Personality Assessment Flashcards
What is personality assessment?
The measurement of relatively stable attributes on people.
What are projective tests?
A test that presents a person with an ambiguous stimulus and asks them to describe what it’s seen with the intent of revealing unaware or unconscious feelings.
What are the examples of projective tests?
Rorschach test (inkblot)
Draw-A-Person test
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
What are the pros and cons of projective tests?
pros: good for breaking the ice and might provide information not captured in other tests if used right
cons: validity evidence is scarce, expensive and time-consuming, difficult to interpret and simpler tests work the same or better.
What are the projective tests used for today?
Rorschach: limited use in research settings and clinical psychology
Draw a person: limited use in personality assessment and research but used in educational settings
TAT: asses motives and cultural differences
What are “objective tests”?
A personality test that consists of a list of questions.
What are the pros and cons of objective tests?
Less open to interpretation and principle of aggregation
What are the methods of constructing objective tests?
Rational method, factor analytical and empirical method.
What are the four conditions for validity in the rational method?
Items must mean the same thing for maker and taker
Items must be valid indicators of construct
Taker must be willing
and able to self assess in that item.
What are the steps to the factor analytical method?
Generate and administer items
Factor analysis, statistically sort traits into groups or clusters
Label factors and replicate
What are the limitations for the factor analytical method?
The quality of information is limited by the quality of the items
Difficulty and subjectivity in naming the clusters, conceptually deciding how they go together
Factors don’t always make sense
What is the empirical method?
A method of identifying items based on how people responde to them.
What are the steps for the empirical method?
Gather items and administer them to people divided into groups
Compare answers and identify items
Cross-validate
What are the limitatons of the empirical method?
Content validity, we don’t know what we are assessing
Items can seem absurd
Tests are only as good as the criteria by which they’re developed/ cross-validated by.
