1. Personality Assessment and Behavioral Assessment
Chapter 10
Personality Assessment and Behavioral Assessment

2. Multimethod Assessment
No measure of personality or behavior is perfect
It is best to use multiple methods
Tests
Interviews
Observations
Other sources
Convergent conclusions can be made with more confidence
Each method offers a unique perspective, and although some may be more enlightening than others, it is the integration of multiple methods that ultimately proves most informative.

3. Evidence-Based Assessment
Assessment based on “what works” empirically
Similar to movement regarding “what works” in therapy, but data is not quite as abundant yet
Typically tied to particular disorders
Ex. SCID and BDI-II for assessing depression
How do researchers determine “what works?” One example is test-retest reliability, which measures the extent to which the method yields similar results at different points in time. It measures the extent to which the method yields similar results at different points in time, is expressed as a correlation coefficient ranging from -1 to +1. Correlations of .70+ are adequate over a period of several days to weeks, good over a period of several months, and excellent over a period of a year or longer.

4. Culturally Competent Assessment
Every culture has its own definitions of “normal” and “abnormal”
Culturally competent clinical psychologists are aware of this, and of the influence of their own cultural perspective
Especially important not to overpathologize
View as abnormal what is culturally normal

5. Objective Personality Tests
Include unambiguous test items, offer clients a limited range of responses, and are objectively scored
Typically self-report questionnaires
Typically a series of brief statements or questions to which clients respond in a true/false or multiple choice format

6. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)
Most popular and most psychometrically sound objective personality test
Used worldwide; translated into dozens of languages
Pencil & paper format
567 self-descriptive sentences
Client marks true or false for each
See Box 10.2 Simulated MMPI-2 Items.

7. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) (cont.)
Original MMPI was published in 1943
Primary authors were Starke Hathaway and J. C. McKinley
Empirical criterion keying was used as test construction method
Revised edition, MMPI-2, was published in 1989
Better norms
Less outdated wording of items
Empirical criterion keying: identifying distinct groups of people, asking all of them to respond to the same test items, and comparing responses between groups. If an item elicits different responses from one group than from another, it’s a worthy item and should be included on the final version of the test. If the groups answer an item similarly, the item is discarded because it does not help to categorize a client in one group or the other.

8. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) (cont.)
MMPI and MMPI-2 feature 10 clinical scales
1—Hypochondriasis
2—Depression
3—Hysteria
4—Psychopathic Deviate
5—Masculinity/femininity
6—Paranoia
7—Psychasthenia
8—Schizophrenia
9—Mania
0—Social Introversion
Also feature supplemental scales and content scales for additional clinical information

9. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) (cont.)
MMPI and MMPI-2 also feature validity scales
To measure test-taking attitudes
Can identify clients who “fake good” or “fake bad,” or clients who respond randomly
MMPI-A (for adolescents, age 14-18) was published in 1992
Similar clinical scales, validity scales, and administration
MMPI-2-RF—most recent edition—briefer, less overlap between clinical scales

10. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) (cont.)
Strengths include psychometrics (established reliability and validity) and comprehensiveness
Limitations include length, reading requirement, attention requirement, and emphasis on pathology/abnormality

11. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) (cont.)
Therapeutic Assessment
Interesting use of MMPI-2, developed by Stephen Finn and colleagues
MMPI-2 feedback used as a brief therapeutic intervention
What psychologists intend as assessment clients can experience as therapeutic

12. Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III)
Originally created by Theodore Millon
Like the MMPI-2 in some ways
Comprehensive objective personality test
Self-report, pencil & paper format
Main difference: MCMI-III emphasizes personality disorders
Its clinical scales are based on DSM personality disorders (e.g., antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, paranoid)

13. NEO Personality Inventory—Revised (NEO-PI-R)
Originally created by Paul Costa and Robert McCrae
Another objective personality test
Pencil & paper, self-report format
Main distinction: measures “normal” personality traits (not pathologies)
Based on Five Factor model of personality
Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness
Lacks validity scales, and of limited help with clinical diagnosis
See Table 10.2 Normal Personality Traits Assessed by the NEO-PI-R.

14. California Psychological Inventory-III (CPI-III)
Another objective personality test
Pencil & paper, self-report
Like NEO-PI-R, doesn’t emphasize pathology
Emphasizes positive attributes of personality—strengths, assets, internal resources
Consistent with recent positive psychology movement
Also goes by name CPI-434 (434 items)
The CPI-III yields scores on 20 scales, the names of which reflect the positive nature of this test: Independence, Self-Acceptance, Empathy, Tolerance, Responsibility, and Flexibility, among others.
Because it emphasizes strengths rather than deficiencies, the CPI-III is regarded negatively by clinicians looking to diagnose disorders, but positively by those looking to understand a broad range of their clients’ abilities and talents.

15. Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Not a comprehensive test of personality, but a brief, targeted measure of one characteristic (depression symptoms)
21 items; takes 5-10 minutes to complete
Pencil & paper, self-report format
Lacks validity scales, and much more limited scope than other tests discussed to this point

16. Projective Personality Tests
Based on the assumption that clients will “project” their personalities when presented with unstructured, ambiguous stimuli and an unrestricted opportunity to respond
Lack of objectivity in scoring and interpretation
Considered by many to be empirically inferior to objective tests
Usage has declined in recent decades
Advocates claim they are less “fake-able”

17. Rorschach Inkblot Method
Created in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach
10 inkblots (5 in color, 5 black & white) are presented
Clients say what they see in each blot (in “response” phase)
Later (in “inquiry” phase), explain what features of the blot caused them to make their responses
Exner’s Comprehensive System is most widely used scoring system
See Photo 10.2.

18. Rorschach Inkblot Method (cont.)
Scoring emphasizes how the client perceives the blot as well as what the client sees
Scoring variables include:
Location (Whole blot, large part, or small detail?)
Determinants (Form, color, or shading of blot?)
Form Quality (Conventional? Distorted?)
Popular (What others see? Idiosyncratic?)
Content (What kinds of objects appear frequently?)
Reliability and validity are questionable and hotly debated

19. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Published in 1943 by Henry Murray and Christiana Morgan
Like Rorschach in that it involves a series of cards with ambiguous stimuli
Cards feature interpersonal scenes rather than inkblots
Client tells a story to go along with each scene
Often, not formally or empirically scored
Reliability and validity are questionable
See Photo 10.3.

20. Tell-Me-a-Story (TEMAS)
Recent TAT-style apperception test
Greater emphasis on cultural sensitivity (via portrayal of diverse individuals in cards)
Greater emphasis on empirical scoring via normative data

21. Sentence Completion Tests
The ambiguous stimuli are not inkblots or interpersonal scenes, but beginnings of sentences
Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB) is most widely used
Simulated examples:
I enjoy_______________.
It makes me furious_______________.
My greatest weakness_________.
Not often formally or empirically scored
Reliability and validity are questionable

22. Behavioral Assessment
Assumes that client behaviors are not signs of underlying issues or problems; instead, those behaviors are the problems
The behavior a client demonstrates is a sample of the problem itself, not a sign of some deeper, underlying problem

23. Techniques of Behavioral Assessment
Behavioral observation is the most essential technique
Direct, systematic observation of a client’s behavior in the natural environment
Also known as naturalistic observation
Requires operationally defining target behavior and measuring its frequency, duration, or intensity across specified time periods
Often more accurate than asking client to report on their own behaviors

24. Techniques of Behavioral Assessment (cont.)
When naturalistic observation is not possible, analogue observation is used
Replicate situation in clinic
Recording of behaviors is crucial
Done by parent, teacher, friend, or client
Enables functionality of behavior to be determined
This functionality is key concept in behavioral assessment

25. Technology in Behavioral Assessment
Laptop computers or handheld devices can be used to record observed behaviors
Numerous software programs have been created for this purpose
Clients can use similar technological tools for self-monitoring