This tech report from MS research indicates they are trying to
cope with the personality variances of consumers:
http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/69656/tr-98-12.pdf
It's very mathematized, not very validated, but at least an
insight into behavioral groupings of consumers to a very, very limited extent.
A company named ARO, Inc received a patent back in 2003 with the
title:
"Methods and Apparatus for Predicting and Selectively
Collecting Preferences Based on Personality Diagnosis"
which is located at:
http://www.patent2pdf.com/pdf/06655963.pdf
There are others as well.
Sincerely,
Rich Cooper,
Rich Cooper,
Chief Technology Officer,
MetaSemantics Corporation
MetaSemantics AT EnglishLogicKernel DOT com
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http://www.EnglishLogicKernel.com