Personality Measurement Dr S K Biswas S T T College

Introduction History of personality assessment is as old as man on the earth. In primitive age people informally attempted to test the personality with the help of crude methods (astrology, palmistry). There was no formalized technique of personality assessment in those days. With the development of civilization, new methods were evolved.

Methods of personality assessment Observation Situational Test Questionnaire Interview Rating Scale Personality Inventory Projective Techniques

Observation It is a popular method to study the behavior pattern of an individual in an actual life situation. The observer decides what personality traits he needs to know and then observe the relevant activities of the subject in real life situations. Observation can be done in two ways – a) observer does not hide from the subject, b) observer takes a position where his presence is least disturbing to the subject. Observer may also use several devices (tape recorder, camera, telescope). Observer may repeat the observations in the same situation in several times to ensure the reliability of the result.

Situational Test In this test the behaviour of the individual is evaluated in action related to personality traits. Here situations are artificially created in which an individual is expected to perform acts related to the personality traits under testing. (Eg. Honesty) Individual’s behaviour is assessed by judges or peers. In Situational test sociometric methods, psychodrama can use. The use of situational tests is difficult because it requires trained staff to observe and interpret behaviour.

Questionnaire Questionnaire refers to a device of a series of questions for securing answers about personality character. It is a most popular method and quite useful in collecting qualitative as well as quantitative information.

Interview Interview is a technique of eliciting information directly from the subject about his personality in face-to-face contacts. Interview is of two types: structured and unstructured. Limitation of interview: required trained interviewer, costly, interviewer biasness, problem regarding interviewee. Merit of interview: flexibility of tool, subject do not hesitate to response.

Rating Scale The rating scale is used to assess where an individual stands in terms of other people’s opinion of some of his personality traits. Three basic factors involved in this technique: The specific trait or traits to be rated. The scale on which the degree of possession or absence of the trait has to be shown. The appropriate persons or judges for rating. Drawbacks of rating scale: subjective bias(like & dislike) and halo effect, logical error etc. To bring some reliability into rating scale technique, it has been suggested that we can assign the rating work to more judge.

Personality Inventory Personality inventory is specially designed to seek answers about the person and his personality. Here the questionnaire is worded in the first person such as ‘I often feel lonely’. Best known personality inventory is: Minnesota Multiphasic personality inventory(MMPI)developed by J.C. McKinley & S R Hathaway of Minnesota Medical School. It consists 550 items and each item printed in a separate card. Answer will be yes, no, doubtful. Drawbacks of personality inventory: difficult to get response in all question, subject hide his weakness, he may be ignorant of his own traits. Other personality inventory: Eysenck personality inventory, Cattell’s Sixten personality factor inventory(16 P.F.), California personality inventory etc.

Projective Techniques Projective techniques are those techniques in which we provide the subject with relatively indefinite and unstructured material and then allow him to structure the material in any way he likes. In doing so he unconsciously projects his own desires, hopes, fears, repressed wishes etc. These techniques are to assess the total personality (conscious and unconscious) of an individual rather than in fragment. Some common projective techniques are -

Rorschach Inkblot Test It was developed by Harman Rorschach, the Swiss psychologist. It consists 10 cards on which there are ink-blots. Five of them are black & white and five are multi coloured. These ink-blot are completely unstructured and the shapes of the blots have no specific meaning. Administration of the test: One by one all cards to be given in a specified manner to the subject. Scoring, analysis and interpretation of the test. For scoring the response are given specific symbols and are entered into 4 columns i.e. location, contents, originality, determinants.

Rorschach Inkblot Test (cont.) Location refers to the part of the blot with which the subject associates each response. Symbols for location: W,D,d,s Contents column is concerned with the contents of the response. Symbols for scoring the content: H(human form),A(animal form),Ad(animal detail),Hd(human detail),N(natural objects),O(inanimate objects)

Rorschach Inkblot Test (cont.) Originality columns symbol P used for popular response and O used for new response which is original. Determinants column takes note of the manner of perception. The main determinants are: F (the form of the blot), C (its colour), M (its movement), K (its shading). Interpretation: The different symbols in all the 4 columns are counted. This gives an idea of the relative frequencies of different kinds of responses.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) It was first introduce by Henry Murray to measure the need for achievement. Later it was fully developed for the assessment of personality. This test consists of perception of certain picture in a thematic manner i.e. revealing imaginative themes. It consists 30 pictures on separate cards which portray human beings. Out of them 10 for male, 10 for female and 10 for both sexes. Test material and administration: Maximum 20 pictures are used on one person. Test is used in two sessions and using 10 pictures in each session. One picture presented at a time. There is no time to think. Scoring and interpretation: hero of the story, style of the story, content of the story, particular emphasis or omissions,, subject’s attitude towards authority and sex, outcome.

Children’s Appreciation Test (CAT) TAT works well for adults and adolescents not for children. Dr Leopold Bellak developed this test for children between 3 to 10 years of age. Description of the test: This test consists 10 cards. The cards have pictures of animals instead of human character. These animals are shown in various real life situations. All 10 cards are needed. The pictures are designed to evoke fantasies relating to a child’s own experiences, reactions and feelings. Whatever story the child makes, he projects himself.

Children’s Appreciation Test (CAT) cont. Administration of the test: All 10 cards are presented one by one and the subject is asked to make up stories out of them. The examiner should try to rapport with the children. The child should consider story-making a pleasant game. interpretation of the test: Interpretation of the stories is centered around the following 11 variables: The hero, theme of the story, the end of the story, attitude towards parental figures, family role, other outside figures introduced, omitted figures, nature of anxiety, punishment for crime, defense & confidence, other supplementary factors.

Word Association Test A number of selected words, comprises this test. The examiner would speak one word at a time and the subject should immediately say the first word which comes to his mind and that there are no right or wrong answer. The examiner then records the reply to each word spoken by him, the reaction time and any unusual speech or behaviour manifestations which might accompany a given response. The contents of the responses along with the other recorded things give clues for evaluating the human personality and thus help a psychologist in his work.

Merits of Projective Techniques In these techniques, the tasks presented to the individual are usually unstructured. The subject cannot depend upon an established, conventional and stereotyped patter  of responses. Scope and area of application is very wide. Most of the essential aspects of the unconscious behaviour, of which the subject has no knowledge, can be revealed through these techniques. The nature of appraisals being made by these techniques is usually well-disguised.

Limitations of Projective Techniques It need highly qualified and experienced professionals It is expensive Risk of interpretation bias It is time consuming Unstructured techniques

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