Lecture 16 Personality Assessment

Personality Assessment Overview

  • Personality Assessment by Katya DeGiovanni

Personality Theories

  • Revise various personality theories:

    • Phrenology: Study of skull shapes to determine personality traits.

    • Type Theories: Categorization of personalities into different types.

    • Trait Theories: Focus on identifying and measuring individual traits.

    • Psychoanalytic Theory: Emphasizes unconscious motivations and conflicts.

    • Phenomenological Theory: Centers on individual subjective experiences.

    • Social Learning Theory: Asserts personality is shaped through observation and social interactions.

Uses and Misuses of Personality Assessment: Ethical Problems

  • Potential challenges in personality assessments:

    • Misapplication by untrained or unethical individuals undermines credibility.

    • Example of vague generalities in assessments (Sundberg, 1955):

      • Statements tend to apply broadly, making them less informative.

      • Emphasis on an individual’s uniqueness is essential.

Uses and Misuses of Personality Assessment: Ethical Problems II

  • Importance of careful administration and interpretation of results:

    • Some topics are sensitive and require discretion.

    • Ensuring validity of assessments is crucial:

      • Risks of exaggerating problems or overemphasizing positive attributes.

Interpreting Assessment Data

  • Variability in assessment interpretation:

    • Different professionals may provide radically different interpretations.

    • Effective strategies for interpreting assessment data:

      • Gather comprehensive life situation details.

      • Be aware of sociocultural backgrounds influencing results.

      • Favor objective techniques over subjective ones.

      • Avoid excessive speculation about behavior predictions.

      • Document agreements and disagreements with other assessors.

      • Write findings in accessible language for the intended audience.

Clinical Assessment: Mental Status Examination

  • Purpose of Mental Status Examination:

    • Evaluate emotional state, intellectual and perceptual functioning.

    • Assess thought process style and content, including speech and psychomotor activity.

    • Utilize case studies for gathering background information over time.

    • Prepare a report summarizing strengths and weaknesses post-assessment.

Clinical Assessment: MINI Mental State Examination (MMSE)

  • Administration of MMSE:

    • Orientation: Assess awareness of time and place.

    • Registration: Measure ability to repeat and learn names of objects.

    • Attention and Calculation: Simple math tasks and spelling backwards.

    • Recall: Test memory by asking for previously learned object names.

    • Language: Evaluate comprehension through commands and sentence creation.

    • Copying: Test visual coordination by copying shapes.

    • Scoring for cognitive impairment indicated by total points out of 30.

Clinical Assessment: The Clinical Case Study

  • Gathering comprehensive background and character information through case studies:

    • Collect data from clients and significant others over time.

    • Assess various history aspects, including family and educational background.

    • Summarize findings in reports detailing strengths and weaknesses.

Clinical Assessment: Psychodiagnosis

  • Process of examining psychological conditions:

    • Conduct observations, interviews, and tests to identify mental disorders.

    • Compare symptoms to standard abnormal behavior descriptions for diagnosis.

Clinical Assessment: Case Conference

  • Role of clinical case conferences in mental health evaluations:

    • Communicate results using non-technical language.

    • Discuss options for treatment and referrals post-psychological evaluation.

  • Importance of disseminating reports responsibly to involved parties.

Application of Personality Assessment: Marital and Family Assessment

  • Use of traditional and projective inventories to address family dynamics:

    • Tools such as MMPI-2 and Rorschach Inkblot Test for analysis.

    • Use of checklists and inventories focused on marital attitudes and satisfaction.

    • Specialized projective techniques for family relations assessment.

Application of Personality Assessment: Health Psychology

  • Addressing psychological factors in health contexts:

    • Plan treatments and interventions for medical conditions.

    • Utilize personality inventories to assist in comprehensive treatment planning.

Application of Personality Assessment: Legal Psychology

  • Forensic psychology and its focus areas:

    • Evaluate defendants for mental disorders and competency.

    • Assess behaviors related to personal injury, custody, and recidivism in court cases.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Public Objections

  • Criticism of personality measures:

    • Historical instances of public backlash and content objections (e.g., Texas Test Burning).

    • Sensitivity surrounding personal questions in assessments.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: The Polygraph and Integrity Testing

  • Use of polygraph tests for employee screening:

    • Controversial results and accuracy issues led to its prohibition in employment contexts in 1988.

    • Transition to paper-and-pencil integrity tests following polygraph scrutiny.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Employee Selection Testing

  • Employment screening tests and ethical considerations:

    • Inappropriate inquiries into personal preferences not directly relevant to job performance.

    • Compliance with ADA regulations regarding pre-employment assessments.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Validity of Personality Tests

  • Discrepancies in reliability among projective versus objective tests.

    • Concerns regarding misinterpretation of assessment results.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Ethnic and Gender Bias

  • Variability in MMPI profiles according to ethnicity:

    • Recognition of potential bias in assessment tools and efforts to revise them.

    • Debates on whether differences indicate bias or reflect true group differences.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Clinical and Statistical Prediction

  • Comparison of statistical versus clinical prediction methods:

    • Evidence supporting the accuracy of statistical methods in predictions.

    • Situations where trained practitioners provide more successful predictions using varied data sources.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Validity of Clinical Judgment

  • Factors influencing clinician errors in judgment:

    • Understanding and improving clinical interpretation accuracy.

    • Common clinician errors include illusory correlations and hindsight bias.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Traits and Situations

  • Mischel's social-learning approach vs. trait stability:

    • Contextual influences on behavior can sometimes eclipse personality traits.

    • Individual differences in trait consistency across situations.

Issues and Controversies in Personality Assessment: Idiographic and Nomothetic Approaches

  • Idiographic Approach: Study personality as unique integrated systems.

  • Nomothetic Approach: Focus on group norms and averages.