RULE-G02 — Trait expression is probabilistic, never deterministic

Principle

Traits are tendencies, frequencies, leanings — never constants. The framework's claim is probabilistic-and-situational. Absolute trait predication violates it.

The pattern

✗ [subject] is always [trait verb]
✗ [subject] is never [trait predicate]
✗ [subject] will [trait verb]
✗ [trait] determines / defines [behavior]

✓ [subject] tends to [trait verb]
✓ [subject] usually [trait verb] (in situations like X)
✓ [trait] usually shows up / surfaces / reliably appears (when ...)
✓ [subject] leans toward [trait predicate]

The rule covers any predication that asserts a deterministic relation between a person and a trait expression — including the verbs is, will, determines, defines, means.

Why

This entry is downstream of:

• CLM-L034 — Trait expression is probabilistic and tendency-based (the explicit theoretical authority for this rule).
• CLM-L021 — Natures are situational; expression is conditional on situational pull.
• CLM-L022 — Capacity vs. sustainability — both are probabilistic constructs, neither is a constant.
• CLM-L025 — Combinatorial profile space — every score is a probability across situations, not a type-membership.

What deterministic language smuggles in

When a writer says "she is always funny," three things happen at once:

1. The trait gets locked to the person (identity collapse — see RULE-G01).
2. The situational variation gets erased (a denial of CLM-L021).
3. The trait gets treated as a cause of behavior rather than a propensity (mild personalization — see CLM-L020).

The probabilistic reformulation undoes all three: it puts the trait into a probability frame, surfaces situational variation, and treats expression as a tendency rather than a determinant.

Common slip

Marketing-voice and clinical-voice both default to absolute claims. Specific phrases to flag in drafts:

• always / never (in trait contexts)
• will (when followed by a trait expression — "she will entertain at any party")
• determines / defines (when the subject is a trait)
• is (when the predicate is a trait — "he is funny" → "he tends to be funny")
• means (when the antecedent is a trait — "his Entertaining Nature means he will...")

The fix is usually a one-word swap. The conceptual shift is large but the linguistic move is small.

Edge case — narrative emphasis

Rhetorical "always" in narrative ("she's always the one who walks in late") is acceptable when situationally bounded — particular team, particular pattern, particular timeframe. The rule is strict for general trait predication, lighter for storytelling within a defined frame.

Edge case — extreme scores

Some traits at extreme scores (e.g., 10/10 Entertaining or 1/10 Interpersonal) approach near-invariant expression in practice. The framework's view: even in these cases, the language must remain probabilistic. The empirical near-determinism does not license the deterministic predicate. "She has a 10/10 Entertaining Nature and tends to perform across nearly every situation we've observed" is correct. "She always performs" is not.

Edge case — diagnostic shorthand

Internal clinical/diagnostic notes ("high E, low I — likely solo-work fit") are acceptable shorthand. The rule applies most strictly to client-facing and public-facing prose.

See also

• RULE-G01 — Predicate-nominative typology (the related grammatical prohibition).
• DEC-001 — Trait valuation (the related decision-rule on absolute language).
• CLM-L034 — Theoretical authority.
• CLM-L021 — Situational claim authority.