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PERSONALITY MEASUREMENT:Observational Procedures, Rating Scales

<< THE NATURE OF PERSONALITY THEORY:Objectives of Personality Psychology
MAIN PERSPECTIVES:Psychometrics, observation, Behavioral Coding Systems >>
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Personality Psychology ­ PSY 405
VU
Lesson 2
PERSONALITY MEASUREMENT
Personality measurement and assessment procedures are useful in understanding the person. They include:
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Interviews
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Observation
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Rating scales
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Personality tests
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Projective Tests
1. Interviews:
The interview is the most commonly used procedure in psychological assessment.
Interviews provide an opportunity to ask people for their own descriptions of their problems.
Interviews also allow clinicians to observe important features of a person's appearance and nonverbal
behavior.
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Structured Interviews
Assessment interviews vary with regard to the amount of structure that is imposed by the clinician. Some
are relatively open-ended, or nondirective. Structured interviews, in which the clinician must ask each
patient a specific list of detailed questions, are frequently employed for collecting information that will be
used to make diagnostic decisions and to rate the extent to which a person is impaired by psychopathology.
Structured interviews list a series of specific questions that lead to a detailed description of the person's
behavior and experiences. Structured interview schedules provide a systematic framework for the collection
of important diagnostic information, but they don't eliminate the need for an experienced clinician
2. Observational Procedures
Observational skills play an important part in most assessment procedures.
Sometimes the things that we observe confirm the person's self-report, and at other times the person's overt
behavior appears to be at odds with what he or she says. Observational procedures may be either informal
or formal. Informal observations are primarily qualitative. The clinician observes the person's behavior and
the environment in which it occurs without attempting to record the frequency or intensity of specific
responses. Although observations are often conducted in the natural environment, there are times when it is
useful to observe the person's behavior in a situation that the psychologist can arrange and control.
The Mental Status Examination
The mental status examination involves systematic observation of an individual's behavior. This type of
observation occurs when one individual interacts with another. Mental status examination can be structured
and detailed. It covers five categories:
Appearance and behavior
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Thought Process
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Mood and affect.
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Intellectual Function
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Perception of person, place and time.
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The mental status examination tells us how people think, feel and behave and how these actions might
contribute to explain their problems. So actually, we are doing behavioral assessment of people. This
behavioral assessment is done by using direct observation of an individual's thought, feelings and behavior
in situations or context where the individual is having problems.
3. Rating Scales
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Personality Psychology ­ PSY 405
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A rating scale is a procedure in which the observer is asked to make judgments that place the person
somewhere along a dimension.
Ratings can also be made on the basis of information collected during an interview. Rating scales provide
abstract descriptions of a person's behavior rather than a specific record of exactly what the person has
done.
These are assessment tools, which are used before the treatment to assess changes in patient's behavior
after the treatment. Brief psychiatric rating scales are usually used and completed by hospital staff to assess
an individual on different constructs related with physical or psychological illness. There are two point
rating scales.
4. Behavioral Coding Systems
Rather than making judgments about where the person falls on a particular dimension, behavioral coding
systems focus on the frequency of specific behavioral events. Some adult clients are able to make records
and keep track of their own behavior--a procedure known as self-monitoring.
5. 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
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I am happy most of the time.
o
I believe, I am being followed
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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
Lie scale
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The F Scale, Infrequency scale,
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K scale, The Defensiveness Scale
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The Can not say scale
o
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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Personality Psychology ­ PSY 405
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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-II:
1. I like automobile magazines.
2. I wake up with lots of energy most mornings.
3. I am startled by loud noises.
6. 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 and impulses of which the person is largely unaware.
More recent Considerable emphasis was placed on the importance of unconscious motivations --conflicts
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 inkblot 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
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.
Rotter's Incomplete Sentence Blank Test (RISB)
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)
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Personality Psychology ­ PSY 405
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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: 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. Many self-report inventories, rating scales, and behavioral coding systems
have been designed for the assessment of marital relationships and family systems. 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.
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Table of Contents:
  1. THE NATURE OF PERSONALITY THEORY:Objectives of Personality Psychology
  2. PERSONALITY MEASUREMENT:Observational Procedures, Rating Scales
  3. MAIN PERSPECTIVES:Psychometrics, observation, Behavioral Coding Systems
  4. SIGMUND FREUD: A PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF PERSONALITY
  5. INSTINCT: WHAT MOTIVATES HUMAN BEHAVIOR?, The Oral Stage
  6. PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY OF SIGMUND FREUD:The Ego, Free association
  7. THEORY OF CARL JUNG:Biographical Sketch, Principles of Opposites, The Persona
  8. THE PSYCHOLOGICAL TYPES:Childhood, Young Adulthood, Middle Ages
  9. ALFRED ADLER:Biographical Sketch, Individual Psychology, Feeling of Inferiority
  10. INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY:Fictional Finalism, Social Interest, Mistaken Styles of Life
  11. KAREN HORNEY:Adjustment to Basic Anxiety, Adjustment Techniques
  12. ADJUSTMENT TO BASIC ANXIETY:Moving Towards People, Moving Against People
  13. ERIK ERIKSON:Anatomy and Destiny, Ego Psychology, Goal of Psychotherapy
  14. ERIK ERIKSON:Human Development, Goal of Psychotherapy
  15. SULLIVAN’S INTERPERSONAL THEORY:Core Concepts, The Self-System
  16. SULLIVAN’S INTERPERSONAL THEORY:Cognitive Process, Tension
  17. CONSTITUTIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:The Structure of Physique, Evaluation
  18. SHELDON’S SOMATOTYPE THEORY:The Structure of Physique
  19. MASLOW’S THEORY:Self-Actualizers Aren't Angels, Biographical Sketch
  20. MASLOW’S THEORY:Basic Concepts of Humanistic Psychology, Problem Centering
  21. ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH:Humanistic, Actualizing tendency
  22. ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH:Fully functioning person
  23. ROGERS PERSON CENTERED APPROACH:Client Centered Therapy,
  24. KELLY’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF PERSONALITY THEORY:Biographical Sketch
  25. CORE CONCEPTS OF GEORGE KELLY’S COGNITIVE THEORY OF PERSONALITY
  26. GORDON ALLPORT: A TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Personality as a
  27. GORDON ALLPORT: A TRAIT THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Secondary Traits
  28. FACTOR ANALYTIC TRAIT THEORY:Factor Analysis, The Nature of Personality
  29. FACTOR ANALYTIC TRAIT THEORY:The Specification Equation, Research Methods
  30. HENRY MURRAY’S PERSONOLOGY:Need, Levels of Analysis, Thema
  31. HENRY MURRAY’S PERSONOLOGY (CONTINUED)
  32. ALBERT BANDURA’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
  33. ALBERT BANDURA’S SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:Reciprocal Determinism
  34. THE STIMULUS RESPONSE THEORY OF DOLLARD AND MILLER:Core Concepts
  35. THE STIMULUS RESPONSE THEORY OF DOLLARD AND MILLER:Innate Equipment
  36. SKINNER’S THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Biographical Sketch, Books
  37. SKINNER’S THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Positive Reinforcement, Generalization
  38. ALBERT ELLIS THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Biographical Sketch, Social Factors
  39. THE GRAND PERFECT THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Genes and Biology
  40. PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY:Dispositional
  41. PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY
  42. PERSPECTIVES OR DOMAINS OF PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY:Need
  43. THE GRAND THEORY OF PERSONALITY:Psychosexual Stages of Development
  44. PERSONALITY APPRAISAL:Issues in Personality Assessment
  45. PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY: NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE DISCIPLINE