Thomas PPA Results Explained: Work Mask, Behaviour Under Pressure and Self Image
How the Thomas PPA turns 24 sets of adjectives into three DISC graphs, why Self Image can be negative, what employers read, and why there is no pass mark.
The Personal Profile Analysis, now sold as Thomas Behaviour, is the short adjective questionnaire Thomas International offers alongside its aptitude test. The report that comes out of it is three small graphs and several pages of narrative. Thomas publishes a full sample, and once you see how the numbers relate, the graphs are easy to read.
What you actually answered
Thomas describes the PPA as 24 items, each a set of four adjectives. For every set you pick the word that is most like you and the word that is least like you, so you make 48 choices in total. It is untimed and Thomas says it takes under 8 minutes. Its candidate guidance is unambiguous: “There is no ‘correct’ behavioral style. The assessment measures your natural preferences, so you cannot pass or fail.”
The four letters
The graphs plot four factors. Thomas defines each one as a response to something in the working environment:
These are renamed versions of William Marston's original four, which were Dominance, Inducement, Submission and Compliance. Thomas's own science paper says so, which is why you may see DISC spelled out two different ways.
The three graphs, with Thomas's sample scores
Thomas's published sample report ends with a scores page. These are its numbers, unchanged.
- d
- 12
- i
- 4
- s
- 0
- c
- 4
- d
- 2
- i
- 1
- s
- 10
- c
- 9
- d
- 10
- i
- 3
- s
- -10
- c
- -5
Look at the columns and one relationship jumps out: subtract Graph II from Graph I and you get Graph III on every scale. D is 12 minus 2, which is 10. S is 0 minus 10, which is minus 10. Thomas does not spell the scoring out, but together with the MOST and LEAST format the arithmetic points to a simple model:
- Work Mask (Graph I) counts the words you picked as most like you, by factor. Thomas reads it as how you present yourself at work.
- Behaviour Under Pressure (Graph II) counts the words you picked as least like you. A high count means you rejected that factor's words, so it is pushed down, not up. That is why Thomas's narrative for the sample says the person “emphasises his influencing skills” under pressure even though the raw I figure is just 1: he almost never rejected an Influence word.
- Self Image (Graph III) is the difference between the two, which is why it is the only graph that goes negative, and why Thomas leads its narrative with it.
The sample also shows that not every word scores. Graph I adds up to 20 and Graph II to 22, not 24, so some adjectives in each set count towards no factor at all. That too is inferred from the arithmetic; Thomas does not publish its word key.
What the employer reads
The graphs are a small part of the report. Thomas's sample runs to six pages, almost all of it narrative built from the graphs:
The Interviewer's Guide is the part to take seriously. In the sample it suggests questions about problem solving, leadership and whether the candidate is a team player or an independent specialist. If you sat a PPA, expect the interview to test the profile, and prepare examples that show the range behind it; the STAR method is the usual shape for those answers. Thomas itself says the report “should never be used in isolation but always in conjunction with both an interview” and an assessment of experience and qualifications.
How much weight the evidence will bear
The PPA has been reviewed by the British Psychological Society, but we could not access the review, so we cannot report its reliability or norm figures. DISC as a model has critics, and a Dutch prep site notes that DISC has never been submitted to COTAN, the Dutch test review board. None of that changes how to read your report, but it is a reason for an employer to treat it as a conversation starter, which is how Thomas positions it.
If you also sat the HPTI or TEIQue
Thomas's other questionnaires are reported differently. The HPTI personality assessment has 78 statements rated from 1 to 7 and reports six traits, Conscientiousness, Adjustment, Curiosity, Risk Approach, Ambiguity Acceptance and Competitiveness, which Thomas frames as strengths and potential derailers: very high is not automatically good. The TEIQue emotional intelligence questionnaire has 153 items feeding 15 facets and four factors. Neither has a pass mark, and Thomas does not publish the size or make-up of the comparison groups.
The aptitude side of Thomas is a different matter entirely, with right answers and a real score; our Thomas GIA tips cover it. To see the PPA and HPTI formats before the real thing, try our Thomas practice, and for personality questionnaires in general see the personality test guide.
