Week 10

Question 1

Objective measures of Personality

Answer 1

Typically administered as paper-and-pencil, or via computer.

Contains short answer items for which the assesse’s task is to select one response from those provided.

The term “objective” in relation to personality measures must be
considered with caution.

Personality measures do not contain one correct answer.
A distinct lack of objectivity is associated with self report.

Example: MMPI-2 (covered last week)
Uses a restricted response format, limited judgement required when scoring

How objective can these tests really be?

Question 2

Projective Measures

Answer 2

Projective hypothesis: The idea that individual supplies structure to unstructured stimuli in a manner consistent with the individual’s own unique pattern of conscious and unconscious needs, fears, desires, impulses, conflicts, and ways of perceiving and responding.

Projective techniques are indirect methods of personality assessment.

Question 3

Inkblots as projective stimuli

Answer 3

Rorschach inkblots – Psychodiagnostik, Hermann Rorschach (1921)

Debate around how to classify the Rorschach inkblots. Intended to measure a person’s personality characteristics and emotional functioning

Consists of 10 bilaterally symmetrical inkblots on separate cards (or plates), half which are achromatic (black and white).

Inkblots are initially presented in order from 1 to 10; test-takers are asked to interpret the inkblot and are provided a great deal of freedom.

No one Rorschach test!

Question 4

Inkblots as projective stimuli

percept, third component…

Answer 4

After the entire set of inkblots has been administered, an inquiry is conducted and the assessor attempts to determine what features of the inkblot played a role in formulating the test-takers percept.

A third component, testing the limits, may be also included to enable the examiner to restructure the situation by asking specific questions concerning personality functioning.

Question 5

Interpretation

Answer 5

Hypotheses concerning personality functioning are formed on the basis of variables such as content and location of the response, and the time taken to respond.

Rorschach protocols are scored according to several categories, including location, determinants, content, popularity, and form.

Patterns of response, recurring themes, and interrelationships among the different categories are all considered in the final description.

Question 6

Validity and reliability of inkblots

Answer 6

John Exner Jr. developed a comprehensive system for administering, scoring, and interpreting the Rorschach inkblots.
–Exner’s system brought uniformity to Rorschach use, but despite the improvements, the psychometric properties of the Rorschach are still debated.

Test-retest reliability is of little value to the Rorschach because of the very nature of the measurement; inter-rater reliability may be a more appropriate.

Does it seem to actually predict anything?

Question 7

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Answer 7

Christiana Morgan and Henry Murray (1953)

30 picture cards contain a variety of scenes that present the test-taker with “certain classical human situations”

The administering clinician selects the cards that are believed to elicit responses pertinent to the objective of testing.

Question 8

Thematic apperception test

material used incudes

Answer 8

The material used in deriving conclusions includes:
The stories as they were told by the examinee
The clinician’s notes about the way or the manner in which the examinee responded
The clinicians notes about extra-test behaviour and verbalisations.

Question 9

Interpretation (of tat)

Answer 9

Interpretive systems incorporate, or are based on Murray’s concepts of:

Need: Determinants of behaviour arising from within the individual.

Press: Determinants of behaviour arising from within the environment

Thema: Unit of interaction between needs and press.

Question 10

Criticisms of the TAT

Answer 10

Lack of standardisation in administration, scoring, and interpretation procedures.

Highly susceptible to faking.
Test-taker’s responses may be affected by situational factors and transient internal need states.

Different TAT cards have different stimulus pulls.

The TAT cards have a negative or gloomy tone, which may restrict the range of affect projected by the test-taker.

Question 11

TAT and self-report

Answer 11

Comparison of TAT-Derived Data and Self-Report Derived Data
McClelland et al. (1989).
-Argued that SR measures yielded self-attributed motives, whereas the TAT yielded implicit motives

-Implicit motives: Nonconscious influence on behaviour typically acquired on the basis of experience.

Question 12

Apperceptive Personality test (APT)

Answer 12

Consists of eight stimulus cards that depict recognisable people in everyday situations that have an emotionally-neutral ambiance.

Introduces ‘objectivity’ into the measure by having test-takers respond to multiple-choice questions after they have “told their story”.
–This provides quantitative data to help fill in the information gaps from the stories that were too cryptic or brief when scoring.

Factor structure of the APT indicates a 3 factor model: positive evaluation, negative evaluation, and an “intensity” factor.

Question 13

Other tests using pictures as projective stimuli

Answer 13

Hand Test – Edwin Wagner

Consists of nine cards with
pictures of hands on them and a tenth blank card.

Test-taker is asked what the hands on each card might be doing.

Question 14

Hand test interpretation

Answer 14

Interpersonal responses: claim the hands are preparing for handshakes, offering comfort,
communicating by pointing or beckoning, or even pushing people away.

Environmental responses: include anything about the hand interacting with nonhuman objects. The responses can be about acquisition - grabbing or taking something - or more general actions like closing doors or gripping steering wheels.

Maladaptive responses: indicate distress of some kind. They can be responses that insist a fist is tensed to hold in anger or a hand is warding off a blow.

Withdrawal: which consists of people refusing to go along with the test. Withdrawing subjects often just describe the hand, rather than making up an idea for what it is doing, or going completely abstract.

Question 15

Hand test interpretation

Answer 15

Wagner came up with a ratio, called the Acting Out Ratio; using the Hand Test score, provided an indication on how likely each subject was to act out violently.

Test weakness: No matter how ambiguous the hand gestures seem to the people drawing them, different cultures have different hand gestures – limits cross-cultural validity.

Question 16

Rosenzweig picture-frustration study

Answer 16

Employs cartoons to depict frustrating situations.

Test-taker is asked to fill in the response of the cartoon figure being frustrated.

Question 17

Picture-Frustration Interpretation

Answer 17

Responses are scored in terms of the type of reaction elicited and the direction of the aggression expressed.

Intropunitive: Aggression turned inward.
Extrapunitive: Outwardly expressed.
Inpunitive: Aggression is evaded so as to avoid or gloss over the situation.

Reactions are then grouped into categories:
Obstacle dominance-frustrating barrier
Ego defense – focused on protecting the person.
Need for persistence – problem solving.

Question 18

Words as projective stimuli

Answer 18

Word association tests: Involve the presentation of a list of stimulus words.

• -Assessee is expected to respond with whatever comes to mind first upon exposure to the stimulus word.
• –Responses are analysed on the basis of content and other variables.

Work by Jung (1910), let to the Rapaport et al. (1945) WAT, which contained 60 items categorised into neutral (e.g., chair, water, dance) and traumatic (e.g., love, suicide, breast).

• –Normative data is provided regarding the percentage of occurrence of certain responses for college students and groups with schizophrenia.
• -For example, for the word “stomach”, 21% of the college group responded with “ache” and 13% with “ulcer”. 10% of the schizophrenia group responded with “ulcer”.

Question 19

Words as projective stimuli

sentence completion,

Answer 19

Sentence completion test: Presentation of a list of words that begin a sentence
Assessee’s task is to respond by finishing each sentence with whatever words come to mind
I like to___________________________________________.
Someday, I will___________________________________ .
I will always remember the time ___________________.
I worry about _____________________________________.
I am most frightened when_______________________ .
My feelings are hurt______________________________ .
May be relatively atheoretical or linked closely to some theory
Sentence completion stems may be developed for use in specific settings or for specific purposes e.g. examining family, social and or sexual attitudes.

Question 20

Production of figure drawings

Answer 20

Figure Drawing Test: Assessee produces a drawing that is analysed on the basis of it’s content and related variables.
–Characteristics of the drawing and the individual drawn are evaludated in the Draw a Person (DAP) test.

-Images are evaluated by length of time required to complete the picture, placement of the figures, the size of the figure, pencil pressure used, symmetry, line quality, shading, the presence of erasures, facial expressions, posture, clothing, and overall appearance.

–Clinicians will also ask follow-up questions about the drawn images. Responses are related to hypotheses and interpretations about personality functioning.

Question 21

Figure drawings cont.

Answer 21

House-Tree-Person test – Test-taker’s task is to draw a picture of a house, a tree, and a person, the assumption is that when the subject is drawing they are projecting their inner world onto the page.

Kinetic Family Drawing (KFD) - test-taker draws a picture of his or her entire family, including themselves “doing something”. Helps learn about the examinee in relation to his/her family.

Question 22

Critique and assumptions of Projective methods

ASSUMPTIONS

Answer 22

Assumptions

More ambiguous the stimuli, the more subjects reveal about their personality

Projective stimuli evoke responses that are idiosyncratic in nature

Ambiguous nature of a task and its results are less subject to faking

Question 23

Critique and assumptions of Projective methods

CRITICISMS

Answer 23

Criticisms
Projective stimulus is only one aspect of the total stimulus situation

Stimulus material may not be as ambiguous and amenable to projection

Some assumptions are cherished beliefs accepted without the support of research validation

also see slide 41

Question 24

Further assumptions

Answer 24

Every response provides meaning for personality analysis.

A relationship exists
between the strength of a need and it’s manifestation
on projective instruments.

Test-takers are unaware of what they are disclosing about themselves.

A projective protocol reflects sufficient data concerning personality functioning for formulation of judgements

There is a parallel between behaviour obtained on a projective instrument and behaviour displayed in social situations.

Question 25

Methodological obstacles in researching projectives

Answer 25

Uncontrolled variations in:

• Protocol length
• Inappropriate subject samples
• Inadequate control groups
• Poor external criteria

These factors contribute to spuriously increased ratings of validity.

There are methodological obstacles in research projective measures because many test-retest or split-half methods are inappropriate.

Question 26

Objective vs. Projective

Answer 26

Objective tests are affected by response styles, malingering and other sources of test bias (Meyer & Kurtz, 2006). Test-takers may also lack sufficient insight or perspective to respond “objectively” to test items.

Subjective tests now also feature scoring systems use objective coding that provide empirical data.

Weiner (2005) suggested replacing these terms with structured and unstructured.
–The more structured a test is, the more likely it is to tap relatively conscious aspects of personality. By contrast, unstructured or ambiguous tests are more likely to access material beyond immediate, conscious awareness.

Question 27

Behavioural assessment methods

Answer 27

Emphasis is on what a person does in situations rather than on inferences about what attributes they have more globally

Differences between traditional and behavioural approaches to assessment have to do with varying assumptions about:

• -Nature of personality
• -Causes of behaviour

Question 28

Differences between behavioural and traditional approaches

Answer 28

see slide 47

Question 29

Why conduct behavioural assessment?

Answer 29

To provide behavioural baseline data with which other behavioural data (accumulated after the passage of time, after intervention, or after some other event) may be compared

To provide a record of the assessee’s behavioural strengths and weaknesses across a variety of situations

To pinpoint environmental conditions that are acting to trigger, maintain, or extinguish certain behaviours

To target specific behavioural patterns for modification through interventions

To create graphic displays useful in stimulating innovative or more effective treatment approaches.

Question 30

Types of behavioural assessment

Answer 30

Behavioural observation- watching the activities of targeted clients or research subjects and, typically, maintaining some kind of record of those activities.
–Researchers, clinicians, or counselors may themselves serve as observers, or they may designate trained assistants or other people (such as parents, siblings, teachers, and supervisors) as the observers.

Behaviour rating scale-a preprinted sheet on which the observer notes the presence or intensity of targeted behaviours, usually by checking boxes or filling in coded terms.

Self-monitoring-the act of systematically observing and recording aspects of one’s own behaviour and/or events related to that behaviour.

Question 31

Analogue studies

Answer 31

Analogue behavioural observation- the observation of a person in an environment designed to increase the chance that the assessor can observe targeted behaviours and interactions.
—Situational performance measure: Allows for observation and evaluation for an individual under a standard set of circumstances (such as a driving test).

—Leaderless group technique: Several people are organised into a group for the purpose of carrying out a task as an observer records their information (e.g., initiative, cooperation, leadership).

—Role play: Acting an improvised or partially improvised part in a simulated situation, can be used in teaching, therapy, and assessment.

Question 32

Psychophysiological methods

Answer 32

Biofeedback: Designed to gauge, display, and record a continuous monitoring of selected biological processes e.g. heart rate and blood pressure.

–Plethysmograph: Instrument that records changes in the volume of a part of the body arising from variations in blood supply, been used to examine normal, anxiety-ridden, and psychoneurotic populations.

–Polygraph: commonly referred to as a ‘lie detector.’ However there is a high false-positive rate for lying where more than 50% of the innocent subjects are labeled as guilty.

Question 33

Issues In Behavioural Assessment

Answer 33

Must be an acceptable level of inter-rater reliability among behaviour observers or raters.

Equipment and cost of training behavioural assessors.

Contrast effect

• -Behavioural rating may be excessively positive or negative because a prior rating was excessively positive or negative.
• -Solution – Composite judgement can be used, which is the averaging of multiple judgements.

Question 34

Issues in behavioural judgement

Answer 34

Reactivity effect

• -People react differently in experimental than in natural situations. Changes in an assessee’s behaviour, thinking, or performance may arise in response to being observed, assessed, or evaluated.
• -Solution-use of hidden observers or clandestine recording techniques (ethical issues!). Instead have an adaptation period.

Hawthorne effect, is a form of reactivity, where participants may improve or modify their behaviour which is being measured experimentally, simply because they know they are being studied.

Question 35

Take Home messages

Answer 35

Personality tests can be projective or “objective” (strong caveats).

Projective tests aim to generally tap into “true” personality by presenting (generally) ambiguous stimuli.

Although some strengths are present, caution must be used when interpreting projective tests, as psychometrics for these tests are controversial.

Behavioural assessment measures allow the assessment of an individual’s behaviour in certain situations for a variety of reasons.

Can also look at psychophysiological methods to see how people react.