Chapter 10: Personality Assessment Flashcards
Personality
Characteristic way of behaving/thinking across situations
Uses for personality assessments
Diagnosis Treatment planning Self-understanding Identifying children with emotional/behavioral problems Hiring decisions Legal questions
Response set
Unconscious responding in a negative or positive manner
Test taker bias that affects formal personality assessment
Dissimulation
Faking the test
Increases with face validity
Test taker bias that affects formal personality assessment
Validity scales
Used to detect individuals not responding in an accurate manner
Trait vs. state
Trait: stable internal characteristic, test-retest reliability can be greater than 0.8
State: transient, lower test-retest reliability
Objective self-report: format of items that appear
Selected-response: usually true/false or scales, occasionally forced-choice
Reflect characteristic behavior, feelings, thinking, etc.
4 approaches to development of personality assessments
Content-rational approach Empirical criterion keying Factor analytic Theoretical Combination of above
Content rational approach
Similar to process of determining content validity: expert looks at test and decides if it represents what it should be testing
Empirical criterion keying
Large pool of items is administered to 2 groups: clinical group with specific diagnosis and control group
Items that discriminate between groups are retained (may or may not be directly associated with psychopathology- not necessarily face valid)
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Most used personality measure
Developed using empirical criterion keying
Contains validity scales (detect random responding, lying, etc.)
Adequate reliability
10 clinical scales
Hypochondriasis
Clinical scale on MMPI
Somatic complaints
Depression
Clinical scale on MMPI
Pessimism, hopelessness, discouragement
Hysteria
Clinical scale on MMPI
Development of physical symptoms in response to stress
Psychopathic deviate
Clinical scale on MMPI
Difficulty incorporating societal standards and values
Masculinity/femininity
Clinical scale on MMPI
Tendency to reject stereotypical gender norms
Paranoia
Clinical scale on MMPI
Paranoid delusions
Psychasthenia
Clinical scale on MMPI
Anxiety, agitation, discomfort
Schizophrenia
Clinical scale on MMPI
Psychotic symptoms, confusion, disorientation
Hypomania
Clinical scale on MMPI
High energy levels, narcissism, possibly mania
Social introversion
Clinical scale on MMPI
Prefers being alone to being with others
Factor analysis
Statistical approach to personality assessment development
Evaluates the presence/structure of latent constructs
Raymond Cattell
First person to use factor analysis approach to personality assessment development
16 personality factor questionnaire
NEO Personality Inventory
Developed using factor analysis
5-factor model (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness)
Pretty good reliability and validity
Theoretical approach
Match test to theory
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Developed using theoretical approach
Based on Jung’s theories
4 scales: introversion (I)/extraversion (E), sensing (S)/intuition (N), thinking (T)/feeling (F), judging (J)/perceiving (P)
Personality represented by one of 16 4 letter combinations
Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI)
Developed using theoretical approach
Based on Millon’s theories surrounding personality disorders
2 scales: clinical personality scales and clinical syndrome scales
Good reliability and validity, but high correlations between scales (problem)
Objective personality assessments given to children
Child Behavior Checklist
Barkley Scales (ADHD)
Each test has a version for the parent, a version for the child, and a version for the teacher to fill out
Broad-band vs. symptom measures
Broad-band: lots of info on a variety of topics, allow for a comprehensive view (example: MMPI)
Symptom measure: identify specific symptoms (example: Beck Depression Inventory)
Projective tests: theory behind
Examinees interpret the ambiguous stimuli in a manner that reveals important and often unconscious aspects of their psychological functioning or personality
Pros and cons of projective tests
Pros: popular in clinical settings, supply rich information (not a lot of face validity)
Cons: questionable psychometrics (poor reliability and validity), so should be used with caution
Projective drawings
Require little verbal abilities/ child friendly
Draw a person test (person drawn is representation of self)
House-tree-person test (house: home life and family relationships, tree: deep feelings about self, person: less deep view of self)
Kinetic family drawing (provide information about family and interactions)
Sentence completion tests
Examinee completes sentence stems
May enhance rapport or understanding of client
Apperception tests
Given an ambiguous picture, examinee must make up story
Themes presented in stories tell something about examinee
Have issues with validity
2 versions of apperception tests
Thematic apperception test: stories are analyzed in a qualitative manner
Roberts apperception test for children: have standardized scoring system and normative data
Both have poor validity
Ink blot test
Examinee is presented with an ambiguous inkblot and asked to identify what they see
Limited validity
Rorschach ink blot test scoring/interpreting
Exner developed most comprehensive system for scoring (including norm set)
Limited validity, though
Anatomical dolls
Controversial assessment technique
Used to assess sexual assault in children (watch what child is paying attention to, how child plays with doll, etc.)
Lots of false positives
Drug assisted assessment
Controversial assessment technique Truth serum (sodium amytol): help people relax and share difficult information Vulnerable to formation of false memories in relaxed state
Hypnosis assisted assessment
Controversial assessment technique
Help people relax and remember things
People under hypnosis are suggestible to forming false memories
Neurological-based techniques
Controversial assessment technique
Neurofeedback techniques (looking at brain waves when doing a task, etc.)
Little empirical support
