Applying personality theory to a group of police bodyguards: A physically risky prosocial prototype?

The aim of the present study is twofold. First, to present evidence in favour of the application of the dispositional model to police applicants and second to present evidence that police bodyguard manifest a personality profile similar to that of subjects engaged in activities that imply a high level of physical risk of a prosocial kind. The sample consisted of 20 subjects, the complete Bodyguard Unit from the Autonomous Government of Catalunya. Subjects were administered the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Sensation Seeking Scale form V (SSS-V) from Zuckerman. The findings seem to favour the dispositional model and that the profile of a police bodyguard matches that of prosocials. The profile of a police bodyguard is characterized by being ambiverted, emotionally stable, with low scores on psychoticism and sensation seeking, and shows a distinctive characteristic expressed by a high sincerity and a low susceptibility to boredom.