ch 3: Issues in Personality Assessment Flashcards
Projective testing
- ink blot tests
- less reliable
- less valid
Formal/Psychometric tests
- normalized
- standardized
- will measure very specific things
- highly reliable & valid
Formal
- documented reports
- standardized
- like a scientific paper
Informal
- less structure
- clinical interview
- other info from family members
Sources of Information:
1. Observer ratings
- interviews (ppl being assessed talk about themselves & the interviewer draws conclusions)
- ppl may talk about smtg other than themselves but indirectly revealing what they’re like
- observers may make judgements
- observers can observe a person’s belongings and draw conclusions on what the person is like
- Self-reports
- resembles process of introspection
- true or false
- multipoint rating scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree
an Inventory
- a measure that assesses several dimensions of personality
- process of developing an inventory: go through each step of development for each scale of the inventory
Implicit assessment
- involves trying to find out what a person is like from the self-reports but not asking them directly
- the person does a task of some sort that involves making judgements about stimuli
- the pattern of response can inform the assessor about what the person is like
Implicit Associations test
- to categorize a long series of stimuli as quickly as you can
- each can be categorized as “me” or “not me”
- if one of those items is strongly associated in your memory, then the response “me” will be faster than if it isn’t
- reaction times across large number of stimuli can provide information about your implicit sense of self
- important for MOTIVE approach
2 requirements for assessment techniques
- person being assessed produces a sample of “behaviour” (an action or internal behavior ex heart rate) or accumulation of possessions
- someone uses that behaviour sample as a guide to some aspect of the person’s personality
Subjective Measures
an interpretation is part of the measure
- an interpretation of the behaviour
- observer makes a judgement that he or she is watching looks nervous
Objective measures
when the measure is of a physical reality
-ex counting the number of times a person stammers while talking
Subjective Vs Objective measures
- an observe can make objective counts of acts or can develop a subjective impression of the person
- a person making self-report can report objective
Reliability of Measurement:
Internal Reliability
- reliablity with a single set of observations of single aspect of personality
- using many items balances out error
Investigating Internal reliabiltiy
-average correlation for each pair of items
Split-Half reliability
- correlate responses to two halves of item set
- high correlation indicates high reliability
Inter-rater reliablity
-agreement between ratings from observers
Stability across time: Test-retest reliability
repeatability across time
Construct validity
- all encompassing validity
- whether a measure reflects the intended construct
Criterion validity (predictive validity)
-assessment device that tests how well the measure predicts something else it’s supposed to measure
Convergent validity
-measures relate to characteristics similar to what it’s supposed to measure
Discriminant validity
measures does not correlate with qualities it is not supposed to measure, especially qualities that do not fit with your conceptual definition of the construct
-good for third variable problems in correlational research
Face validity
assessment device simply appears to measure what it’s supposed to measure
- measures may be easier to respond to
- can be detriment when construct is embarrassing or threatening
- ex: SASSI (The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory)
Response Sets & Loss of Validity
1. Response Sets (3)
- the attitude, mental state and background may create a tendency to respond in a certain way, especially in self-report types of tests
- issues in reliabiltiy and validity: will the results be accurate of your personality or will the results be the function of smtg else?
ex: forced to see a psychologists vs going voluntarily
- Aquiescence
- tendency to say “yes” or agree
- wording items negatively might reduce this
- Social desirabiltiy
- tendency to respond in socially desirable ways
- social desirability bias addressed by non-judgement item wording
2b) malingering
-responding with an alterior motive, coming to an assessment with an alterior motive
2 types: faking good(obligation) or faking bad (wants medicine)
- Defensiveness
-to what degree is the person being defensive, open or maximizing or minimizing themselves
Culture & Validity
- whether constructs have the same meaning in diff cultures
- whether people from diff countries interpret items from measures similarly
- difficulties with translating to other languages
Development of Assessment devices:
1. Rational or Theoretical approach
- items based on theoretical understanding of construct
- measure developed to reliably and validly measure construct as theorized
- Empirical Approaches
- relies on data/not theory for item construction
- which questions are highly correlated with eachother
Criterion Keying Approach
- guided by practical aim of sorting people into categories
- items retained if they distinguish between groups
Objective testing: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMP1 & MMP2)
-takes into account response bias
