Personality Assessment

Goals 1.Understand the roles of personality assessment 2.Understand the main ways of assessing personality that have been proposed/developed, with strengths and weaknesses 3.Understand unique challenges to personality assessment 4.Understand how to evaluate the quality of a personality assessment 5.Insight into two or three of the most popular personality “tests” – strengths/weaknesses

Role of Personality Assessment Where is personality assessment done? Discuss HR I/O Consultants Testing companies (e.g., PAR, Pearson) Clinical practice Dating

Role of Personality Assessment Where is personality assessment done? Formal/Professional Venues Empirical Research Everyday life

Types of Personality Assessment What types of personality assessment are you familiar with? If we wanted to know if one person is more extraverted than another, how could we find out? Discuss

Types of Personality Assessment Clues to Personality (Kinds of data): Why “clue”? Each method has advantages & disadvantages 1.Self-report data Examples? Pros/cons?

BFI Note: Images borrowed from class-discussing-traits-through-examples/ Neuroticism

BFI Note: Normative data are from 255 in Fall 2009, N = 38 Neuroticism TraitMeanSD“68% range” Neuroticism Extraversion – 4.2 Openness – 4.0 Agreeableness – 4.6 Conscientiousness – 4.4

Personality Research Methods Personality Assessment - Methods 2. “Informant” data Examples Pros/cons

(Nearly) First impression ratings of “row-mates” Neuroticism: (sensitive/nervous vs. secure/confident). The tendency to experience unpleasant emotions easily, such as anger, anxiety, depression, and vulnerability. Neuroticism also refers to the degree of emotional “liveliness.” Extraversion: (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved). Energy, positive emotions, surgency, assertiveness, sociability and the tendency to seek stimulation in the company of others, and talkativeness. Openness to experience: (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious). Appreciation for art, emotion, adventure, unusual ideas, curiosity, and variety of experience. Openness reflects the degree of intellectual curiosity, creativity and a preference for novelty and variety a person has. It is also described as the extent to which a person is imaginative or independent, and depicts a personal preference for a variety of activities over a strict routine. Agreeableness: (friendly/compassionate vs. analytical/detached). A tendency to be compassionate and cooperative rather than suspicious and antagonistic towards others. It is also a measure of one's trusting and helpful nature, and whether a person is generally well tempered or not. Conscientiousness: (efficient/organized vs. easy-going/careless). A tendency to be organized and dependable, show self-discipline, act dutifully, aim for achievement, and prefer planned rather than spontaneous behavior.

Personality Research Methods Personality Assessment - Methods 4. Life Outcomes Examples Pros/cons

Personality Research Methods Personality Assessment - Methods 3. Behavioral data “Natural” B data (eg, ESM, EAR, ARRB) “Laboratory” B data (in-lab obs, exp, pro, pro)pro Pros/cons

Challenges to Personality Assessment What are some of the fundamental challenges that complicate personality assessment? Discuss Examples: Social desirability Self-insight Hypothetical constructs No “direct access” to the qualities of the objects

Personality Assessment What is being measured? Many personality variables are “theoretical constructs” or “latent variables” Unseen characteristics that we assume exist somewhere inside the person.

Personality Research Methods Personality Assessment Subject’s self-report Score on BFI Extraversion Scale Subject’s Extraversion Subject’s Extraversion Friend’s rating of subject’s Extraversion Subject’s Talkativeness # of friends in social network

Personality Assessment What is being measured? Many personality variables are “theoretical constructs” or “latent variables” Unseen characteristics that we assume exist somewhere inside the person. Is this unique to personality psych? Memory, attention, hunger Gravity

Personality Assessment Direct Access to qualities of objects? Unique to personality? How to measure “talkativeness”? How to measure existence of a planet? How to measure length of a piece of lumber?

Personality Assessment - Quality Quality of measurement How do we know if a personality assessment technique or tool is good? Two facets of measurement quality: Reliability Construct Validity

Personality Assessment - Quality Reliability Is the “observed” score a precise reflection of the “true” characteristic (whatever that characteristic might be) If we do the measurement over and over, do we get the same score each time? Do we consistently get the same score? 2 Kinds of reliability Test-retest reliability Internal Consistency reliability

Personality Assessment - Quality Construct Validity What is the characteristics that’s reflected by the test score? Does the test measure what its supposed to measure? E.g., if we have a questionnaire that supposedly measures depression – does it really measure depression? Depression is the “construct”, is our test a valid measure of that construct?

Personality Assessment - Quality Mike’s Brief Neuroticism Questionnaire (MBNQ) Circle yes or no for each statement: 1. I often get worried NOYES 2. I often hear strange voices NOYES 3. I have a fear of heights NOYES 4. I often get stressed out NOYES 5. I like animals NOYES 6. My favorite color is blue NOYES

Personality Assessment - Quality How can we empirically evaluate a scale’s construct validity? 1.Content validity 2.Convergent validity 3.Discriminant validity

Personality Assessment Every time you hear about or go through a personality assessment, you should wonder about measurement: How were the variables measured? Are there potential disadvantages to the measurement technique? Was the measure (eg, questionnaire) reliable and valid?

Goals 1.Understand the roles of personality assessment 2.Understand the main ways of assessing personality that have been proposed/developed, with strengths and weaknesses 3.Understand unique challenges to personality assessment 4.Understand how to evaluate the quality of a personality assessment 5.Insight into two or three of the most popular personality “tests” – strengths/weaknesses

Some well-known (if not particularly useful or valid) personality assessment tools Rorshach MBTI – Meyers Briggs Type Indicator (e.g., used by WFU career services) NEO-PI-R – NEO- Personality Inventory HEXACO MMPI – Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inv