1. Chapter 2: How is Personality Studied and Assessed? Psyc 305 Fall 2013

2. Every man is in certain aspects Like all other man Like some other man
Like no other man
CLYDE KLUCKHOHN AND HENRY A. MURRAY

3. Assessment in Personality: Goals
Accurate characterization of individuals, important for diagnostic, education, counseling, and research purposes
Applications:
Hiring decisions
Clinical assessment for diagnostic puposes in counseling or psychotherapy
Goal setting for counseling and therapeutic purposes

4. Subjective Assessment
Measurement that relies on interpretation (unlike objective assessment)
Weaknesses
Different observers may make different judgments
Strengths
Complex phenomena may be examined and valuable insight gained

5. Assessment in Personality Study
Principles of measurement
Reliability: consistency
Validity: measure what is intended

6. Classic Representation of Reliability and Validity

7. Classic Representation of Reliability and Validity
Not Reliable
Not Valid
Reliable
Valid

8. Reliability: Consistency of Measurement
over time (test-retest),
among raters (inter-rater), and
within its items (internal consistency)

9. Test-retest reliability: Consistency in measurement
Types of Reliability
Internal consistency: consistency within a set of items intended to measure the same construct
Split-half reliability
The correlation between two halves of a test
Cronbach’s coefficient alpha
The average of all possible split-half correlations
Inter-rater reliability: consistency in judgments across multiple raters
Test-retest reliability: consistency or stability across time
Quality of the Measure: Reliability
Test-retest reliability: Consistency in measurement
Interrater reliability: Agreement among different raters
Internal consistency: if one part of the test is similar to another part of the test
Statistics
Standard Error of Measurement (SEM) –
low for measures of stable concepts
Confidence Interval (usually 95% CI)

10. Reliability: Consistency of Measurement
High reliability = greater consistency = lower randomness (error)
Low reliability = less consistency = more error

11. Validity (1) Construct validity
The extent to which a test truly measures a theoretical construct
Convergent validity
A measure is related to what it should be related to
Discriminant validity
A measure is not related to what it should not be related to

12. Validity (2) Criterion-related validity
The measure can predict important outcome criteria
Content validity
The measure contains items that represent the entire domain of the theoretical construct

13. Item Selection Items should be clear and relatively simple
Items should discriminate among test takers
Items should be intercorrelated
But not so highly that they are redundant

14. Item Selection
The total score of the assessment should have a normal distribution
Avoid ceiling and floor effects
Be sensitive to variability across the range of scores

15. Response Sets (1)
A bias in responding to test items that is unrelated to the personality characteristic being measured
Acquiescence response set
“yes”, “agree,” “true of me”
Social desirability response set
The “good” or “correct” answer
The answer that reflects well on the test-taker

16. Response Sets (2) To reduce the problem of response sets
Reverse-code some items
Use neutral wording
Include lie scales
Use several different methods of assessment

17. Ethnic and Gender Bias
Traditionally White male theorists, either of European or American heritage
Generally ignored gender & ethnicity
A characteristic that is a strength in one group may be perceived as a weakness or deficiency in another
All tests make assumptions about the background of the test-taker
Use care in interpreting results
Always consider the context

18. Ethnic & Cultural Influences
Influence image of human nature
Implications for self-efficacy, subjective well-being, parenting, self-enhancement, etc.
Individualism
Focus on personal freedom
Collectivism
Focus on group norms & values

19. EthnIC BIAS
Cultural prejudices (for criminals, loud talkers, lazy, etc.)
Varying characteristics could be perceived as a strength in one and a deficit in another culture .
Examples;
ASSERTIVE BEHAVIORS (higher for …)
ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION (higher for ….)
MOTIVATION FOR SELF-ENHANCEMENT (higher for ….)
UTILITY OF POSITIVE ASSESSMENT OF SELF (higher for ….)
FEELING POSITIVE (more of a virtue for …..)
FEELING OPTIMISTIC (higher for …)

20. GENDER BIAS
Which of the following is descriptive of mental health? AGGRESSIVE TENDENCIES GREATER EMOTIONAL INTENSITY GREATER REPORTS OF UNHAPPINESS MORE EXPRESSIVE OF EMOTIONS MORE ASSERTIVE ACHIEVEMENT ORIENTED RELATIONSHIP/FAMILY ORIENTED LOWER SOCIAL CONCERNS CARING COOPERATIVE

21. Cross-Cultural Assessment
Potential problems:
Slang & colloquial expressions
Familiarity with answer formats
Discomfort with process
Arab countries discussing sex, family violence

22. Types of Personality Measures: Self-Report Tests
Usually pencil and paper tests
Most common type of test
Examples:
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
Big-Five Inventory (BFI)
Affective Communication Test (ACT)

23. MMPI
The MMPI was developed in the late 1930’s and first published in Original authors were Starke Hathaway and J. C. McKinley 1100 original items and was cut down to 566 by the time it was first published, MMPI-2 released in 1989 Originally used to assess psychopathology Current purpose “to assess a number of the major patterns of personality and emotional disorders” Profile Analysis is the goal

24. MMPI-2 Content 567 true/false items Scales: 7 validity scales
10 clinical scales
15 supplementary scales
15 content scales
34 other subscales
Because there are so many we will only talk about a few.

25. Five major validity scales
3 original
Lie (L) – present self as a perfectionist
Infrequency (F) – deviant social beliefs etc.
Correction (K) – defensiveness/unwilling to report weakness
2 new (inconsistent or contradictory responses)
Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN)
True Response Inconsistency (TRIN)
Clinical scales follow:

26. Description What is measured No. of items HYPOCHONDRİASİS
Concern with bodily symptoms 32
DEPRESSİON
Depressive symptoms 57
HYSTERİA
Awareness of problems and vulnerabilities 60
PSYCHOPATHİC DEVİATE
Conflict, struggle, anger, respect for society's rules 50
MASCULİNİTY/FEMİNİNİTY
Stereotypical masculine or feminine interests/behaviors 56
PARANOİA
Level of trust, suspiciousness, sensitivity 40
PSYCHASTHENİA
Worry, Anxiety, doubts, obsessiveness 48
SCHİZOPHRENİA
Odd thinking and social alienation 78
HYPOMANİA
Level of excitability 46
SOCİAL INTROVERSİON
People orientation 69
CLINICAL SCALES

27. SAMPLE ITEMS Please answer each of the following,
1.I like mechanics magazines T F 2.I have a good appetite 3.I wake up fresh & rested most mornings 4.I think I would like the work of a librarian 5.I am easily awakened by noise 6.I like to read newspaper articles on crime 7.My hands and feet are usually warm enough 8.My daily life is full of things that keep me interested 9.I am about as able to work as I ever was 10.There seems to be a lump in my throat much of the time

28. Types of Personality Measures: Q-Sort Tests
Person makes comparisons among his/her own characteristics
Uses a stack of cards, one characteristic per card
Sorts cards into piles indicating how descriptive each card is of him/her
Forced number of cards at each level
Normalizes use of levels across test-takers

29. Types of Personality Measures: Judgments by Others
Someone else answers questions about the person being measured
Some traits are easier to judge than others
Can use ratings from parents, friends, teachers, spouse, psychologists, etc.
Used for adults and children

30. Advantages and DIsadvantages of Self-Report Inventories
Objective scoring
Low cost
Disadvantages
Reading level
Social desirability

31. Types of Personality Measures: Biological Measures
Assumes that the nervous system is an important element of personality
Modern biological measures
Electroencephalogram (EEG)
Can provide event-related potentials (ERPs)
Positron emission tomography (PET) scan
Magnetic resonance imagery (MRI)
Functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI)
Hormonal levels
Chromosomal analysis

32. Types of Personality Measures: Behavioral Observations
Records the actual behavior of a person
Types of behavioral observations
Simple counts of a specific behavior
Coding videotaped interactions
Electronic pagers

33. Types of Personality Measures: Interviews
Asking questions
Past & present life experiences
Social & family relationships
Unstructured interviews
Typically yield rich information, but validity is questionable
Structured interviews
More valid, but usually do not reveal individual nuances

34. Types of Personality Measures: Expressive Behavior
The analysis of how people stand, move, speak, etc.
Includes the examination of:
speech rate
voice quality
gaze patterns
posture
gestures

35. Types of Personality Measures: Document Analysis/Life Stories
Involves the careful analysis of writings such as letters and diaries
Can be a very rich source of information
Examples:
Allport’s “Letters from Jenny”
Terman’s analysis of Galton’s letters

36. Types of Personality Measures: Projective Tests
Present an unstructured or ambiguous stimulus, task, or situation
Test-taker provides an interpretation
The goal is to gain access to unconscious motives and concerns
Examples:
Draw-a-person test
Rorschach Inkblot
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

37. Projective Test Example 1: Draw-a-Person
Drawing by a nine-year-old in response to the prompt “Draw a person”

38. Advantages and Dısadvantages of Projective Tests
Unique clinical value by providing insights to clinicians and clients
Disadvantages
Scoring based on examiner’s interpretation/score
Low reliability/validity

39. Types of Personality Measures: Demographics and Lifestyle
Uses information about a person’s age, place of birth, gender, family size, etc. Can help researchers understand people based on their everyday lives

40. The Ethics of Personality Testing
Test results always contain some error
However, this should not prevent us from using personality tests
Due to these errors, one must be careful
when interpreting test results
when choosing how to apply the results

41. Research Designs Common designs in personality research: Case Studies
Correlational Studies
Experimental Studies
Each has different benefits and drawbacks

42. 1. Clinical Method: CASE STUDIES
Detailed history of individual Contains data from variety of sources (e.g. tests, interviews, dream analysis)
Advantages
Depth of information
Disadvantages
Subjective
Less precision

43. Advantages Disadvantages Prediction in real world
2. Correlational Method
Degree of relationship Correlation coefficient between two variables Ranges from to +1.00
Advantages
Prediction in real world
Disadvantages
Correlation does not imply causation

44. 3. Experimental Method
Determine effects of variables or events on behavior
Independent Variable
Dependent Variable
Variable manipulated
Variable measured
Experimental Group
Control Group
Exposed to treatment
No treatment

45. 2. Experimental Method, cont.
Disadvantages
Advantages
Well controlled Systematic Duplication & Verification
Limited aspects possible in lab Awareness of observation