How the measuring works.

A video goes in. We count what the person does, read traits from it, and place each one among other people.

What a video shows

Every second is read on six channels at once:

• The words: what is said and how it is put together.
• The voice: pitch, loudness and their changes, without the words.
• Timing: pace, pauses, how long an answer takes to start.
• The face: expressions, how they start, hold and fade.
• The eyes and head: where they point, and when they move away and back.
• The body: hands, posture and movement.

The face, the voice and timing are harder to steer on purpose than words.

From video to traits

Measures are behaviors we count, such as speed of speech. Each has a plain definition, and it means exactly what it counts.

Traits describe the person: how they think, decide and come across. Each trait is read from measures of what the person does across the video. Some traits are read without the words. A trait can be wrong, so each one is checked.

During the guided test, people answer everyday questions in their own words. We do not say which question feeds which result: knowing it changes how people answer.

A place among people

A number about one person means little on its own. Each result is a place among other people, said in tenths at the ends: “faster than 9 in 10 people”. A place in the middle is said as the middle.

Everything a report says comes from one video. It describes how a person came across in that video.

Why a report can be short

A report says a result only when it is sure of it. A short or quiet video gives a shorter report. When nothing is sure, the report says what the video lacked.

How traits are checked

• It must hold within the video. The first half of a video and the second must agree.
• It must hold from one video to the next. The same person, recorded again, must land close to where they were.
• It must not be another trait under a new name. Two traits that always move together are counted as one.

Whether a reader agrees with their report is not one of the checks.

What it does not do

• No diagnoses. It describes behavior and never names or screens for a medical or mental-health condition.
• No rating of looks. A report never describes or scores your appearance, build or attractiveness.
• No verdicts. A result is a place among people. Neither end of a trait is the better one.

The atlas lists the traits and measures, each with its two ends. The questions we are studying are on the research page.