Indirect Personality Assessment

Indirect Personality Assessment(IPA)

Supervisory Special Agents Roy Hazelwood and Dick Ault, PhD, of the FBI’s famed National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime(NCAVC), designed the first IPA questionnaire as a means of gaining insight into hidden motivations of known violent offenders. By asking carefully crafted questions of several people who know/knew the subject personally, and then amalgamating the answers from several sources into one pool of information, we can learn a lot about what "makes him tick".

Research, experience and common sense all tell us that personality traits transcend the boundaries of circumstance. The same individual will reflect many of the same traits and characteristics under different circumstances and stressors. It is, therefore, possible to look beyond the veneer(persona) that almost all subjects project to others and pre-determine with reasonable accuracy how he/she will behave in one set of circumstances by studying how he/she behaved at a different time and place. The more detailed, specific and organized the information gathered - the more accurate can be the results. It is with this concept in mind that the IPA was designed.

The original FBI IPA consisted of 69 questions to be asked of persons who know/knew the subject. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) further refined and expanded this questionnaire so as to focus on specialized situations such as sexual predators. Forensic Behavioural Analysis (FBA) has further refined the IPA questionnaire for application to a variety of situations beyond law enforcement. Evaluating the threat posed by an individual to persons or property and preparation for a non-police interview such as examination for discovery are just two examples of areas where use of the IPA has proved to be of great value.

By gathering the right information in a consistent and organized way and then analysing it, a trained expert can predict, with reasonable accuracy, how the subject will react to a variety of stimuli in an interview or under cross-examination in court. Ideally, an investigator gathers the necessary information, using the IPA as a guide, and provides the results to a trained Criminal Investigative Analyst(sometimes called psychological or criminal profiler) for analysis. Each situation is different and there is no "cook book" approach. By blending this approach with a style that has already proved effective in their past experience the innovative professional can always enhance his or her effectiveness. This process can apply to a variety of circumstances including threat assessment, interview strategy, investigative strategy and trial strategy.

Funk & Wagnalls Canadian College Dictionary defines "persona" as The personality assumed by an individual for the purpose of concealment, defense, deception, or adaptation to his environment - a mask. The purpose of the IPA is to look behind the persona and reveal the true nature and personality of the subject being analyzed. The products of this process are suggestions for effectively dealing with the subject in a given situation, such as examination for discovery or investigative interview. Unlike the "Hollywood" portrayal of such techniques, Indirect Personality Assessment is a work intensive process and not designed for casual use on a daily basis. Rather, when applied in carefully selected cases where the time, effort, and expense are justified, it can make the difference between winning and losing that all important advantage. The IPA currently in use by FBA consists of 112 questions, in 8 different categories. No one interviewee is likely to have an answer for all 112 questions but the analysis of the amalgamated pool of information from several such interviews regarding the same subject has provided the means to effectively deal with cases of homicide, rape, arson, bombing, stalking, threats, civil suits and a wide range of other situations.
EXAMPLES

1. PLAINTIFF - in a protracted civil suit a key defendant had been denying responsibility for causing wrongful death for years. By combining a line of questions developed from his Indirect Personality Assessment together with their own skills, lawyers for the plaintiff successfully obtained a full admission of responsibility from that defendant during his examination for discovery.

2. DEFENDANT - the defendant felt that the civil suit launched by a former associate was vengeful and without merit. An Indirect Personality Assessment of the plaintiff provided a strategy to the defendant's lawyer that resulted in the plaintiff abandoning the suit.