Appraisal of Personality PSY 504: Psychological Measurement

Personality Assessment What is it? / How can it be measured? There still remains much debate about the precise definition of personality and how to measure it Personality assessment can: Provide clarity in identifying client problems Help select interventions Assists in treatment decisions Contribute to structure of counseling relationship

Personality Assessment Informal personality assessments: Observation Interviewing Formal personality assessments: Structured personality instruments – clients respond to a fixed set of questions or items Projective techniques – clients are asked to describe, tell a story, or respond in some way to relatively unstructured stimuli; intent is often less obvious with projective techniques than with a structured inventory

Informal Assessment Techniques Observation Most common method used Counselor biases in interpreting observations? Can be problems with: selective recall, selective interpretation, and preexisting assumptions Subjectivity is a persistent problem Reliability – unsystematic error e.g., counselor may perceive a client with sluggish speech and frequent yawns as disinterested when, in fact, these behaviors may be due to the client staying up late the night before Counselors should look for consistency in their own observations Validity concerns – representativeness and generalizability Because the time the client spends with the counselor is not long (e.g., 1 hour during an intake) the observations are restricted to a small sample of behaviors, which may not represent the client’s typical behaviors

Informal Assessment Techniques Interviewing Diagnostic v. descriptive Diagnostic assessments/interviews are used to identify issues and possible disorders consistent with a diagnostic taxonomy (DSM-5) Descriptive assessments/interviews are used when the purpose is to describe aspects of the client (focus of this chapter) Quality of questions can have a strong influence on the value of the assessment Important to be direct in asking questions specific to the purpose of the assessment Similar reliability and validity concerns as observation

Structured Personality Inventories Methods of constructing personality inventories Content-related procedure Follows a rational approach to item development, with items directly relating to the personality attributes being measured (e.g., content scales of the MMPI-2) Personality theory Construct validation procedures are used to determine if the instrument actually measures the tenets of the theory (e.g., MBTI) Empirical criterion keying Items are selected based on their relationship to some external criterion rather than on (just) their content (e.g., MMPI-2) Factor analysis Examines the interrelationships of items and determines the similarities of the items that group together The “Big Five” (e.g., NEO-PI-3)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2) Criterion-keyed instrument Designed to differentiate those individuals with psychopathology as compared with normal individuals Used to diagnose emotional disorders, but is also intended for nondiagnostic activities Has 567 items to which client responds, “true,” “false,” or “cannot say” Has an 8th grade reading level and an audio version is available for clients whose reading level is not sufficient Is available in English, Hmong, and Spanish Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory – Adolescent Version (MMPI-A)

MMPI-2 MMPI-2 norming group of 2,600 selected to match 1980 census data The norming group has received some criticism for including a high proportion of individuals with advanced educational backgrounds and higher-status occupations There is also been some debate about racial bias Others have argued that differences among ethnic groups on the MMPI-2 have not been found to be statistically significant It is recommended that with clients of color, counselors need to take into account acculturation, socioeconomic status, and education Contains validity scales, basic/clinical scales, content scales, and supplemental scales

MMPI-2 Some key Validity Scales Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN) – helps determine if the person randomly marked answers or had difficulty understanding the items (consists of paired items in which the content is very similar or opposite) True Response Inventory (TRIN) – measures “yea-saying” (mark most/all items true) or “nay-saying” (mark most/all items false) Infrequency (F) Scale – helps determine if the individual is faking or attempting to exaggerate symptoms Lie (L) Scale – provides an indication of the degree to which the individual is trying to look good Correction (K) Scale – measures defensiveness or guardedness (more subtle than the L scale)

MMPI-2 Basic/Clinical Scales In interpreting MMPI-2 scores, the term elevated is often used to indicate that the T score on that scale is above 65 An interpretation may also include the term moderately elevated, which indicates that the T score is between 60 and 65 Other scales (besides elevated) should also be examined to identity possible strengths and coping skills The clinical scales should not be interpreted in isolation because the entire profile must be taken into account

MMPI-2 Basic/Clinical Scales

MMPI-2 Content Scales

MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Tellegen et al. (2003) revamped the building of clinical scales based on combining factor-analytic methods with construct-oriented scale development Known as the Restructured Clinical Scales (9 total) Not intended as a replacement of MMPI-2 but as an alternative 338 items = less time to complete

MMPI-2-RF

NEO – Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3) Research suggests personality can best be described by 5 factors: I – Extroversion (or Surgency) II – Agreeableness III – Conscientiousness IV – Neuroticism (or Emotional Stability) V – Openness to Experience (or Intellect) Factors appear to apply across diverse cultures NEO-PI-3 operationalizes these 5 factors of personality The scales were developed using a combination of rational and factor analytic methods with both normal adults and clinical samples

NEO-PI-3 The “Big Five” Neuroticism – provides a measure of adjustment or emotional stability; measures a tendency toward coping poorly with stress, difficulty controlling impulses, and proclivity toward irrational thoughts Extroversion – concerns the individual’s tendency to be sociable, assertive, active, and talkative Openness – measures the degree of openness to a variety of experiences; associated factors include an active imagination, aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner feelings, and intellectual curiosity

NEO-PI-3 The “Big Five” Agreeableness – measures a tendency to be sympathetic, a desire to help others, and a belief that others will reciprocate similarly Conscientiousness – related to the individual’s ability to control impulses; measures self-control and the ability to plan, organize, and carry out tasks

NEO-PI-3 Form S contains is self-report form; 240 items Form R is observer-report form of instrument; different forms for men and women Has been criticized on the use for identifying pathology because it was normed on normal adults and the model is based on common characteristics of personality, not on pathology Is a valid predictor of performance in virtually all occupations Has potential to be used cross-culturally Some debate over appropriate names for the 5 factors

Other Standardized Personality Instruments Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) 22 scales (10 with subscales) with 344 items 4 validity scales 11 clinical scales 5 treatment scales 2 interpersonal scales Scale development is content-driven Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) Includes measures of 16 factors and 5 global factors – Extroversion, anxiety, tough-mindedness, independence, and self-control Version also exists for adolescents

Limitations of Standardized Personality Instruments Majority are self-report instruments Clients are able to distort results: “fake good” or “fake bad” Risk of response sets (e.g., socially desirable, “true” or “yes,” uncommon or less socially desirable, extremes) To increase validity of profiles: Inform client of purpose of inventory and how results will be used Instruct client to answer each question honestly Ask them to focus on each of the questions

Projective Techniques Provide client with a relatively unstructured stimulus to respond to – examiner takes responses and interprets the meaning Psychoanalytic concept of projection – individuals’ tendency to project their own drives, defenses, desires, and conflicts onto external situations and stimuli Thought to uncover more of the client’s unconscious and, thus, provide an indication of the covert or latent traits More difficult to “fake” responses

Projective Techniques Includes significant subjectivity in interpretation, and extensive training (sort of…) is needed to use these instruments Common categories: Associations Construction Completions Arrangement/selection Expression

Projective Techniques Association techniques Rorschach Inkblot Test Client is presented a total of 10 ink blots and asked to give response Exner’s Comprehensive System is the most widely used interpretive system Construction techniques Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Client is presented a picture and asked to construct a story based upon that picture (there are a total of 20 [1 blank] but all 20 are rarely given) Developed to be a measure of Murray’s theory of needs and presses

Projective Techniques Completion techniques Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (2nd ed.) 40 sentences are scored for conflict, positive responses, neutral responses, and overall adjustment score e.g., “I hope…,” “At home…,” “I get upset when…,” Rosenzweig Picture-Frustration Study Derived from Rosenzweig’s theory of frustration and aggression An individual is presented with a series of cartoons that represent frustrating situations with one of the character’s speech bubbles being blank The individual fills in the empty cartoon bubble with a response to the frustrating situation

Projective Techniques Arrangement/Selection techniques Sandplay Very few empirical studies Other techniques involving play such as toys and puppets Expression techniques Drawing techniques Draw-a-Person Test (D-A-P) House-Tree-Person (H-T-P) Kinetic Family Drawing (K-F-D)

Projective Techniques Strengths (sort of…) More difficult to fake Can sometimes identify more complex themes and multidimensional aspects of personality Can serve as an effective method of establishing rapport Helpful with children and nonverbal clients Limitations Low reliability evidence Meager validation information More caution needed when interpreting results Lack of normative data Some have race/ethnicity biases (i.e., “false positives”)