Personality assessment I - tutorial 1

Question 1

personality measurement

Answer 1

Whether you are a research psychologist or a psychological therapist the first step towards understanding personality factors involves developing tools to accurately measure personality.

Question 2

2 general categories of tools

Answer 2

projective tests

objective/psychometric tests

Question 3

projective tests

Answer 3

are a more indirect way of assessing personality in that they examine reactions to certain stimuli (e.g., inkblots, TAT).

Question 4

objective/psychometric tests

Answer 4

paper and pencil type tests that ask a person to answer various specific questions about their personality (e.g., MMPI, EPQ). – self-report measure

Question 5

personality measurement and projective techniques

Answer 5

Psychoanalytic theories of personality assume that personality is primarily governed by unconscious sources rather than conscious ones.

• From this perspective asking a person about their personality is believed to be inadequate as it only taps conscious thoughts and processes.
• Instead, they promote tests that examine personality in a much more indirect manner – projective tests.
• These tests are thought to reflect both the conscious and the unconscious aspects of personality.

Question 6

projective hyp

Answer 6

is the notion that when people try to understand ambiguous unstructured stimuli, the interpretation they produce reflects their needs, feelings, experience, prior conditioning, thought processes and unconscious processes.
- Unconscious images are apparently revealed by the conscious responses given to ambiguous, abstract stimuli.

Question 7

example of projective tests

Answer 7

The Rorschach (or inkblot) test is a well known projective personality measure in which patients are asked to describe what they see when presented with an ambiguous pattern of ink. The idea behind this is that the person will project their unconscious desires and beliefs into their interpretation of the inkblots.

The Thematic Apperception Test is a set of ambiguous pictures shown to people who are asked to tell a story about the events leading up to the picture. These stories should include detailed discussion about what the characters in the story are doing and thinking. The idea behind this is that the person will project themselves into the story and the things they tell you about the characters are really about themselves.

Question 8

the Roschach Inkblot Test

Answer 8

Hermann Rorschach (1884 – 1922).

Projective test

Ten standard inkblots

Individuals (patients) interpret each inkblot

Therapist or ‘expert’ interprets the interpretation

Despite the controversy surrounding the Rorschach Test it is still used widely in forensic and legal settings.

• Weiner, Exner and Sciara (1996) surveyed 93 Rorschach clinicians about the previous 5 years. The Rorschach was used in 7,934 criminal, child custody and personal injury cases in 32 states in the USA. Few questioned its usefulness.
• Garb et al (2005) call for a moratorium (a suspension of use) on the Rorschach in forensic settings. Serious doubts regarding validity and reliability of the measure.

Question 9

supporters

Answer 9

The assumed penetrating powers of the Rorschach Test have been compared to those of an X-ray (Klopfer, 1940).

The test is thought by some to be a useful, broad-spectrum measure for various personality traits and psychological problems, including sense of self-worth, inadequate coping, depression and psychopathy (Exner, 2003; Gacono & Meloy, 1994).

Rorschach supporters claim it can provide helpful information for identifying individuals who have been abused, predicting criminal recidivism, and the onset of cancer (Meyer et al., 1998; Viglione, 1999; Kubiszyn et al., 2000).

Question 10

dissenters

Answer 10

“Nobody agrees how to score Rorschach responses objectively. There is nothing to show what any particular response means to the person who gives it. And, there is nothing to show what it means if a number of people give the same response. The ink blots are scientifically useless.” (Bartol, 1983).

“The accumulation of published studies that have failed to demonstrate any validity for such projective techniques as the Rorschach . . . is truly impressive.” (Anastasi, 1988, p. 621).

Question 11

standardised interps developed

Answer 11

1960’s – 1970’s: Klopfer’s system – B. Klopfer

1972: The Exner System – John E Exner

Question 12

problems of standardised tests

Answer 12

cannot detect most psychological disorders,

inadequate at detecting most personality traits

Question 13

problems

Answer 13

Does an interpretation of an inkblot come from a part of the self that reveals true feelings, rather than, for example, creative expression?

Is there any justification for assuming that any given interpretation of an inkblot does not come from a part of the self bent on deceiving others, or on deceiving oneself?

Ultimately the therapist must make a judgment about the interpretation (interpret the interpretation).

If there were no standardized interpretations, individual interpretations could be given equally valid but different interpretations by therapists.

Which particular needs, feelings, experiences, thought processes, unconscious processes are being projected?

• Projective tests can draw equally upon the imagined and real, the conscious and unconscious, the recent and old, the important and the trivial.
• (Too) much room for interpretation is given to the tester, making test validation almost impossible