Personality Assessment PDF

Personality Assessment Personality individual’s unique constellation of psychological traits that is relatively stable over time. Personality Assessment may be defined as the measurement and evaluation of psychological traits, states, values, interests, atti...

Personality Assessment Personality individual’s unique constellation of psychological traits that is relatively stable over time. Personality Assessment may be defined as the measurement and evaluation of psychological traits, states, values, interests, attitudes, worldview, acculturation, sense of humor, cognitive and behavioral styles, and/or related individual characteristics. Traits, Types, and States Personality Traits ★ attributions made in an effort to identify threads of consistency in behavioral patterns. ★ by Guilford (1959, p. 6) has great appeal: ○ “Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another.” ★ Characteristics possessed by an individual Personality Types ★ as a constellation of traits that is similar in pattern to one identified category of personality within a taxonomy of personalities. ★ Descriptions of people Hippocrates’ classification of people into four types ○ Melancholic ○ Phlegmatic ○ Choleric, and ○ Sanguine Myers-Briggs Type Indicator ★ that people exhibit definite preferences in the way that they perceive or become aware of —and judge or arrive at conclusions about—people, events, situations, and ideas. ★ According to Myers ○ These differences in perception and judging result in “corresponding differences in their reactions, in their interests, values, needs, and motivations, in what they do best, and in what they like to do.” John Holland ★ argued that most people can be categorized as one of the following six personality types: Artistic Enterprising Investigative Social, I-edit gamit Realistic, ang Docs app or Conventional ★ His Gumawa ng mga pagbabago, Self-Directed Search test mag-iwan ng mga (SDS; Holland et al., 1994) is a self-administered, self- komento scored, and at ibahagi sa mgaaid self-interpreted ibaused pa upang to typema-edit people according to this system and to offer vocational guidance. nang sabay. :  Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman ★ A Type A personality, SALAMAT NA LANG KUNIN ANG APP ○ Characterized by competitiveness, haste, restlessness, impatience, feelings of being time-pressured, and strong needs for achievement and dominance. ★ A Type B personality ○ has the opposite of the Type A’s traits: mellow or laid-back. Profile ★ MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) ★ Data from the administration of these tests, as with others, are frequently discussed in terms of the patterns of scores that emerge on the subtests. ★ a narrative description, graph, table, or other representation of the extent to which a person has demonstrated certain targeted characteristics as a result of the administration or application of tools of assessment. ★ different profiles of scores are associated with different patterns of behavior. (MMPI) Personality Profile ★ targeted characteristics are typically traits, states, or types. Personality States ★ indicative of a relatively temporary predisposition ★ refers to the transitory exhibition of some personality trait. ★ Measuring personality states amounts to a search for and an assessment of the strength of traits that are relatively transitory or situation-specific. Personality Assessment Basic Questions For what type of employment is a person with this type of personality best suited? Is this individual sufficiently well adjusted for military service? What emotional and other adjustment-related factors may be responsible for this student’s level of academic achievement? What pattern of traits and states does this psychotherapy client evince, and to what extent may this pattern be deemed pathological? How has this patient’s personality been affected by neurological trauma? Used in various settings; Industrial Forensic/ Military Clinical Educational Who? Who is being assessed, and who is doing the assessing? The self as the primary referent Self-report process wherein information about assessees is supplied by the assessees themselves. very commonly used to explore an assessee’s self-concept. Self-concept may be defined as one’s attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and related thoughts about oneself. Self-concept measure :  an instrument designed to yield information relevant to how an individual sees him- or herself with regard to selected psychological variables. Factor analysis ★ has suggested that the items cover six general areas of self-concept: behavior, ○ intellectual and school status, ○ physical appearance and attributes, ○ anxiety, ○ popularity, ○ happiness ○ Satisfaction. Self-concept differentiation refers to the degree to which a person has different self-concepts in different roles Another person as the referent The best available method for the assessment of personality, behavior, or both involves reporting by a third party such as a parent, teacher, peer, supervisor, spouse, or trained observer. Generalized biases to rate in a particular direction are referred to in terms such as leniency error or generosity error and severity error. A general tendency to rate everyone near the midpoint of a rating scale is termed an error of central tendency. The cultural background of assessees Test developers and users have shown increased sensitivity to issues of cultural diversity. A number of concerns have been raised regarding the use of personality tests and other tools of assessment with members of culturally and linguistically diverse populations What? What is assessed when a personality assessment is conducted? Primary content area sampled Personality measures are tools used to gain insight into a wide array of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors associated with all aspects of the human experience. Testtaker response styles Response style ○ refers to a tendency to respond to a test item or interview question in some characteristic manner regardless of the content of the item or :  Impression management a term used to describe the attempt to manipulate others’ impressions through “the selective exposure of some information (it may be false information)... coupled with suppression of [other] information” (Braginsky et al., 1969, p. 51). Enhancement, Denial and Self-deception can affect the validity of the outcome, one particular type of response style measure is referred to as a validity scale. Validity scale subscale of a test designed to assist in judgments regarding how honestly the testtaker responded and whether observed responses were products of response style, carelessness, deliberate efforts to deceive, or unintentional misunderstanding. Where? Where are personality assessments conducted? Traditional sites for personality assessment, as well as other varieties of assessment, are schools, clinics, hospitals, academic research laboratories, employment counseling and vocational selection centers, and the offices of psychologists and counselors. How? How are personality assessments structured and conducted? Scope and theory ★ One dimension of the how of personality assessment concerns its scope. ★ The scope of an evaluation may be very wide, seeking to take a kind of general inventory of an individual’s personality. Locus of control Locus (meaning “place” or “site”) of control is a person’s perception about the source of things that happen to him or her. Internal locus of control people who see themselves as largely responsible for what happens to them External locus of control :  People who are prone to attribute what happens to them to external factors (such as fate or the actions of others) ★ Instruments used in personality testing and assessment vary in the extent to which they are based on a theory of personality. Some are based entirely on a theory, and some are relatively atheoretical. ★ Black Pictures Test (theory based) & MMPI (atheoretical) Procedures and item formats Personality may be assessed by many different methods, such as face-to-face interviews, computer-administered tests, behavioral observation, paper-and- pencil tests, evaluation of case history data, evaluation of portfolio data, and recording of physiological responses. Structured interviews The interviewer must typically follow an interview guide and has little leeway in terms of posing questions not in that guide. Graphology the assessor was attempting to learn something about the assessee by handwriting analysis, Frame of reference aspects of the focus of exploration such as the time frame (the past, the present, or the future) as well as other contextual issues that involve people, places, and events. The frame of reference for the assessee may be described in phrases such as what is or how I am right now. Q-sort technique Representative of methodologies that can be readily applied in the exploration of varied frames of reference Originally developed by Stephenson an assessment technique in which the task is to sort a group of statements, usually in perceived rank order ranging from most descriptive to least descriptive. clinical and counseling settings were advocated by the personality theorist and psychotherapist Carl Rogers. ○ to identify the discrepancy between the perceived actual self and the ideal self Different formats of frame of reference; Adjective checklist respondents simply check off on a list of adjectives those that apply to themselves Sentence completion to complete an incomplete sentence. Items may tap how assessees feel about themselves, as in this sentence completion item: I would describe my feeling about myself as _____. Scoring and interpretation Nomothetic approach assessment is characterized by efforts to learn how a limited number of personality traits can be applied to all people. certain personality traits exist in all people to varying degrees. (murag gi generalized) :  The assessor’s task is to determine what the strength of each of these traits are in the assessee. Idiographic approach assessment is characterized by efforts to learn about each individual’s unique constellation of personality traits, with no attempt to characterize each person according to any particular set of traits. to understand the specific traits unique to the makeup of the individual. (kini kay murag specific) Normative approach a testtaker’s responses and the presumed strength of a measured trait are interpreted relative to the strength of that trait in a sample of a larger population Ipsative approach’ a testtaker’s responses and the presumed strength of measured traits are interpreted relative to the strength of measured traits for that same individual Issues in personality test development and use Many of the issues inherent in the test development process mirror the basic questions just discussed about personality assessment in general. With whom will this test be designed for use? Will the test entail self report? Or will it require the use of raters or judges? If raters or judges are needed, what special training or other qualifications must they have? How will a reasonable level of inter-rater reliability be assured? What content area will be sampled by the test? How will the issue response style be dealt with by the test taker? What item format should be employed? Developing Instruments to Assess Personality Logic and Reason (Rational Approach) Theory Data Reduction Methods Criterion Groups Combined approach (from additional handouts of miss) Logic and Reason ★ Logic and reason may dictate what content is covered by the items. ★ The use of logic and reason in the development of test items is sometimes referred to as the content or content-oriented approach to test development. ★ Woodworth Personal Data Sheet (Woodworth, 1920), considered to be the first structured (i.e., objective) personality inventory. ○ an instrument used to screen World War I recruits for personality and adjustment problems. ★ One of the oldest methods of personality test construction Theory personality measures differ in the extent to which they rely on a particular theory of personality in their development as well as their interpretation. Data Reduction Methods methods include several types of statistical techniques collectively known as factor analysis or cluster analysis. :  to aid in the identification of the minimum number of variables or factors that account for the intercorrelations in observed phenomena. Criterion Groups A criterion may be defined as a standard on which a judgment or decision can be made. A criterion group is a reference group of test takers who share specific characteristics and whose responses to test items serve as a standard according to which items will be included in or discarded from the final version of a scale. Empirical criterion keying The process of using criterion groups to develop test items The scoring or keying of items has been demonstrated empirically to differentiate among groups of test takers. Combined Approach Many personality inventories are constructed using a combination of rational, theory- based, criterion group, and factor analysis Personality Assessment and Culture Acculturation is an ongoing process by which an individual’s thoughts, behaviors, values, worldview, and identity develop in relation to the general thinking, behavior, customs, and values of a particular cultural group. Values are that which an individual prizes or the ideals an individual believes in. Intimately entwined with acculturation Rokeach (1973) differentiated what he called instrumental from terminal values. Instrumental values are guiding principles to help one attain some objective. Honesty, imagination, ambition, and cheerfulness are examples of instrumental values Terminal values are guiding principles and a mode of behavior that is an endpoint objective. A comfortable life, an exciting life, a sense of accomplishment, and self-respect are some examples of terminal values. Identity defined as a set of cognitive and behavioral characteristics by which individuals define themselves as members of a particular group. Identity refers to one’s sense of self. Identification as a process by which an individual assumes a pattern of behavior characteristic of other people, and referred to it as one of the “central issues that ethnic minority groups must deal with” Worldview is the unique way people interpret and make sense of their perceptions as a consequence of their learning experiences, cultural background, and related variables. :  Personality Assessment Methods :