the subtle hesitation behind someone’s answer or notice when they behaved in a way that felt uncharacteristic of them. But the answer to: why? I couldn’t get to it.
But after years of reading, studying and pattern recognition — I created my own template. Including a catalogue of ways and methods I use to unpack a person's behaviour and what they leave unsaid.
Overview:
Behavioural profiling for me boils down to BPE’s and the human structure. BPE’s stand for behaviour, personality and environment, which are the stilts actions and interactions balance on. Furthermore, BPEs can be visualised as a basic human stick figure: a spine and head representing who and what we are, and jutting out into the past and present are legs ,our roots, and arms,our actions and interactions.
Just a disclaimer: I have come up with this template from existing psychology and science research as well as my own experience. This is not a 100% correct professional guide that will output a answer to every input you give it. This is a fluid guide that will hopefully prompt you to think more stratigically.
When analysing people and after teaching you everything I know, you will only be successful if you have nuance. A furrowed brow or slight frown is an observation, not definitive evidence of someone’s feelings. You need to consider the broader context before interpreting it. Reading body and facial language is incredibly unpredictable.
But with probability on your side, you can predict behaviors semi- accurately.
So, like any Science experiment, you have to account for other variables that may influence an observation and collect a variety of data to confidently draw a conclusion.
Spine: Statistics
Basic statistics about a person can greatly narrow who you are looking at. Stereotypes are bad; however, probable stereotypes play a big part in profiling. Women vs men, children vs adults, poor vs rich- are all labels that harbour specific mannerisms and hobbies.
Knowing one’s age, gender, and other basic statistics narrows down the parameters that contain your expectations for them.
Gender is made up of biological predispositions and social learning. Cultivates societal expectations, communication styles and cultural roles.
Females are often associated with femininity, nurturing qualities, emotional expressiveness, and being better listeners. In terms of communication, women may be more likely to use personal and animate pronouns and communicate within more relational or contextual frameworks.
Men are often associated with masculine presentation, competitiveness, and assertiveness. In terms of communication, men may be more likely to use quantifiers and informational summaries, focusing on concise, factual, and information-oriented communication.
I divided age into different groups by which I think they share similar behaviours and views.
Children (1–6) are sort of barely cognitive, but at this age they are a sponge. They are still developing at a rapid rate, so they mimic their surroundings to learn how to act. Their behaviour and speech patterns most likely reflect their family who they mimic.
Kids (7–13) at this age are still acting like what they observe, but their circle is beginning to broaden.
Teens (14–16) are emotional, easily swayed, with a fragile sense of self. They are beginning to form their own independent views and thoughts. These days, because of our unregulated access to social media, teens tend to be very gullible and overwhelmed with the amount of views and opinions they see daily.
Young adults (17–21) are going through a reality check. The pressure starts, education and work for the future begin, and they are beginning to navigate the real world
Middle adults (22–30) are still figuring it out. Their choices are a catalyst for their future, and they are beginning to solidify their position in their career and in life as a whole.
Premium adults (31–40) are at the peak of their life. Their work during their young-middle adult payed off. They are in the midst of their career; they have settled into their living situation and have the money to do the things they want. However, some may be in their mid-life crisis and experience a hurdle to jump over every month.
Aunty/Uncle (41–59). 50% are living a successful and wealthy lifestyle after climbing the career ladder and settling debts. 50% hate their life and themselves and make it everyone's problem because they think the world robbed them of a comfortable life.
ma/pa (60 +) have old school views and are still stuck in 80s.
The majority of people have an average education. Decent Primary and high school, onto a local college and then toward a mediocre job with an insignificant standing.
Those that went to premium institutions either won't ever mention it at all or you won't stop hearing of it. However, those who went to such institutions use their education as an extension of themselves rather than a tool — it's integrated into everything they do. Furthermore, these people most likely work in competitive, prestigious jobs with high standing and have a series of connections and privileges dating back to familial connections. I mean, how do you think they could attend such premium institutions?
Informal education show ones roots and upbringing. Those in low-to-medium-earning households will have a catalogue of skills that involve taking care of a family and house- this is their fate. Meanwhile, those with wealthy roots often prioritise skills like investing, financial literacy and networking. These informal skills feed the children of these households a taste of their expected future and darkens the border between rich and poor.
Everyone has or had a family.
As said earlier, environment plays a crucial part in one's actions and interactions. The home is said to be the most sacred place in a human's life, so naturally what occurs behind closed doors moulds those living behind it.
Generational patterns often run in the family: marrying young, owning a business, abuse, alcoholism, specific mannerisms, etc.
Head: The invisible control centre
What set of principles does this person choose to follow, and through what lens do they see the world?
Many people are hypocrites; they rewrite the story to always cast them as the hero, they blatantly step on the same lines they draw for others and then pretend the line was never there. Which is why if you want to uncover someone’s true moral compass, you should look out for which of their rules they fiercely protect or step over when it benefits them.
Rules are put in place to keep those in power; it serves one and punishes another. If you know what rules or views someone has, it tells you what they believe in and, conversely, what or who they shun.
Intention and motive are the why behind actions and interactions.
Once you can take in and analyse the bigger picture, you can get a rough idea of the person's intentions, but to be more accurate, you should catalogue the person's behaviour over a period of time to properly connect their actions to an intention and motive.
This is also influenced by beliefs: cultural and religious
What are they getting out of this interaction? Why choose those words to convey their opinion or request?
Oftentimes actions and visual cues are heavily taken into consideration, which unfortunately makes one overlook verbal clues. The words someone uses and the tone which coats these words are equally as important.
Comprehension is so important. The use of big flowery words does not matter. What does the English used in communication tell you? The use of tenses, quantifying language, context clues and pronouns tell you so much if you notice them and let them weigh on your mind.
(This is a whole field in Profiling called Linguistics)
Choice architecture is the deliberate design of the environment and contexts in which people make decisions
Subtly steering behaviour through layout and defaults. When all else fails when making decisions, we are driven by our choice architecture.
Default: pre-selected, default option.
Framing: present the information in a positive or negative light.
Positioning: put on a pedestal, make the choice desirable.
Simplicity: removing unnecessary complex parameters- whatever is easiest
Legs : Our roots
Your past experiences shape you. As you grow, you categorise your experiences as something you like or dislike so you know what to do next time it happens again. (Think of touching something hot-behavioural conditioning). Thus, by seeing how people interact in situations, you can see if this is deep-rooted or not.
This is helpful because if you know someone’s past experiences, good or bad, it will help you lean into or away from specific behaviours depending on your intention toward this person.
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Hate is the loudest emotion, so getting to know what people's trauma/triggers are is quite easy to notice.
Trauma is a deeply distressing event or chronic stressor that shatters a person’s sense of safety. It affects a person's brain chemistry by pressuring the brain to adapt by altering the nervous system to ensure survival. The amygdala becomes hyperactive and learned associations become prominent.
So because the brain cannot distinguish between past and present, an involuntary biological stress response could occur:
Avoidance: withdraw from people or the situation.
Aggression: in desperate need to take control of the environment.
Flight: physically removing oneself.
Freeze: dissociation and mentally clocking out.
Fawn: people-pleaser, mediator to diffuse a situation and prevent conflict.
Beliefs are the foundation of human behaviour, identity and morality. The lens people see the world through. Belief systems are created to make sense of the unknown and to create order.
The advantages of some beliefs are shown through their restraint, honesty, generosity, and community.
No one is perfect, and oftentimes harmful beliefs are passed down and go unnoticed by the user.
Overcompensation. A lot of religious people dive headfirst into repentance after ‘committing a sin’ or try to make it look like they are pious. This isn’t always bad, but oftentimes it is with shallow intention.
Racism, colourism, sexism, homophobia and bullying minorities can all be picked up by small microaggressions.
Pay careful attention to how they respond to topics involving minorities; it will tell you about their politics.
I like to subtly bring up pop-culture topics with new people I meet because it often will always reveal people's inner thinking and opinions without creating tension and an opportunity for violence.
Politics are deep; it may not seem like a big deal sometimes, but it can quickly develop. Think of beliefs as an archive where each file is an individual belief. Some beliefs are connected and cannot be installed without the other.
For example, those who have a left-wing ideology most likely also believe in feminist concepts- it's pre-installed. This is all to say that if you let it slide that a friend of yours says something a bit out of line, don’t be shocked later when they are blatantly a horrible person.
Arms
In every interaction, a person displays their behaviour. This is something you should catalogue over time to see what behaviours are habits.
What do they do when they lie? What do they do when uncomfortable? Everyone has tells, for when they lie or get triggered. If you can interpret their behaviour, you can see what they don’t say.
Cue-trigger like time, place, emotion.
Routine- physical or mental action.
Reward- positive reinforcement to help form a pattern.
Currently, where are you both? Why are they there? Are they with anyone? Who do they stick to and surround themselves with? How do they interact with their environment?
The environments people frequent give an insight into what their hobbies are. Furthermore, the way someone integrates themselves into their environment also tells you a lot about their intentions.
How do you present yourself?
Peoples routines like getting dressed, putting on makeup or skincare and fixing your hair are rituals that visually display a variety of information.
Keep in mind other variables: weather, situation, conditions, did they go somewhere else.
Impression management. People shape themselves to how they want others to perceive them to gain approval or influence. Self-promo, intimidation, exemplification (moral figure), supplication(solicit sympathy), compliment fishing.
It is also dependent on self-monitoring. High self-monitoring are those with high adaptability; meanwhile, those with low self-monitoring value self -expression.
Social media is a HEAVY influence. It tells people what to wear, how to wear it and how they must act. So, why do people listen? Why do they feel the need to listen and be told who to be?
Creator vs consumers.
Oftentimes these are people still trying to find themselves and mimic others to see if it suits them. Like trying on different skin suits because they don’t feel comfortable in their own skin.
Personality can be shown in colour scheme, silhouette, fabric, texture. One's comfort can be seen in degree of layering and covering up (is it religious? Stylistic? insecurity? showing off? hiding something specific?) Accents like jewellery, bags, hair (personal?, necessary? meaningful?)
People often focus on polishing their face. (Makeup? skincare? shaven? eyebrows and eyelashes done? teeth? smile? tired?). Hygiene is also an indicator of mental state, wealth and beliefs. (hair? nails? clothes presented, skin (tells you about their upbringing or maybe how their morning went-rush?)
Here are a few examples of petterned habits i have seen:
- First split second =actual emotion, Next second= Mask
- Lip purse= keeping something or doesnt want to say something
- Eye blocking= lying or uncomfortable
- Pacifying behaviour = feeling fluffy emotions
Red flags:
- They get angry easily (road rage, servers)
- Blame others and never take accountability (team, colleges or family)
- Lack empathy or compassion
- Attacking others unnecessarily
- Embarrass and shame others
Remember: Gather, Contextualise, Hypothesise, test and decide
The basal ganglia is the part of the brain that turns repeated choices into automatic behaviours. At first, you have to think through everything. You notice the hesitation in someone’s voice. You decide what it means. You choose how to respond, step by step.
To understand human behaviour, you need a way to interpret what you see, to translate patterns into understanding. This template I have taught you only works when used; the more you actively draw the lines connecting human behaviour, the more it will be imprinted in your subconscious.
Final note
When you can understand and predict someone better than they can, you can steer them.
Knowledge is power; by using the facts about them as tools, you can map out the path for them and direct them to say and do what you want. Or help you to get closer to someone by appealing to them.
Your first task before you try profiling others is to profile yourself. Once you darken the border of your own image, the images of others won’t bleed into you.
When profiling accurately, it is imperative to remain objective and unbiased — you need to step out of yourself and literally put yourself in others' shoes. Also, take in a variety of data over a period of time while accounting for external variables to confidently draw a conclusion.
I hope you learnt something from this article. Should I go more into depth on certain topics in Behavioural Profiling and give examples?
If you found this fascinating, I'm sure you will like the other similar topics I plan to post on Medium and YouTube, so keep an eye out.
