PERSONALITY APPRAISAL:Issues in Personality Assessment

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Personality Psychology PSY 405

Lesson 44

PERSONALITY APPRAISAL

Personality Assessment

Sources of Personality Data

Self Report Data (S-Data)

Observer Report Data (O-Data)

Test Data (T-Data)

Life Outcome Data (L- Data)

Issues in Personality Assessment

1-Personality Assessment

Sources of Personality Data

Our first concern is that we get as much information about personality as possible. There are a number of

sources of data that are available. Self Report Data (S-Data), Observer Report Data (O-Data), Test Data (T-

Data), Life Outcome Data (L- Data)

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1-Self Report Data (S-Data)

It is the most obvious and common source of data about the person is Self Report Data (S-Data). The

information that a person reveals or reports is based on a procedure such as a questionnaire or interview.

The Questionnaire Method can be structured or unstructured they pose a series of questions to the person.

The person's periodic reports to record the events as they happen , the respondent has tell his feelings

,emotions, desires, beliefs, fears, phobias, and fantasies. How the relate to others, about their long term

goals, about their self concept, about their self esteem.

The self report can take a variety of forms such as Unstructured (open ended questions) the items require an

a subjective or open answer there is no right or wrong response

Structured (closed ended questions) the items have a binding or they bound you to a response.

Examples

Unstructured (open ended questions)

Tell me about yourself?

Tell me about the food you most prefer to eat?

The psychologist must devise a way how to score, interpret and make sense out of the participant's

responses.

Examples

Structured (closed ended questions)

All the items have to be responded with yes no or undecided.

I like fast food.

I am an introvert.

I believe in equal rights for women.

There are advantages as well as limitations of the self report methods but the limitations are more such as

participants may not be honest or they may not be having accurate knowledge about themselves

Examples of self report inventories are:

Neo Personality Inventory

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California Personality Inventory

The latest increase in personality self report data research is called experience sampling (Hormuth, 1986;

Larsen, 1989)

People answer questions about the moods or physical symptoms every day for several weeks or longer

electronically.

1-Personality Assessment

2-Observer Report Data (O-Data)

We usually form impressions and make evaluations of others with whom we come into contact so for each

individual there are at least dozens and dozens of observers who form impressions.

All the potential sources of information about our personalities form impressions including our family,

relatives, neighbors, employers, teachers, friends, acquaintances--virtually each and every person you

come across.

So Observer Report Data capitalize on all these resources and provide tools for gathering information about

the person's personality.

Example

I am a teacher and I form impressions about my student similarly my students form variety of impressions

about me by closely observing me in different situations.

Observer report data has both advantages as well as disadvantages as sources of personality data.

One advantage is that observers can have access to information not attainable through other resources

For example what sort of impression an individual makes on others, his or her social reputation, whether

interactions with others are smooth or turbulent and what position an individual holds in group hierarchy.

Another advantage of observer report method is that multiple observers can be used to assess each

individual where as in self report method only one person provides information.

Inter-Rater Reliability

The use of multiple observers allows the investigators to evaluate the degree of consensus in the among the

observers.

There are many dimensions along which the O-data differ and the personality psychologists should take

them into account

1- The use of professional personality or intimate personality assessors

2- To use naturalistic or artificial setting for the observation to be made

Now both are very important decisions to be taken.

1- The use of professional personality assessors or intimate observers

So we can use professional personality assessors who do not know the participant in advance

A second method is to gather observational data from people who actually know the participant such as

close friends, spouse, mothers and room mates.

The advantages of intimate personality assessors are following

They are in a better position to observe the target's natural behavior as compared to the professional

personality assessors

Multiple social personalities can be assessed now each of us displays a different side of ourselves to

different people.

Example of Multiple social personalities

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I am kind to my friends, loving towards my students but very rude and inconsiderate towards my

subordinates.

My student is very respectful toward me but has sharp conflicts with parents.

The disadvantage of using intimate assessors is that they have intimate relationships with the target person

and that they may act in a biased way

They may overlook the negative aspects and emphasize the positive aspects.

2- To use naturalistic or artificial setting for the observation to be made

In the naturalistic observation the observers witness and record the events that occur in the normal course

of the lives of the participants

We can observe a student for the entire day at school or at home, in the bus, in canteen.

The advantages are that we can have first hand and natural piece of observation of the person but the

limitation is that we do not have any control the whole event that is taking place

Artificial Settings

A student along with the whole class is asked to come to the laboratory and observations are made.

We can initiate and generate an artificial piece of behavior

We have control the sequence of events that will take place.

1-Personality Assessment

3-Test Data (T-Data)

The individuals are placed in standardized testing situations.

The idea is to see if different people react differently to an identical situation.

The situation is so designed to elicit behaviors that serve as indicators of personality variables (Block,

1977)

The individuals are placed in frustrating situations and different reactions are noted.

The individuals are placed in situations and their leadership qualities are noted.

Children were placed in designed situations and their responses were noted.

All the above tests are called situational tests.

An interesting example is given by Murray in his book Assessment of Men (1948).

In the bridge building test over a small river, the person assessed is given two assistants and a collection of

wood, rope, tools.

The person being assessed does not know that the two assistants are role playing, one as dumb or having

low intelligence or unable to follow instructions

The other assistant as one who knows every thing and he opposes the instructions being given to him, the

concerned person may think that he is being assessed for leadership qualities while actually he is being

evaluated on tolerance of frustration and performance on adversity.

Megargee's Study (1969)

The study is on manifestations of dominance and he wanted to study the effect of dominance on leadership.

To all the potential participants California Personality Inventory (CPI) was administered and only those

people were included in the study that scored very high or very low on dominance scale of California

Personality Inventory (CPI)

He took pairs of participants and in each pair one high in dominance was paired with one low in dominance

The participants were exposed to four conditions:

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A high dominant man with a low dominant man

A high dominant woman with a low dominant woman

A high dominant man with a low dominant woman

A high dominant woman with a low dominant man

Then the experimenter presented each pair with a large box containing many red, yellow and green colored

nuts bolts levers

The participants were told that the purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between personality

and leadership under stress.

Each pair of participants was to work as a team of trouble shooters to repair the box as fast as they can by

removing the nuts and bolts with certain colors and replacing them with other colors.

The participants were told that one person from each team had to a leader, providing all the relevant

instructions and the other person had to be a follower to abide by the instructions as fully as possible. The

follower had to get inside the box and do all menial tasks as given by the leader. The experimenter then told

that it was up to the team to decide who would be the leader and who would be the follower.

The key variable of interest was who would become the follower and who would lead so he simply

recorded the percentage of high-dominant participant in each condition who became leaders.

Megargee found that 75 % of high dominant men and 70 % high dominant women took the leadership roles

in same sex pairs

When high dominant men were paired with low dominant women 90% of men became leaders.

But most startling result was in high dominant women and low dominant men condition when only 20% of

high dominant women assumed the leadership role.

The findings of this experiment point to the fact that

1- It is possible to set up conditions in such a manner that key indicators of personality can be observed.

2- Laboratory experiments should be sensitive to manifestations of personality that occur in incidental parts

of the experiment, such as discussions between participants.

Limitations of the Test Data

The participants might try to guess what trait is being measured and might try to create an impression.

The real difficulty is in verifying how the research participants are defining the situation and failure to

confirm the similarity and correspondence between the researcher and the participant may lead to error.

Another problem is that in most T- data experiments the situations are inherently interpersonal and the

researcher and experimenter may influence the participants when an experimenter is very friendly he may

elicit more cooperation from participants then another experimenter who is cold or aloof.

Mechanical Recording Devices

Personality psychologists have adapted the technological innovations in study of personality

The use of Actometer (it is a modified self winding watch which is usually strapped to arms or legs) to

assess the personality differences in activity level or energy levels. This actometer device is usually used

with children who are highly active to have a clear idea of the hyperactivity level. The actometer based

activity scores are linked to other personality characteristics, traits. At times the actometer scores are

correlated with the teacher rating of the same behavior pattern.

Physiological Data

Physiological measures provide an excellent source of data related to the person

They refer to person's reaction to stimuli and the speed at which the person takes the new information.

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Sensors can be placed on different parts of the body to measure activity of sympathetic nervous system,

blood pressure, heart beat, muscle contraction activity.

Physiological measures can act as important sources for collecting information about the personality.

Psychologist Christopher Patrick (1994)

Has studied the psychopaths particularly men who have committed serious crimes against people

particularly violent crimes. Things that make most people anxious may not make psychopaths anxious in

order to test this idea a technique called the eye-blink startle reflex. Patrick noted that the psychopaths who

were in prison for violent crimes did not exhibit the faster eye-blink response while viewing the anxiety

producing photographs suggesting that they were not feeling the same level of fearfulness or as normal

participants viewing these objects. Perhaps psychopaths commit their crimes because they don't have the

normal level of anxiety or guilt that prevents most of us from doing anything wrong.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

A recent physiological data source comes from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technique

used to identify the areas of the brain that light up when performing certain tasks such as verbal problems

or spatial navigation.

When certain pars of the brain are activated, it draws large amount of blood.

The oxygen carried by blood accumulates in that region of the brain and

fMRI is able to detect concentrations of iron carried by oxygen contained in the red blood cells and thus

determine the part of the brain that is used in performing certain tasks.

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 blot cards.

That serves as ambiguous stimuli. The examiner presents the inkblots cards 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

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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 Senior Apperception Technique.

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 function and the

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

Advantages of Projective Tests

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

The reliability of scoring and interpretation tends to be low.

1-Personality Assessment

4-Life Outcome Data (L- Data)

The L-Data serve as an important source of information about the personality

Personality characteristics measured early in life are often linked to important life outcomes several

decades later.

You can say that work, marriage, separation, divorce, and termination from job are manifestations of

personality

2- Issues in Personality Assessment

There are two issues in the area of Personality Assessment

The issue of Links among various data sources.

The issue of Fallibility of Personality Measurement.

The issue of Links among various data sources.

The interpretation of links among the sources of personality data depends heavily on the research question

being posed.

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A strong agreement between two sources of data leads the researchers to be confident that their alternative

measures are tapping into the same personality phenomenon while lack of strong commitment on the other

hand may mean that different sources are assessing different personality phenomenon.

The Issue of Fallibility of Personality Measurement.

The exercise to overcome each data source problems or pitfalls that limits its utility is called Triangulation.

It means that if a particular effect is found, does the effect occur when measured with self report as well as

with the observer reports.

Example

Suppose you are measuring the effect of Dominance on Leadership.

Now does the effect occur when the trait of dominance is measured with Self report as well as with another

method of Observer- reports?

Evaluation of Personality Measures

Once the different personality measures are selected and chosen for the research the next important step is

to evaluate them usually three standards or norms or measures are used which are following:

Validity

Reliability

Generalization

Validity

Validity refers to the extend to which a test measures what it claims to measure (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955;

Wiggins, 2003)

Types of Validity

Face validity

Content validity

Predictive validity

Criterion validity

Convergent validity

Divergent validity

Discriminant validity

Construct validity

Reliability

It refers to the degree to which an obtained measure represents the true level of the trait being measured.

Suppose that an individual has some true amount of trait that you wish to measure and you can know this

true level if you have a reliable measure (then it will correlate with the true level) so actually you are

looking for consistency in the scores of measurements.

Kinds of Reliability Includes

Test Retest Reliability or Repeated Measures

Alternate Forms or Parallel Forms

Split Half

Other important things

Inter Rater Reliability

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A personality measure is considered to be reliable when demonstrated through Test Retest Reliability, Split

Half or Internal Consistency or Inter Rater Reliability.

Generalizability

The third important norm of evaluating a personality measure is generalizability.

It is the degree to which the measure retains its validity across various contexts.

Is a measure equally good across various age groups, genders, cultures or different conditions?

Research designs in personality

There are three basic research designs used in personality psychology which are following:

Experimental design

Correlational design

Case study

Each design has its advantages and limitations.

Experimental methods

They are typically used in determining causality.

Variable A causes variable B

So in order to establish the influence of one variable on another, the key requirements of a sound

experimental design must be met which are following

Manipulation of one or more variables

Ensuring that the participants in each experimental condition (experimental or control group) are equivalent

at the beginning of the study.

Random assignment of the subjects to ensure that the two groups have same characteristics as in the

population.

Correlational Studies

The correlational studies as the name says measures the relationship between two or more variables.

The three things that are important in Correlational Studies

1-Magnitude of relationship

2-Direction of relationship

3-Correlations can never prove the causality

Case Studies

Case studies give in detail information related to the person

In case study design a number of tools can be used such as:

1- Coding Systems to be applied to written text.

2- Interview can be used with target person.

3- Audio and video recording of the person.

Case study can be viewed as valuable source of personality information.

It is most often used as a source of hypotheses and as means of bringing these hypotheses to life.

Example

Quaid-e-azam, Matin Luther King.

When to use Experimental, Correlational and Case Studies

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The experimental design is ideally suited for establishing casual relationships among variables, but poor at

identifying the relationships among variables as they occur naturally in everyday life.

Correlational studies are ideally suited for establishing the relationships between two or more variables s

they occur in every day life.

They are poor in establishing causality.

Case studies are suited for generating hypotheses that can be tested using the experimental and correlational

designs.

Summary

We have talked about sources of data collection in personality psychology.

Different research designs in personality psychology.

Evaluation

1- There are no perfect methods of personality assessment or measurement.

2- Neither there are perfect / fool proof research designs.

3- Different investigators use different data sources and research designs because they have

different goals and purposes in conducting research.

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