1. Chapter 8 Assessment: Self-Report and Projective Measures INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2E HUNSLEY & LEE PREPARED BY DR. CATHY CHOVAZ, KING’S COLLEGE, UWO

2.  Central Concepts in Self-Report and Projectives  The Person-Situation Debate  Self-presentation Biases  Culturally Appropriate Measures  Clinical Utility  Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory  Millon Measures  Measures of Normal Personality Functioning  Self-report Checklists of Behaviours and Symptoms  Projective Measures Topics:

3.  Personality traits: Consistent behaviors, attitudes and emotions across time  Objective personality tests: Tests that are scored the same way each time and not as open to interpretation  Projective personality test: Test taker responds to ambiguous stimuli and assessor determines some interpretation of the data  Clinical utility: Do the tests add important and useful information? Central Concepts in Self-Report and Projectives

4.  Walter Mischel: 1968 book Personality and Assessment launched debate  Limits to self-knowledge  Situational influences  Are behaviours consistent over time?  Research evidence points to influence of both person and situation The Person-Situation Debate

5.  Emphasizing the positive: People are often motivated to present themselves in a favourable light (e.g., custody cases, job applications) – “faking good”  Malingering: Trying to look worse than one is (e.g., insanity defence) – “faking bad”  Random responding: Not taking test seriously or cognitively impaired?  Validity scales: Portions of personality tests that are designed to catch these biases Self-Presentation Biases

6.  Projective tests may get around the self-presentation bias issue because the stimuli are ambiguous  Research evidence is mixed on whether this is the case Self-Presentation Biases

7.  Tests can be biased in several ways  May not be relevant to all cultural groups  How tests are related may not be equal across groups  Cut-off scores may be different for different groups  Different factors may exist for different groups Culturally Appropriate Measures

8.  Clinicians should only use measures that are validated with the ethnic group it is being used with (or results interpreted with caution)  Cross-cultural adaptations of tests are often needed Culturally Appropriate Measures

9.  Assessing cultural and linguistic factors:  Immigration history  Contact with other cultural groups  Acculturative status  Acculturative stress  Socioeconomic status  Language  (see Exhibit 8.1 p. 290) Culturally Appropriate Measures

10. Must consider: 1. Basic perspective – extent of knowledge 2. Applied perspective – clinical utility?  Do clinicians find the tool useful?  Reliable and valid information?  Does the tool improve upon clinical decision-making and treatment outcome? Clinical Utility

11. MMPI-2 (for adults) and MMPI-A for adolescents: Most commonly taught and used personality inventory in clinical psychology  First version published in 1943, had 550 items  Used empirical criterion keying: items were chosen that discriminated groups  Second version has 567 and adolescent version 478 items;  Used content approach to test construction: developing items that designed to tap a construct (not by how groups responded) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

12.  Cannot Say (?): Total number of unanswered items  Lie Scale (L): A measure of self-presentation that is unrealistically positive  Infrequency Scale (F): A measure of self-presentation that is very unfavourable–malingering or severe psychopathology  Defensiveness Scale (K): Unwillingness to disclose personal information and problems. High K scale scores increase some other scores Some MMPI-2 Validity Scales

13.  Scale 1 (Hs: Hypochondriasis): Preoccupation with health issues  Scale 2 (D: Depression): Common symptoms of depression  Scale 3 (Hy: Hysteria): Physical symptoms when stressed and minimization of interpersonal problems  Scale 4 (Pd: Psychopathic Deviate): Rebellious attitudes, conflict with authorities and family, and antisocial activities  Scale 5 (Mf: Masculinity-Femininity): Measures gender- stereotyped interests and activities MMPI-2 Clinical Scales

14.  Scale 6 (Pa: Paranoia): Feelings of being mistreated, and delusions of persecution  Scale 7 (Pt: Psychasthenia): Tendency to worry, rumination, fearing loss of control  Scale 8 (Sc: Schizophrenia): Tendency to experience social alienation, delusions, hallucinations  Scale 9 (Ma: Hypomania): Tendency toward hyperarousal, excessive energy, agitation  Scale 0 (Si: Social Introversion): Introversion, not enjoying social contexts MMPI-2 Clinical Scales

15.  Norms: Developed with a large random sample selected from a diverse group in terms of ethnicity, SES, geography  Not a large sample of low educated or low-income individuals in norm group  Reliability: Good to mediocre depending on the scale; test-retest validity is very good (>.8)  Validity: Enormous amount of data – interpretation is complicated with many clinical and content scales MMPI-2 Norms, Reliability and Validity

16.  Focused on DSM diagnostic categories, but otherwise similar in design to the MMPI  MCMI-III 175 item (true false)  MACI (for adolescents) also 175 T/F items  Norms may underrepresent the American and Canadian population  Good reliability including test-retest reliability and internal consistency  Some possible over-pathologizing may exist Millon Measures: MCMI-III and the MACI

17. Note: used with the general population, so no validity scales California Psychological Inventory (CPI):  434 items similar in structure to the MMPI (shares many similar items); good normative, reliability and validity data NEO-PI-Revised:  Factor analytically derived inventory defines five factors: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (acronym: ocean). Very good normative, reliability and validity data Measures of Normal Personality Functioning

18.  Achenbach (Child Behavior Checklist CBCL): Parents report a series of problems in their children (versions for teachers, caregivers)  Symptom Checklist 90-revised (SCL-90-R): Most widely used symptom measure in clinical settings. 90 items – 9 subscales; good reliability, but norms are not adequate and high intercorrelation among items  Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II): 21-item multiple choice on severity of depressive symptoms; scores may decrease with repeated administration Self-report Checklists of Behaviours and Symptoms

19.  Stimuli are ambiguous with respect to content and meaning  Based on psychoanalytic idea that people project their negative attributes about themselves onto ambiguous external stimuli  However, recent evidence indicates that the responses are about the person’s experiences and personality, not projection per se  Many of these tests lack rigor of testing guidelines Projective Measures

20.  Developed by Hermann Rorschach – 10 cards; symmetrical inkblots; people report on what they see in the inkblots  John Exner’s Comprehensive Scoring System  Main way to score the inkblots based on a very large normative sample of responses; although people of colour not adequately sampled  Recent norms have better representation – although test is not recommended currently for youth (because of over-pathologizing)  Good reliability; mixed data on validity Rorschach Inkblot Test

21.  Developed by Murray, 1943  31 cards with pictures on them  Participant tells a story about what they see in the picture  No consistently-used scoring mechanism, although the stories are supposed to yield data on needs, emotions, interpersonal relations, and conflicts within the individual  No clear norms or reliability data, making the TAT a test that is not recommended since its validity cannot be determined Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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