Chapter 8 Personality Assessment

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment : 

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment : 

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment Types of Objective/Projective Tests Advantages/Disadvantages Methods of Construction Clinical Issues in Personality Assessment – Use and Abuse of Testing

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment : 

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_g324hCXb0&NR=1

Morehead Serial Killer Screening Questionnaire : 

Morehead Serial Killer Screening Questionnaire Imagine you are on recent clinical psychology graduate at a local mental health agency. A rash of murders across the country and a series of local crimes has alarmed the staff that a serial killer may be in the area. One of the agency’s jobs is to evaluate the mental health of all recently arrested adults who are temporarily housed at the local detention center. The sheriff has asked your supervisor (who asks you given your experience with testing) to create a 5-item “Morehead Serial Killer Screening Questionnaire” (MSKSQ) which could be used when evaluating detainees.

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment : 

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WftbmbVYiCk&feature=related

Morehead Serial Killer Screening Questionnaire : 

Morehead Serial Killer Screening Questionnaire 1. Discuss how you selected the 5-items. 2. Write down the actual content of the 5-items and how you’d want people to respond to the item (e.g., T/F).

Morehead Serial Killer Screening Questionnaire : 

Morehead Serial Killer Screening Questionnaire

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment : 

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgZGuasi1q0&feature=related

Objective Tests : 

Objective Tests Structured experience – test/response options are uniform. Direct method of assessment – assumes people can respond directly to item content. Response options are fixed Scoring/Interpretation is less subjective Extensive reliability and validity data

Advantages of Objective Personality Tests : 

Advantages of Objective Personality Tests Economical for clinician/HMO Cost-effective Scoring and Interpretation More Objective, Lower Degree of Clinician Inference Stronger Empirical Base Increases Accuracy of Prediction and More Defensible in Court

Disadvantages of Objective Personality Tests : 

Disadvantages of Objective Personality Tests Items are behavioral in nature for many inventories. Same score may have several interpretations. Transparent meaning of some questions Forced-choice approach

Methods of Construction : 

Methods of Construction Content Validation Empirical Criterion Keying Factor Analysis Construct Validity

Content Validation : 

Content Validation Define all aspects of the variable

Content Validation : 

Content Validation Define all aspects of the variable Consult experts prior to creating items Judges assess potential item’s relevance Use statistical/psychometric evaluation

Empirical Criterion Keying : 

Empirical Criterion Keying Data driven approach to identify which items differentiate between diagnostic groups vs. control Assumption - most, if not all members of diagnostic group would endorse item and controls would not. Items selected that differentiate b/w groups often have some item content that intuitively relates with known behaviors/feelings of diagnostic group (and often some that do not) Example: “my mother was a good woman” Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

Factor Analysis : 

Factor Analysis Exploratory (data driven) factor analytic approach Confirmatory (theory driven) factor analytic approach

Construct Validity Approach : 

Construct Validity Approach Combines many aspects of the other three and includes use of theory Scales developed to measure specific concepts and shown to converge with related concepts and diverge from non-related concepts.

Examples of Objective Personality Tests : 

Examples of Objective Personality Tests Adults: MMPI/MMPI-2, NEO-PI-R PAI, MCMI-III Adolescents: MMPI-A, APS Children: PIC/PIC-2

MMPI/MMPI-2 : 

MMPI/MMPI-2

MMPI/MMPI-2 : 

MMPI/MMPI-2 Description Clinical Scales Validity Scales – means for understanding responder’s motivations and test-taking attitudes Reliability and Validity of MMPI/MMPI-2 Advantages/Disadvantages

“Kristy’s” MMPI-2 : 

“Kristy’s” MMPI-2

Projective Tests : 

Projective Tests Structured Experience Stimulus is unstructured Indirect method of assessment – assumedprojection.

Slide 23: 

Examples of Projective Tests: Rorschach Inkblot Test This inkblot resembles the ambiguous figures presented in the Rorschach test

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment : 

Chapter 8: Personality Assessment http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8isSQozjDRE&feature=fvw

Slide 25: 

Examples of Projective Tests: Thematic Apperception Test This picture resembles an ambiguous stimuli presented in the TAT

Projective Tests : 

Projective Tests Structured Experience Stimulus is unstructured Indirect method of assessment – assumed projection. More Freedom of Response More Subjectivity in Scoring and Interpretation Less Extensive Reliability and Validity Data

Advantage/Disadvantage of Projective Tests : 

Advantage/Disadvantage of Projective Tests Malingering/Faking - difficult to know how to respond in an abnormal/normal way Costly in terms of Clinical Time Less reimbursable by HMO High degree of Inference needed by clinician for Interpretation - reduces reliability/validity Mixed reliability/validity data and less defensible in course Examples: Rorschach, TAT, H-T-P & Kinetic Family Drawings, Incomplete Sentences

Clinical Issues in Personality Assessment: Use/Abuse of Testing : 

Clinical Issues in Personality Assessment: Use/Abuse of Testing Testing is big business. APA/KBEP protections Restriction of testing materials Privacy/Confidentiality of Results Ethical/Cultural, Discrimination?

Slide 29: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-jdLhnxY7c&feature=related Clinical Issues in Personality Assessment: Use/Abuse of Testing