Personality Testing

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Personality Testing
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Definition of Personality
Personality refers to factors inside people
that explain their behavior (MacKinnon,
1944). The sum total of typical ways of acting,
thinking, and feeling that makes a person
unique.
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History of Personality

• Ancient Greeks characterized human character by
  excessive influence of bodily fluids blood,
  yellow black bile, and phlegm.
• Early psychological examinations looked at
  psychopathology.
• By the 1930s researchers started looking at the
  structure of everyday behaviour. Came up with
  universal traits.

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Traits

• Relatively enduring patterns of behavior
  (thinking, acting, and feeling) that are
  relatively consistent across situations.
• Trait Examples
• - introvert
• extrovert
• assertiveness
• persistence (Mayer)
• narcissism
• Resilience
• -locus of control

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The Trait Theory
Many agree that five basic traits provide a
complete description of our personalities. They
are
Openness - refers to open-minded thinking and
interest
Conscientiousness - refers to how organized and
persistent we are in pursuing our goals.
Extroversion - refers to the preference for,
behavior in social situations
Agreeableness - refers to how well we tend to
interact with others
Neuroticism - refers to the tendency to
experience negative thoughts and feelings.
Additions to the Big Five? Honesty, Respect,
Integrity,.
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How Personality is AssessedFrank
(1939) stated that an initial difficulty in the
study of personality is the lack of any clear cut
conception of what is to be studied.- construct
validity issues
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What Are Projective Tests?
A projective test uses ambiguous stimuli
designed to reveal the contents of the clients
unconscious mind.
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What Are Objective Tests?
In an objective test, no attempt is made to
subjectively understand what the person means by
answer to each question.
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What Make a Good Personality Measure
Interpretability - Broad vs. Narrow (more
reliable) Stability - Are tests valid? -
Are they reliable? - Are they standardized?
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How is Personality Different from Mood?

• Temporal stability short vs. long term?
• Assumed etiology/cause situation specific vs.
  person-centered?
• Assumed mutability changeable or stable?

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Objective Tests

• Examples
• 16PF
• Myers Briggs Inventory (better to use the
  NEO-PI)
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
  (MMPI)

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The MMPI-2

• 567 item, T/F inventory developed using an
  empirical approach
• Criterion group validation (T gt 65)
• Low face validity (see Burisch criteria)
• Validity scales (e.g., L, K, F, Fb, S, VRIN/TRIN)
• Primary clinical
• Restructured clinical
• Content/Content component
• Supplemental

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Subjective Tests

• TAT
• Rorschach using Exner scoring system
• Location
• Determinant
• Content
• Popular