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Abnormal Psychology PSY404

LESSON 18

ASSESSMENT of PERSONALITY

Personality Inventories

Personality inventories present an elaborate picture of an individual's overall personality including the traits,

the characteristics, the tendency and the styles that are thought to underlie behavior.

The questions in personality inventories are presented in form of statements. These statements are the items

of personality test. Many personality inventories are available such as MMPI Minnesota Multiphasic

Personality Inventory. This test was develop in 1940 and published in 1943. It is based on empirical

approach i.e. the collection and evaluation of data. The individual is presented with statements and the

answers have options like true, false and cannot say. Some of the statements from MMPI are following:

· I cry easily

· I am happy most of the time.

· I believe, I am being followed

MMPI consisted of 550 items. MMPI consists of ten clinical scales, meaning that it diagnosis people on ten

clinical disorders. It has got four validity scales, which include:

1. Lie scale

2. The F Scale, Infrequency scale

3. K scale, The Defensiveness Scale

4. The Can not say scale

They consist of a series of straightforward statements; the person being tested is typically required

to indicate whether each statement is true or false in relation to an individual.

Some personality inventories are designed to identify personality traits in a normal population, and

others focus more specifically on psychological problems.

The most extensively used personality Inventory is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality

Inventory (MMPI). The inventory was revised several years ago, and it is currently known as the

MMPI-2.

The MMPI-2 is based on 567 statements that cover topics ranging from physical complaints and

psychological states to occupational preferences and social attitudes. Scoring of the MMPI-2 is

objective.

After the responses to all questions are totaled, the person receives a numerical score on each of 10

clinical scales as well as on four validities.

The MMPI not only diagnoses a person on ten clinical scales it also detects sources of invalidities like lying,

carelessness, defensiveness on part of respondent. It attempts to present all information in form of a profile

of scores. This profile of scores across all ten clinical scales and four validity scales is presented as

deviations from general population norms. The normal scale score is a T-score of 50 any score above 50 is

a sign of pathology.

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Abnormal Psychology PSY404

Before considering the possible clinical significance of a person's MMPI-2 profile, the psychologist

will examine a number of validity scales, which reflect the patient's attitude toward the test and the

openness and consistency with which the questions were answered.

The L (Lie) Scale is sensitive to unsophisticated attempts to avoid answering in a frank and honest

manner.

Examples of items of MMPI 2

1. I like automobile magazines.

2. I wake up with lots of energy most mornings.

3. I am startled by loud noises.

Advantages of MMPI-2

1. The MMPI-2 provides information about the person's test-taking attitude, which alerts the clinician

to the possibility that clients are careless, defensive, or exaggerating their problems.

2. The MMPI-2 covers a wide range of problems in a direct and efficient manner

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Abnormal Psychology PSY404

3. Because the MMPI-2 is scored objectively, the initial description of the person's adjustment is not

influenced by the clinician's subjective impression of the client.

4. The MMPI-2 can be interpreted in an actuarial fashion, using extensive banks of information

regarding people who respond to items in a particular way.

Limitations of MMPI-2

1. The test is not particularly sensitive to certain forms of psychopathology, especially those that have

been added with the publication of DSM-III and DSM-IV-TR.

2. The test depends on the person's ability to read and respond to written statements.

Other Self-Report Inventories

· Many other questionnaires and checklists have been developed to collect information about

adjustment problems, including subjective mood states such as depression and anxiety, patterns of

obsessive thinking, and attitudes about drinking alcohol, eating, and sexual behavior.

· The format of most self-report inventories is similar to that employed with objective personality

tests like the MMPI-2.

· The primary difference is the range of topics covered by the instrument.

· Self-report inventories usually don't include validity scales, and they may not be standardized on

large samples of normal subjects prior to their use in a clinical setting.

· Self-report inventories offer many advantages as supplements to information that is collected

during clinical interviews.

· Self-report inventories can lead to serious problems if they are used carelessly.

Intelligence Tests

What is intelligence? What is IQ and how are intelligence tests important in psychopathology? Intelligence

refers to your overall adjustment. IQ is your intelligence quotient score which refers to intelligence level.

· IQ is your intelligence quotient .IQ refers to a score on an intelligence test.

· Intelligence can be measured by

· Puzzles and riddles you can solve

· Difficult questions you can correctly answer

· Standardized intelligence tests

· Intelligence tests developed for one specific purpose to predict who will do well in school. In 1904,

a French psychologist Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon were commissioned by the French

government to identify slow learners in class to benefit from remedial help. They developed the

intelligence test that was designed to predict academic success. The test provided a known as

intelligence quotient, or IQ. The IQ is calculated by

· IQ= MA/CA X 100

· A child who passed all items on the test of 8 year old gets a mental age of 8 where as the actual age

of the child may be 6years now put these values in the formula

· IQ= 8/6X 100=

Otis Quick Scoring Mental Ability Test

Otis quick scoring mental ability test consists of 80 items which relates to general intelligence,

vocabulary, arithmetic ability and general knowledge. The test is a speeded test i.e. the number

of items is large and the time allotted is short and no one can finish the test in time. Power test

is a test which has no time constraint but some of the items in the test are so difficult that no

one can correctly respond to them.

Wechsler Intelligence Scales

· David Wechsler introduced Wechsler Preschool And Primary Scale of Intelligence Revised

(WPPSI-R) intelligence scale for preschool children for kinder- garden.

· He gave the WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE SCALE FOR CHILDREN (WISC-III).

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Abnormal Psychology PSY404

He introduced WECHSLER ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE (WAIS-III).

Both the scales consist of 11 sub tests measuring the intelligence level of children and adults.

All these tests have verbal scales and performance scales.

The verbal scales measure vocabulary, knowledge of facts, short term memory and verbal

reasoning.

The performance scales assess psycho-motor abilities, nonverbal reasoning and ability to learn new

relations.

Intelligence tests are reliable measures of academic success

In abnormal psychology we use these tests to measure cognitive impairment (reflected in low IQ)

DELIRIUM

Mental Retardation (Slow Learners)

Intelligence test measures abilities such as attention, perception, and memory, reasoning and verbal

comprehension. Intelligence measures the ability of an individual to adapt to the environment, the ability to

generate new ideas and the ability to process information efficiently.

Projective Personality Tests

Psychoanalytic personality theorists have developed several assessment measures known as projective tests.

They include a variety of methods in which ambiguous stimuli, such as pictures of people, or things are

presented to a person who is asked to describe what he or she sees. The theory here is that people `project'

their own personality, their needs, their wishes, their desires and their unconscious fears on other people

and things such as ink blots, pictures, sometimes vague and sometimes structure. Projective tests are based

on psychoanalytic theory. They have been and they still remain, controversial. Some of the most widely used

projective tests are Rorschach Ink Blot Test, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), House Tree Person

(HTP) and the Rotter's Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB).

In projective tests, the person is presented with a series of ambiguous stimuli.

The known projective test, introduced in 1921 by Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist, is

based on the use of inkblots.

Projective techniques such as the Rorschach test were originally based on psychodynamic

assumptions about the nature of personality and psychopathology.

Considerable emphasis was placed on the importance of unconscious motivations --conflicts and

impulses of which the person is largely unaware.

More recent approaches to the use of projective tests view the person's descriptions of the cards as

a sample of his or her perceptual and cognitive styles. This test consists of ten standardized ink

blots. That serves as ambiguous stimuli. The examiner presents the inkblots one by one to the

person being examined, who responds by telling what he or she sees. The therapists may encourage

the subject to give more detailed answers and you may get different responses on the same inkblot.

Exner's system of administering and scoring the Rorschach inkblot test specifies how the card

should be presented, what should the examiner say and how the responses should be recorded.

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) consists of a series of drawings that depict human figures

in various ambiguous situations.

The person is asked to describe the identities of the people in the cards and to make up a story

about what is happening. Morgan and Murray at the Harvard Psychological Clinic developed the

TAT. It consists of 31 cards, 30 with pictures on them and one blank card. The picture card is

shown to the subject and the therapist asks the subject to tell a dramatic story about the picture.

The instructions of the test begin `this is a test of imagination, one form of intelligence. Let your

imaginations have its way as in a fairy story and tell what the people in the picture card are doing.'

The story should have a title, a beginning, a middle part and an end. The basic assumption is that

most of the subjects will reveal their unconscious mental processes, their needs, desires on the

characters of their stories about the pictures. Their have been several variations of the TAT for

different groups e.g. CAT- Children Apperception Test and SAT A Senior Apperception

Technique.

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Abnormal Psychology PSY404

Rotter's Incomplete Sentence Blank Test

This test consists of a series unfinished sentences that people are asked to complete, usually it is considered

a good spring board to explore and pinpoint areas of an individual's life that are problematic or conflicting.

The sentences are usually, I wish _____. My father is ______. Girls are _____. Home is a place ________.

This test explores an individual's social, familial and general attitudes towards life. This test has 40 items

which are in form of incomplete sentences. This test has qualitative and quantitative scoring procedures.

House Tree and Person (HTP)

This is a test which tells us about the evaluations of the drawings based on the quality and shape of

the drawing, solidity of a pencil line, location of the drawing on the paper, the size of the figure, features of

the figures, use of the background and comments made by the respondent during the drawing task. The

house reflects individual's interpersonal relationships, the tree reflects ego development and functioning and

the person reflects the individual self perception and perception of the other gender.

Advantages of Projective Tests

1. Some people may feel more comfortable talking in an unstructured situation than they would if

they were required to participate in a structured interview or to complete the lengthy MMPI.

2. Projective tests can provide an interesting source of information regarding the person's unique view

of the world, and they can be a useful supplement to information obtained with other assessment

tools.

3. To whatever extent a person's relationships with other people are governed by unconscious

cognitive and emotional events, projective tests may provide information that cannot be obtained

through direct interviewing methods or observational procedures.

Limitations of Projective Tests

1. Lack of standardization in administration and scoring is a serious problem.

2. Little information is available on which to base comparisons to normal adults or children.

3. Some projective procedures, such as the Rorschach, can be very time-consuming.

4. The reliability of scoring and interpretation tends to be low.

5. Many self-report inventories, rating scales, and behavioral coding systems have been designed for

the assessment of marital relationships and family systems.

6. One popular self-report inventory is the Family Environment Scale (FES), which is composed of

90 truefalse items and was designed to measure the social characteristics of families.