I. Defining and Measuring "Personality"
 

Definitions are all over the place - no real agreement
Their definition: an individual's unique constellation of psychological traits and states. 


Personality Assessment thus becomes the measurement of  Traits and States

II. Personality trait -
 

a distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another - includes a certain
amount of cross-situational consistency

Interpretation of any behavior depends on context

Measures= observation; self-report

III. Personality types
 

A unique constellation of traits & states that fits into one of the theoretical categories of personality.
 

Myers -Briggs - a typology based on Jung's
Thinking-feeling
Introversion-extraversion
Sensing-Intuiting

Your book also delineates types created by Hippocrates & by Adler

IV. Personality states
 

Transitory exhibition of a trait - time-limited

V. Measuring Personality
 

Uses of personality measures = diagnosis, counseling, research

VI. Methods of personality assessment
 

some based on personality theory - some empirical
some global - some specific

Self-report- behavioral observations-physiological
responses- situational performance

Projective vs Objective

VII. Objective Methods

Advantages: items can be answered quickly, require little explanation, amenable to reliable scoring
 
 

VIII. Methods of Objective Personality Test Development
 

A. Logical or Content Test Construction -
 

uses reasonableness to select items

First one = Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory
The Mooney Problem Checklist - originally 1950 - still in use - often used to measure efficacy of treatment

B. Factor-Analytic Test Construction
 

Looks for minimum # of factors that underlie numerous behaviors

The 16 PF - Raymond B. Cattell- 1956 - fifth in 1993. Contains 185 items- 5th grade reading level- new internal consistency= .74
 

Looks for "source" traits -started with 171 "traits" reduced by factor analysis to 36 "surface
traits" - further work yielded 16 "dimensions"

People argue about # of factors in 16PF

The NEO-PI and the NEO-PI-Revised - Costa & McCrae- (OCEAN) O=openness to experience;
C=conscientiousness A=agreeableness; E=extraversion; N=neuroticism

Facet= subsets of each factor

C. Test Construction by Empirical Criterion Keying - uses "criterion" groups - known to be different
 
 

The MMPI - Hathaway & McKinley -original in 1941 - 16 & older - 10 clinical scales
 

Hs= Hypochondria; D-Depression; Hy=Hysteria; Pd=Psychopathic Deviate;
Mf=Masculinity,Femininity; Pa=Paranoia; Pt=Psychasthenia; Sc=Schizophrenia; Ma=Hypomania;
Si=Social Introversion (now use scale #'s) + 3 validity scales (L (lie), F(frequency),
K(correction) + ? Scale (reflects on validity)

New norms - 1983 - old were criticized- separate for men & women
Limitations: items in more than one scale, ack of interpretation for low scores, offensiveness of
some questions, length of test.

The MMPI-2 - Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham & Tellegen - 1989 - revised & removed items-added items - look at comparison table - same 10 clinical scales + 5 Harris subscales + Wiener-Harmon Subtle- Obvious subscales + content scales to assess personality factors--See table on pgs 410-411

The standardization sample -2600 - based on census - much broader than original- uses normalized
scores to get T scores- separate norms for men & women

Reliability: test-retest= median of .81; internal consistency - median= .78 - various types of validity tested - both acceptable to good

The MMPI-A - separate version for adolescents - 1992 - 14-18 years 478 items - same scales as
MMPI-2 although many content scales are different

D. The Theoretical Approach to Test Construction - theory based
 
 

The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule (EPPS)-based on Murray's theory & his notion of "needs" - he used 15
of them & constructed items to assess - see table pg. 421 -

210 pairs of statements-forced choice technique- yields ipsative data
 

IX. Clinical Versus Actuarial Prediction
 

actuarial relies on statistical & empirical procedure; clinical relies on interpretative judgement

CLOSE-UP
 

Limitations of Self-Report
impression management
faking bad & faking good
response set

Are Unisex Norms for the MMPI-2 Needed? Would They Work?

Call for unisex part of civil rights issue
Study showed responses to items are similar
Unisex show same distributions