1. Chapter 8 – Assessment: Self-Report and Projective Measures
Chapter 8 – Assessment: Self-Report and Projective Measures
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2. The Study of Personality
The term “personality” refers to an “invisible”, hypothetical entity
We cannot see what is going on “inside” the person
We assess “what is going on inside” on the basis of behavioral observations
Behaviors that are consistent along time and across situations seem to reflect one’s personality
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Cont-d
We often want to explain the behavior of other people, especially when this behavior is unexpected
We need to explain in order to be able to predict (and possibly to protect ourselves)
The ability to predict provides us with a sense of safety
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4. The Person vs. the Situation
One of the enduring questions in psychology:
Is our behavior shaped by the situation we are in (external), or by the type of person we are (internal)?
Both the person and the situation contribute to our behavior. On the one hand, we know that we do not act the same way in all situations, but on the other hand we also know that in similar situations, under the same conditions, different people act differently.
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5. Definition of Personality
There is no single definition to the term
Burger suggests that personality can be defined as consistent behavioral patterns and intrapersonal processes originating within the individual.
Note elements of this definition: personality is consistent, along time and across situations. Personality is our intrapersonal processes (not interpersonal) —our emotional, motivational, and cognitive processes that affect how we feel and how we act.
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6. In Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychologists are active in both researching personality traits and assessing traits for clinical purposes
In clinical setting, testing is aimed at understanding a client's behavior, predicting behavior, and assessing possible personality changes as a function of therapy
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7. Central Concepts in Self-Report and Projectives
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
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8. The Person-Situation Debate
Walter Mischel: 1968 book Personality and Assessment launched debate
Limits to self-knowledge
Situational influences
Are behaviors consistent over time?
Research evidence points to influence of both person and situation
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9. Self-presentation Biases
Emphasizing the positive: People are often motivated to present themselves in a favorable light (e.g., custody cases, job applications)
Malingering: Trying to look worse than one is (e.g., insanity defense)
Random responding
Validity scales: Portions of personality tests that are designed to catch these biases
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10. Self-presentation Biases
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
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11. Culturally Appropriate Measures
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
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12. Culturally Appropriate Measures
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
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13. Culturally Appropriate Measures
Assessing cultural and linguistic factors:
Immigration History
Contact with Other Cultural Groups
Acculturative Status
Acculturative Stress
Socioeconomic Status
Language
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14. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
MMPI-2 (for adults) and MMPI-A for adolescents: Most commonly taught and used personality inventory in clinical psych
1st version was published in 1943 – 550 items; Used empirical criterion keying: items were chosen that discriminated groups
2nd 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)
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15. Some MMPI-2 Validity Scales
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 unfavorable – malingering or severe psychopathology
Defensiveness Scale (K): Unwillingness to disclose personal information and problems. High K scale scores increase some other scores
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MMPI-2 Clinical Scales
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
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MMPI-2 Clinical Scales
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, experience delusions, hallucinations
Scale 9 (Ma: Hypomania): Tendency toward hyperarousal, excessive energy, agitation
Scale 0 (Si: Social Introversion): Introversion, not enjoying social contexts
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18. MMPI-2 Norms, Reliability and Validity
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
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19. Millon Measures: MCMI-III and the MACI
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 under-represent people of color, in other ways are a good representation of the population
Good reliability including test-retest reliability and internal consistency
Some possible over-pathologizing may exist
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20. Measures of Normal Personality Functioning
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 5 factors: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (acronym: ocean). Very good normative, reliability and validity data
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21. Self-report Checklists of Behaviors and Symptoms
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 w/ repeated administration
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Projective Measures
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
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23. Rorschach Inkblot Test
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 color 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
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24. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
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 an test that is not recommended since its validity cannot be determined
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From the TAT This picture shows a young woman and behind her an elderly woman
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TAT This picture shows a young woman standing behind a young man, holding him and seems to be trying to prevent him from moving away from her
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TAT This picture shows a man lying on a bed in the background and a woman in the foreground standing, leaning on the wall, and covering her face with one of her hands
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TAT This picture shows a boy about age 8 or 9 sitting in front of a violin, looking down
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