Lecture 7 Personality Testing

7/23/2019 Lecture 7 Personality Testing

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PsychologicalAssessment

Projective Personality Tests


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Projective Tests: EssentialFeatures Individuals must impose their own structure

which is meaningful

Stimulus material is unstructured

Indirect (disguised) method

Freedom of response

Interpretation is broad


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Projective Tests

Rorschach Inblot Test

Thematic !pperception Test


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Rorschach Inkblot Test

"ermann Rorschach (#$$%')

icnamed *+lec, orinblot

Talented art student whodecided to study science

-ream convinced him ofrelationship betweenperception and unconscious

#'# published

Psychodiagnostik -ied in #'


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RorschachInkblot

Test


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Rorschach: Historical

5 Scoring Systems !dopted by . !merican psychologists with

very different theoretical bacgrounds

Shared common features (same blots wereused/ response phase followed by in0uiry)

. different systems of administration/ scoring

and interpretation emerged Two most popular (1ec/ +lopf)


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Rorschach: Validity andReliability

Poor psychometric reputation2

3ac of standardi4ed rules for administration

and scoring

Poor inter&rater reliability

3ac of ade0uate norms

5nnown or wea validity


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Rorschach: ontem!orary"se 6ohn 78ner

7stablished Rorschach Research Foundation

in #'$9

Integrated five scoring and interpretation

systems

7stablished empirical support for new system

Provide a center for training


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ontem!orary "se:AdministrationAssociation Phase

What might this be?

Present all the cards

Record response verbatim

ote location of response

Inquiry Phase

I want you to help me see what

you saw. Im going to read

what you said, and then I

want you to show me whereon the blot you saw it and

what there is there that

makes it look like that so

that I can see it too. Id like

to see it just like you did, sohelp me now.


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! psychometrically sound test:

!n in&class e8ercise


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ontem!orary "se: #coring

Exner scoring system: The Structural Summary

Location 3ocation (;/ -/ -d)

5se of white space (S)

eterminants Form (good/ poor/ bad 0uality)


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! psychometrically sound test:

Particularly useful in assessing thought

processes


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Thematic A!!erce!tion Test$TAT% -eveloped by "enry


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TAT: Administration

Now I want you to make up a story about

each of these pictures. ell me who the

people are, what they are doing, what they

are thinking or feeling, what led up to thescene, and how it will turn out.


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TAT: #coring&Inter!retation

=ontent analysis of themes that emerge from

the stories


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TAT: Psychometric riti'ue

Selection of cards is not standardi4ed

3ac of norms

=linicians rely on 0ualitative impressions


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Thematic A!!erce!tion Test

5sed to assess2

3ocus of problems

ature of needs

?uality of interpersonal relationships


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PsychologicalAssessment cont(

@bjective Personality Testing


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)hat is Personality*

A characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling,

and acting

A emerges in informal/ familiar situations in

which we feel unconstrained principle o! aggregation "

personality is the sum of the best descriptors and

predictors of our actions o!er time in a number ofsituations


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+bjective Personality Tests

#aterial $o%ere&

% major approaches to test construction

78amples of test based on first three test

construction procedures

5se of personality tests in modern clinical

practice


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haracteristics +bjectivePersonality Tests

Standard set of 0uestions Stan&ar&i'ation as a concept2 given to large BCs

of people&&yield norms to which an individualCsscores can be compared

Norms are defined as a set of scores from a largegroup of people who ha!e completed the

measure.

Fi8ed response options


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+bjective Personality Tests:Advantages Individual or groups (economical)

!dministration is simpleDobjective

Scoring is simpleDobjective

Interpretation of results re0uires less

interpretative sill than projective tests

!pparent increased objectivity and reliability


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+bjective Personality Tests:,isadvantages

Items limited to behavior

Single overall score

Transparent meaning of items

Forced choice approach


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Test ConstructionApproaches 3ogical or content validation

7mpirical =riterion +eying (


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A!!roaches to Testonstruction: ontent

Validation -efining all aspects of the construct

=onsulting e8perts about the constructs

"aving e8pert judges assess each potential

item

Perform psychometric analyses of items


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ontent Validation: AnE-am!le(oal: $onstruct a test &esigne& to measure

attitu&es to)ar& school

!nswer true or false I enjoy getting up in the morning for school I lie my teacher(s)

I enjoy seeing my friends at school I enjoy the subjects I learn about at school


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ontent Validation: Advantagesand ,isadvantagesA&%antages

Face validity with test

taers

isa&%antages

7asy to fae good or bad


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ontent Validation: The .ooneyProblem hecklist

!ssesses emotional functioning in the following areas2

"ome and family

Interpersonal relationships =ourtship and marriage


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A!!roaches to Testonstruction:

Em!irical /eying =reate test items to measure one or more

traits

!dminister test items to a *criterion, and

*control, group

Select items that distinguish between these

two groups =ontent of the item is not considered

important


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Empirical Keying: MinnesotaMultiphasic Inventory (MMPI)

-eveloped in #'>Gs

Stare "athaway PhH-H 6H =harnley


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..PI linical #cales

Scale B Scale ame "ysteria Somatic complaints

-enial of psychH probH% Psychopathic -eviate !ntisocial behavior

.


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..PI: Validity #cales

* (=annot say) 5nanswered items

L +Lie,

Faing good

- (Infre0uency) Faing bad

+ (-efensiveness) -efensiveness in admitting to problems


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Inter!reting ..PI

Ealidity Scales

Single scales

Profile analysis


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..PI: #hortcomings

5nrepresentative normative sample

3anguage of items was outdated (including

se8ist language)

Inade0uately addressed difficulties such as

suicide or drug use


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..PI: Revision

!ssembled team of


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ontinued !roblems

failure of some items to reliably discriminate

between groups

dimensions based on pre&conceived theory about

structure of personality/ scales correlate highly and thus provide

redundant information

they are highly influenced by state at the time of

taing/ and the test and re&test stability maytherefore be lower than desired (a problem for

manyDmost trait measures)


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..PI01 ontent #cales

!n8iety

Fears

@bsessiveness

-epression "ealth =oncerns

1i4arre Thoughts

!nger =ynicism

!ntisocial Practices

Type !

3ow Self&7steem

Social -iscomfort Family Problems

;or Interference

egative TreatmentIndicators


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#illon $linical #ultiaxial In%entory +#$#I,: more useful than the


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A!!roaches to Test onstruction:Factor Analysis $Internal

onsistency% =orrelational techni0ue used to determine

whether a group of items are correlated with

one another


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Revised 2E+ PersonalityInventory $2E+0PI0R% 1ased on five factor model of personality

(/euroticism/ E8traversion/ 0penness/!greeableness/ and =onscientiousness)

ame derived from initials of the first three traits !ssesses all five traits

7mphasi4es assessment of normal personality style

rather than psychopathology

Parallel forms


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The Schedule for onadaptive and !daptivePersonality (S!P)

a factor&analytically derived instrument designed toassess traits important in personality disorders #. scales2

# trait scales assess specific or primary traits and > temperament scales measure more general affective

traitsH

. validity scales plus an overall validity inde8 items to assess the personality disorder criteria in

the -S< follows the three&factor model of personality

euroticismDegative 7motionality/ 78traversionDPositive7motionality/ and -isinhibition vsH =onstraintH


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A!!roaches to Testonstruction: onstruct Validity =ombines aspects of content validity/

empirical criterion eying and factor analytic

approaches in developing assessment

devises (=lar and ;atson/ #''.)


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The Place o3 Personality Assessmentin ontem!orary linical

Psychology 0r

Why do we use these tests?


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Psychological Assessment:Pur!ose $Te-tbook Res!onse%

=lassification (diagnosis)

-escription

Prediction


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lassi4cation

Results from psychological testing assists in

maing a diagnosis

=ritics of psych testing& tests are not reliable

or valid diagnostic instruments -efenders2 test information is used in

conjunction with other clinical data


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,escri!tion

-ependent

-epressed =lient/arcissistic

epresse&

$lient

Testing

provides a

time efficient

means ofdeveloping a

broader

understanding

of the patientH


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Prediction

Test findings can be used to mae predictions

about behavior

;hether client will benefit from

psychotherapy

;hat type of psychotherapy would be best

Suicidal ris Ris for violence

Th Pl 3 P li A


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The Place o3 Personality Assessmentin ontem!orary linical

Psychology 0r

Why do we use these tests?

P h l i l A P


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Psychological Assessment: Pur!ose:Ty!ical Re3erral 5uestion

Please evaluate for organic brain damage

(patient has history of polysubstance abuse)

and evaluate for psychotic thining

T Ad i i d


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Tests Administered

E%i&ence o! 0rganicamage

;eschler


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Interpretation of Results

ormal performance on tests of memory/ concentration andattention

Personality testing suggested the primary etiological role ofemotional turmoilH

Presence of both acute distress and chronic characterologicalproblemsH

!cute distress2 severe depression and a ris for suicide Reality testing in the normal range

Significant ego regression when faced with affective arousal wasnotedH

P j ti d +bj ti P lit


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Projective and +bjective PersonalityTests: Incremental Validity

-egree to which assessment increases

prediction based on base rates (prevalence)

or other sources

I t l V lidit t


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Incremental Validity: urrentFindings

Tentative support for the incremental validity of the ##PI12scales in prediction of personality disorder/ aggression/ anddifferentiation between depressed patients and substance abusepatients

7@&PI&R2 personality disorder/ maternal responsiveness toinfants and violence

Rorschach2 thought disorder but not other scores

T!T2 not ade0uately investigated

+bj ti T t #


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+bjective Tests: #ummary

#aterial $o%ere&

% major approaches to test construction

78amples of test based on first three test

construction procedures

5se of personality tests in modern clinical

practice

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Lecture 7 Personality Testing