PSK 315 Psychological Testing and Measurement (2017-2018 Fall Semester) Assist. Prof. Nilay PEKEL ULUDAĞLI Personality Assessment and Personality Tests
What is personality? «The most adequate conceptualization of a person s behavior in all its detail» «All that anyone is and that he is trying to become» «An individual s unique constellation of psychological traits that is relatively stable over time»
Personality Dozens of different definitions of personality exist No definition of personality can be applied with any generality Different theoretical approaches The general framework of the concept is very extensive (values, interests, attitudes, worldview, acculturation, sense of humor, cognitive and behavioral styles, personality states)
Trait No consensus exists regarding the definition of trait, like personality «Mental structures» R.Cattell (1950) «Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another» Guilford (1956) Context and social expectations Relatively enduring nature and cross-situational consistency Consistency of some traits is controversial (honesty, punctuality, conformity, attitude toward authority, introversion/ extraversion)
States «The transitory exhibition of some personality trait» Trait presupposes a relatively enduring behavioral predisposition, whereas the term state is indicative of a relatively temporary predisposition Relatively few personality tests distinguish traits from states Spielberg et al., «State-Trait Anxiety Inventory», «State-Trait Anger Inventory»
Personality Types «A constellation of traits that is similar in pattern to one identified category of personality within a taxonomy of personalities» E.g. depressed/depressed type Hippocrates (460-377 BC): melancholic, phlegmatic, choleric and sanguine Myers-Briggs (1943): introversion/extraversion, sensing/intuition, thinking/feeling, judging/perceiving J. Holland (1973): artistic, enterprising, investigative, social, realistic and conventional Friedman and Rosenman (1974): Type A personality and type B personality
Why Do We Assess Personality? For what type of employment is a person with this type of personality best suited? Is this individual sufficiently well adjusted for military service? What emotional and other adjustment-related factors may be responsible for this student s level of academic achievement? How has this patient s personality been affected by neurological trauma?
References for personality Self-report Advantages Disadvantages Another persons as the referent (parent, peer, teacher, spouse etc.) Leniency error/generosity error Severity error Error of central tendency Halo effect Other bias sources The effect of the context
Test Response Styles in Personality Tests Response Style Socially desirable responding Acquiescence Nonacquiescence Deviance Extreme Gamblig/cautiousness Overly positive Explanation Present oneself in a favorable light Agree with whatever is presented Disagree with whatever is presented Make unusual or uncommon responses Make extreme, as opposed to middle, ratings on a rating scale Guess-or not-guess when in doubt Claim extreme virtue through selfpresentation in a superlative manner
The scope and the format in personality tests Tests with wide scope (e.g. The California Psychological Inventory) Tests with narrow scope (e.g. Rotter Locus of Control Scale) Tests that based on a theory of personality (e.g. The Blacky Pictures Test) Atheoretical tests (e.g. MMPI) Face-to-face interview, computer-administered tests, behavioral observation, paper and pencil tests etc. Limited or detailed equipment Structured or unstructured content Frame of reference
The Blacky Pictures Test
Dimensions of Personality R. Cattell (1949) Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire Cattell had derived five factors from his primary 16 The revised version published in 2002 Costa & McCrae (1992) five factor model or «the Big Five»
Cattell Sixteen Personality Factor Warmth Reasoning Emotional stability Dominance Liveliness Rule-consciousness Social boldness Sensitivity Vigilance Abstractedness Privateness Apprehension Openness to change Self-reliance Perfectionism Tension
The NEO Personality Inventory (Big Five) It uses in both clinical applications and a wide range of research that involves personality assessment. OCEAN: o Openness o Conscientiousness o Extraversion o Agreeableness o Neuroticism
The Big Five Compared to Cattell s Five Big Five Extraversion Neuroticism Openness Agreeableness Conscientiousness Cattell s Five Introversion/Extraversion Low anxiety/high anxiety Toughmindedness/receptivity Independence/accomodation Low self-control/high selfcontrol
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Hathaway & McKinley (1940) Review of textbooks, psychiatric reports, and previously published personality test items It was published by University of Minnesota in 1943 566 items True-false items Ages 14 + 10 clinical scales
MMPI Three validity scales: o L scale (the lie scale) o F scale (the frequency scale) o K scale (the correction scale) Cannot say scale Paper and pencil, online, offline on disk, audio versions At least a sixth-grade reading level The time required to administer is between 60-90 minutes Manuel or computerized scoring Configural interpretation of scores
Ages 18 + MMPI-2 The reading level required is the same as for the MMPI The more representative standardization sample 10 clinical scales Content component scales Three new validity scales were added Back-page infrequency True response inconsistency Variable response inconsistency
The Clinical Criterion Groups for MMPI Scales Scale Hypochondriasis Depression Hysteria Psychopathic deviate Masculinity-femininity Paranoia Psychasthenia Schizophrenia Hypomania Social introversion Clinical Criterion Group Patients who showed exaggerated concerns about their physical health Clinically depressed patients Patients with conversion reactions Patients who had histories of delinquency and other antisocial behavior Minnesota draftees, airline stewardesses, male homosexual college students Patients who exhibited paranoid symptomatology Anxious, obsessive-compulsive, guilt-ridden, self-doubting patients Patients who were diagnosed as schizophrenic Patients who exhibited manic symptomoatology Students who had scored at the extremes on a test of I/E
MMPI-II-RF Tellegen et al. (2003) Overlapping items Difficulty with interpreting of scales Final version was published in 2008 338 items
MMPI-II-RF 9 clinical scales 8 validity scales 20 specific problem scales (suicidal ideation, cognitive compliants, substance abuse, stress/worry, anger proness etc.) 2 interest scales 5 revised scales of MMPI-II
MMPI-II-RF Clinical Scales Demoralization Somatic complaints Low positive emotions (e.g. depression) Cynicism Antisocial behavior Ideas of persecution Dysfuntional negative emotions Aberrant experiences Hypomanic activation
MMPI-A MMPI-Adolescent 14-18 year old age range 478 T-F items 10 clinical, 6 validity scales It uses in clinical, counseling, and school settings Assessing psychopathology and identifying personal, social and behavioral problems
Objective Methods Paper and pencil personality tests, computeradministered personality tests Multiple-choice, true-false, or matching format Little possibility for emotion, bias, or favoritism on the part of the test scorer Varied aspects of the traits can be assessed at the same time. They suit for both group and computerized administration Objective items can usually be scored quickly Self-report and objectivity
Projective Methods Indirect methods of personality assessment An individual supplies structure to unstructured stimuli in a manner consistent with the individual s own unique pattern of conscious and unconscious Needs Fears Desires Impulses Conflicts Ways of perceiving and responding The possibility of fake responses is greatly minimized. Projective stimulus: inkblots, pictures, words, drawings, and other things Projective methods are less linked to culture
Rorschach Inkblot Test Hermann Rorschach (1884-1922) Form interpretation test (1921) Case studies with normal and psychiatric samples 10 symmetrical inkblots printed on separare cards 5 black-and-white, 2 black-and-white-red, 3 multicolored
Rorschach Inkblot Test There is no test manual or any administration, scoring, or interpretation instructions After the entire set of cards has been administered once, a second administration is conducted: «the inquiry administration» A third component of the administration: testing the limits Rorschach protocols are scored according to location, determinants, content, popularity, and form.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Morgan & Murray (1935) It is psychoanalysis-oriented. 31 cards Creating a story based on the card (what is happening at that moment, and what the outcome will be?) What the people depicted in the cards are thinking and feeling? Then examiners attempt to find out the source of the examinee s story (personal experience, dream, imagined event, book, film, series etc.) 20 cards is the recommended number for presentation Card selection with regarding to gender and age Analysis of the story content requires special training.
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Words as Projective Stimuli Word association tests: an assesee verbalizes the first word that comes to mind in response to a stimulus word. Galton (1879) Jung (1910) Rapaport, Gill, Schafer (1945) The Word Association Test Presenting each stimulus word, again presenting and recording deviation, inquiry Neutral (book, water, dance etc.) ve traumatic (love, girlfriend, boyfriend, mother, father, suicide etc.) 60 words
Words as Projective Stimuli Sentence completion test is semistructured projective technique of personality assessment They use in specific types of settings (such as school or business) Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank 40 incomplete senteces Categories: family attitudes, social and sexual attitudes, general attitudes, character traits Each response is evaluated on a seven-point scale that ranges from need for therapy to extremely good adjustment High school (grades 9 through 12) College Adult
Cümle Tamamlama Testi yapmak isterim. Bir gün ben Ben zamanı her zaman hatırlarım. için endişeliyim. En çok olmasından korkarım. yapıldığında kalbim kırılır. Annem Keşke ebeveynlerim
Sounds as Projective Stimuli Skinner (1930 s) Muffled, spoken vowels The Auditory Apperception Test (Stone, 1950) Creating a story based on the sounds
Figure Drawings as Projective Stimuli A projective method of personality assessment through the assesee produces a drawing Then it is analyzed on the basis of its content and related variables Draw A Person Test
Figure Drawings as Projective Stimuli Creating a story relating to figure, identifiying the character, describing the emotions etc. The placement of the figure on the paper, the size of the figure, pencil pressure used, symmetry, shading, the presence of erasures, facial expressions etc. The House-Tree-Person Test
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