Article: Don’t mistake profiling as some psychic trick where you guess random facts about a person. Instead, remember that profiling is a sociological study tool typically used by law enforcement officials to better understand a person’s thoughts and feelings. Note that profiling is not an exact science, and that it takes time, focus, and patience to do properly.  Profiling is used in dramatic scenes throughout crime films and TV shows. While this skill can be used for intense, crime-solving purposes, you’ll probably use it to tune into the thoughts and feelings of your acquaintances and loved ones. Don’t verbally profile a person unless you have their permission. Explore aspects of the social penetration theory, which states that a person’s thoughts, desires, and feelings are multilayered, like an onion. Use this theory to think about the basic information that people convey about themselves, versus the deeper thoughts and feelings that relate to their private life. Remember—when you profile a person, you’re trying to dig beneath that outer layer and gain new insight into the way they think and feel. Try to understand what separates that outer layer from a person’s innermost thoughts and feelings.  According to social penetration theory, the outermost layer is a person’s “public image,” or how they portray themselves to other people. A person’s “middle layers” relate more to how they see the world. Social and political opinions can be categorized here. The “inner layers” include a person’s phobias, dreams, hopes, and religious beliefs. These are pieces of information that you can’t get from a basic conversation. The “core personality” is considered the central layer, and it includes very private information about a person. Use profiling to get a vague sense of a person’s mood, thought process, and motivations. While this skill doesn’t give you mind-reading capabilities, you can use a person’s speech patterns, gestures, and behaviors to get a rough idea of how comfortable or uneasy a person feels in any given moment. Always use profiling as a way to understand someone better, instead of viewing the skill as some kind of magic trick. Chances are, you won’t be using your profiling skills for any law enforcement purpose. Instead, use profiling as a way to understand how a person is feeling so you can interact with them in a more polite and productive way. Take note of racial, gender, and other common stereotypes and prejudices that can have a negative impact on the way that you profile a person’s behaviors and speech patterns. Before you draw any conclusions, ask yourself if your profile is in any way influenced by the person’s physical appearance and social status. If the answer to this question is “yes,” then try redoing your profile without these stereotypes and prejudices.  Try to identify any internalized prejudice right off the bat. If you automatically view someone differently because of their gender or race, take time to backtrack so you can view them from an unbiased perspective. If you’re having trouble connecting with other groups of people, try befriending someone from a different cultural background. This might help increase your understanding and open-mindedness in the profiling process.

What is a summary?
Know that profiling is a way of studying someone and not a guessing game. Use profiling to understand how people think. Profile someone to get a sense of their thoughts and feelings. Identify possible prejudices that can interfere with your profiling.