Assessments Part One- Quiz Three Flashcards
Define Personality
characteristic patterns of behavior, thought, or emotional experience that exhibit relative consistency across time and situations
What does a personality assessment measure?
More than just measuring traits: Also measure motives, intentions, goals, strategies, and how people perceive and construct the world
Are personality assessments just for psychologists?
No
•How did you decide whom to have as a roommate?
•How do you decide whom to hire
•How do you choose a career or management style?
Personality Assessments are
Often more important (definitely more frequent) than decisions made by psychologists
What are the most important things to know in regards to a personality assessment?
Most important to know: degree to which the judgment or test is right or wrong
•For Tests: the central concern is validity
•For Judgments: the central concern is accuracy
What are the two basic criteria for the quality of assessment?
Agreement and Prediction
Who are personality tests used by?
Used by psychologists (experimental and clinical), corporations, and the military
Personality tests have…
Omnibus inventories: measure a wide range of traits
What do personality tests provide?
Most tests provide S data
•Some tests provide B data
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Implicit Association Test (IAT)
All Projective Tests (such as the Thematic Apperception Test)
Intelligence
Implicit Associations Test (IAT)
Me, Them, Others
Shy, Inhibited, Not Shy
Me or Shy, Candid, Others or Not Shy
Me or Not Shy, Outgoing, Others or Shy
What does the IAT do?
Measures Reaction (or Response) Time along with the response choices
What is the IAT?
Method employed in a range of research domains.
What is the theory behind IAT?
Theory: people who implicitly, or nonconsciously, know they have a certain trait will respond faster when the trait is paired with “me”
What is a Projective Test?
a test that presents a person with an ambiguous stimulus and asks him or her to describe what is seen
What is the theory behind projective tests?
Answers are thought to reveal inner psychological states or motivations of which the person may be unaware
What are some examples of projective tests?
Rorschach inkblot test, Draw-A-Person test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
What are some advantages of projective tests?
Advantages
•Good tool for breaking the ice with a client (frequently used with children or with reticent adult clients). Clinician interpretations can initiate
productive conversations
•Some skilled clinicians may be able to use them to get information not captured in other types of tests
•With a well-trained and talented clinician, can provide richer and more dimensional data than most objective tests
What are some disadvantages of projective tests?
Disadvantages
•Expensive and time-consuming •A psychologist cannot be sure about what they mean (obviously relies on
clinician interpretations), so reliability is always a concern •Other less expensive tests work as well or better for most purposes
What type of data do projective tests provide?
B data
What are the most valid projective tests?
Most valid tests seem to the be the TAT and Rorschach (with one of two scoring methods)
Who uses projective tests?
•Still used by many clinical psychologists, though not always for the same goals or theoretical reasons
Are projective tests valid?
Validity evidence is scarce
What are objective tests?
Definition: a personality test that consists of a list of questions to be answered by the subject as true or false or on a numeric scale
What is the validity and subjectivity of test items on objective tests?
Validity and the subjectivity of test items
•Items are still not absolutely objective; they can be interpreted in different
ways
Objective Tests! More is Better
•The principle of aggregation •The average of answers to several items increases stability and reliability •Use Spearman-Brown formula to calculate reliability if items were added
