PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

1. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT Beth Kurland Lisa Wolff EDPC 5335 Principals of Appraisal and Assessment October 22, 2011

2. DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY • Gordon Allport (1937) – Father of Personality • Classified and described over 50 meanings • Characteristics that determine the commonalities and differences in the behavior of human beings. • Patterns of thoughts, emotions, and behavior in individuals that distinguish one from another.

3. WHAT IS AN ASSESSMENT? • An instrument that assesses personality • Helps counselors understand the behavior of an individual • Measures aspects of personality and typical performance • Gives an idea of typical performance

4. FUNDAMENTAL TERMS • Traits – Qualities of an individual • Stable over time • Differ from person to person, and • Influence behavior • STATES – Change in traits of an individual • Temporary state of emotional being • How an individual feels at a specific point in time vs. generally

5. TYPES – The general description of a person • Individual attributes i.e., “Gregarious”, associated with being outgoing and extraverted • Hippocrates Classified people into 4 types: • Melancholic • Phlegmatic • Choleric, and • Sanguine *Carl Jung (1921) developed typology; became known as the best instrument assessing personality type: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, MBII (1998)

6. PURPOSE OF INVENTORIES • Identify and Measure Personality • Thinking, Feeling, and Behaving • Most are Self-Report • Test taker/client provides information • Some instruments designed to elicit information

7. APPROACHES TO P.I.D.

8. CATEGORIES OF PERSONALITY INVENTORIES • STRUCTURED/OBJECTIVE Standardized/Self-Report * Use Selected Response Items (i.e., matching, true/false, multiple choice) Rating Scales • Not scored “right or wrong”; in reference to the characteristic being measured (“true” = particular trait)

9. SCOPE of Inventories • BROAD SCOPE: Measures & provides scores of personality variables with 100s of test items, and providing several scores on scales or subscales; i.e., MMPI-2. This inventories take 1-2 hours. • NARROW SCOPE: Focuses on targeted aspects of personality; i.e., specific symptoms of depression or anxiety, or other behaviors such as OCD. These inventories take only 15-20 minutes to complete.

10. ASPECTS of Inventories • Pathological: Anything that Deviates from a healthy, normal condition. Indicates symptoms or other indicators of mental or behavioral disorders. • Psychopathology has to do with symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and anxiety or mood disorders. • Non-pathological: De-emphasizes pathology as the defining characteristic; focuses instead on ‘normal’ personality characteristics. • Assesses presence or absence of characteristics as reliability, social skills, flexibility, etc.

11. MMPI-2 • The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory • Most widely used (Released 1989) • Administered to adults 18+ at a 6th grade reading level • 567 T/F questions; 60-90 minutes to complete • Assesses symptoms of adult psychopathology • Aids Clinicians in diagnosing mental disorders, & assists with appropriate treatment methods • Consists of 10 clinical scales assessing dimensions of personality and psychopathology • Validity scales designed to help detect test invalidity, and to evaluates impact of distortions on test results

12. TABLE 12.1 MMPI-2 VALIDITY SCALES

13. Table 12.1 MMPI-2 Clinical Scale

14. Projective Instruments & Techniques • Encourages open- ended answers, which produce answers that reflect the individual’s personal characteristics, such as desires, feelings or needs. • Test –takers answer questions about questions that can imply two different things(ambiguous) • This type of test(ing) is related to the psychodynamic theory, which relies heavily on the interpretation of the unconscious. • Some examples of these test are: The Rorschach inkblot test, thematic Appreciation Test, verbal projective techniques and projective drawings. (Drummond, Jones2010)

15. The Rorschach Inkblot Test • The Rorschach: Inkblot test Developed by Herman Rorschach in 1921 Measures an individual’s perspective or view of the world.

16. The Rorschach Inkblot Test • This is a two phase test. The first phase is the free association phase. The view is asked to look at the inkblot and asked, “what might this be?’ Answers are then copied verbatim, including time taken for the answer and body gestures. The second phase is the inquiry phase. The interviewer inquires on whereabouts the viewer sought his answer via the inkblot and asks such questions as,” What makes it look like..?” or, Where on the inkblot did you see..?”

17. Thematic Appreciation test • Was based on Henry Murray’s theory of personality (1938). • It includes black and white picture cards with a variety of situations, characters and objects. • Viewers are asked to describe what they see or make up stories to go along with each scenario. Examiners probe by asking questions such as,” what is happening in the moment, what led up to the event in the picture” also, the outcome and a description of the characters.

18. Thematic Appreciation test • Was based on Henry Murray’s theory of personality (1938). • It includes black and white picture cards with a variety of situations, characters and objects. • Viewers are asked to describe what they see or make up stories to go along with each scenario. Examiners probe by asking questions such as,” what is happening in the moment, what led up to the event in the picture” also, the outcome and a description of the characters.

19. Thematic Appreciation test Many times the viewer may describe a hero or villain, along with this common themes may occur throughout the pictures. These should be identified and client relation to the story should be noted.

20. Verbal Projective Techniques • This techniques incorporates verbal stimuli and response. • Can be administered and reproduced orally or handwritten. • Some criteria the test- taker needs to be able to hear well, speak well, and express him or herself orally or in writing.

21. Verbal Projective Techniques • Some questions asked are: • If you could be anything you wanted to be, what would you be? • If you had three wishes, what would you wish for? • If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your life?

22. Sentence Completion • The test-taker is given a piece of a sentence(stem), with a blank for them to fill in the rest. • Traditionally they are written, however; they can be done orally. • Some contain only a few items( 10 to 15) or they can contain 50+ • The premise behind the response answers is to get better knowledge of the examinee’s developmental characteristics, self-image needs, interpersonal reactions and perceived threats. • Although this type of test yields an overall score, often times the answers are read over and impressions are made about the responses. • A similar technique is story completion, where a story is told about a child the same age and gender as the examinee.

23. Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB) • The best known sentence- completion instrument. 1) If only I could...feel more hopeful about things.2) People I know...are usually fair and honest.3) I can always...talk things out with someone.4) I think guys...are less emotional than girls.5) What makes me sad is...not being able to see my kids.6) I think girls...were mysterious to me in High School.7) My father...would always listen to what I had to say.8) Where I live...is quiet and peaceful.9. My mother was the type . . .who always took care of her family.10) My health is...generally very good.

24. Projective Drawings • Used with children and adolescents • Oldest category in projective drawing techniques • It gives non- verbal cues about self- concept, motivation and desires, and concerns • Draw –a –person test • Developed in 1949 by Karen Machover

25. Draw –a –person Test • Must be drawn in front of the counselor • Child is asked to draw a picture of a whole person • Questions about the picture are asked to get general interpretations and hypothesis about a child’s personality

26. Scoring • Many methods are used to score human figure drawings • The most common is the Koppit’s scoring system • Entails 30 emotional indicators • Emotional indicators are the specific details of the picture that will distinguish between a normally adjusted child and an emotionally disturbed child. (ex. Hands cut off, eyes, length of trunk or appendages and their positions)

27. House- Tree- Person Technique • Developed by John Buck in 1948 • Child is asked to draw a house, tree and person on three separate sheets of paper • The tree is meant to evoke their strengths and weaknesses • The house is meant to raise feelings of family • The person reveals their self- concept • Family Drawings are a way to elicit feelings for children in a non-threatening way

28. Family Drawings • The Kinetic Family Drawing • The child is asked to draw a picture of the whole family doing something. • Questions are then asked based on that drawing • It is analyzed based on its symbols both written and verbalized, in addition to the symbols and style distance of characters and drawn barriers are also interpreted.

29. House- Tree- Person

30. Kinetic Family Drawing

31. Issues with Structured and Projective Instruments • Objectivity is impartial or neutral • For test purposes it means that from the point of the interviewer the examinee’ s answers should be objective, and they are not • What it should be is objective from the stance of the type of response type( true/false, multiple choice, matching) • Projective means that the test-taker giving the answer should be able to-do so with little exertion or guidance • What it is,(projective) is the requirement of the test taker to give an answer that project elements of their characteristics • Reliability and validity are another concern. Specifically The Rorschach and Thematic Appreciation Test have mixed reviews in relation to their validity • Although counselors and the majority of all helping professions who use testing instruments still believe in the validity and reliability of these tests- there has been a significant drop in the use of these instruments, (72% 1986-39% in 2003), (Nocross, Karpiak & Santoro, 2005).

32. Personality Inventories with a Positive Focus • Based on Positive Psychology • A person’s happiness and contentment with life is essential in the healing process • Some of the criteria for a positive personality include, but are not limited to: coping skills, resilience, efficacy and overall well- being • These inventories focus on self-esteem, self- worth, and various traits such as depression, shyness, anxiety.

33. Personality Inventories with a Positive Focus • Some of these include • The Quality of Life Inventory • Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory • Piers-Harris children’s Self Concept Scale, Second Edition • The scores derived from these and other self-esteem inventories can be converted into percentiles, standard scores and descriptive ratings

34. Response Styles • Also called response bias • Refers to the way the test-taker answers the test in which it may be distorted • Some ways include: • Social Desirability- response given in a favorable light • Acquiescent- agreeing or disagreeing with the test question/answer despite the content of the question, (all answers yes or true) • Nona quiescence- answering all items in disagreement • Deviance- uncommon or unusual answers • Extreme- choosing the most drastic response instead of the most common or middle on a rating scale • Gambling/ Cautiousness- not guessing or guessing when in doubt about the answer

35. Response Styles • All inventories are subject to bias answers whether they are conscious or unconscious • Tests try to put safe guards in place to avoid this, such as paired phrases that can be viewed as both desirable and undesirable. (The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, MMPI-2) • Forced item choices, (The Edwards Personal Preference Inventory, EPPI)