Week 7 - Types of assessment

Question 1

Define Personality Assessment (4 parts)

Answer 1

The process of evaluating individual differences among people by using (1)tests, (2)interviews, (3)observation, and (4)physiological recordings.

Question 2

Depending on the psychologist’s background, what are the types of personality assessment?

Answer 2

• Psychoanalytic
• Behaviourist
• Self report inventories
• Biological methods

Question 3

What are the purposes of personality assessment?

Answer 3

• Helps explain or predict behaviour
• Aids diagnosis and treatment of mental health
• Aids decisions for community placement
• Personnel selection/predicting job performance

Question 4

What are some examples of unscientific personality tests?

Answer 4

• Galen 130AD: four personality types based on body fluids
• Gall 19C: Phrenology
• Sheldon 1940: body shape
• blood types: determine temperament
• Palmistry
• Graphology: writing style
• Numerology: important numbers
• Astrology
• Favourite colours to indicate personality

Question 5

What are the sources of personality data?

Answer 5

• self report
• other ratings
• archival measures
• Neuropsychological
• Performance tests

Question 6

What are three types of self report personality data?

Answer 6

• Direct subjective
  - empirical (normed) scales: MMPI
  - Factorial scales: Eysenck/EPI/16PF
• Indirect projective
  - TAT/Rorschach
• Structured interview

Question 7

What are three types of ‘other ratings’ of self report personality data?

Answer 7

• peer ratings
• supervisory ratings
• subordinate ratings

Question 8

What is a type of archival measure of personality data?

Answer 8

Biographical interview

Question 9

How do you prepare for an initial appointment?

Answer 9

• Check clinic files
• Outcome of previous contact and services received?
• Referral problem last time and this time? (referral from GP/client’s idea may not describe problem accurately)
• Who was involved?
• Intervention strategies that were/weren’t useful?

Question 10

What are the 10 steps of an initial interview?

Answer 10

1. Establishment of rapport
2. General remarks (setting the scene, clients rights and responsibilities)
3. Family background
   
   • family history
   • interaction
4. Developmental/medical background
5. Educational background
6. Problem-specific information
   
   • FINDS
   • ABCs
7. Clarification of expectations
8. Homework
9. Scheduling of next appointment
10. Termination of interview

Question 11

What does FINDS stand for?

Answer 11

Frequency, Intensity, Number of behaviours, Duration, Sense

Question 12

What does ABCs stand for, and why are they good?

Answer 12

• Antecedents, Behaviour, Consequences

- good to operationalise behaviour

Question 13

What are some types of neuropsychological tests to get personality data?

Answer 13

• EEG, X-ray, CT scan, MRI (static brain images)
• fMRI (real time observation of brain activity)
• PET scan (scans cell glucose usage)

Question 14

What are the two types of performance tests used to get personality data?

Answer 14

• Behavioural assessment: what a person does in a particular situation
• Situational settings: testing an individual’s real-life reaction to situations

Question 15

What are some difficulties with personality assessment?

Answer 15

• Assumptions

- Reliability of measures

Question 16

What are some assumptions of personality tests?

Answer 16

• Stable over time
• Internality
• Consistency
• Individual differences

Question 17

What is Walter Mischel’s view on the consistency of personality tests?

Answer 17

• We confuse behaviour-over-time (stability) with behaviour-across-situations (consistency)
• We tend to see people in a limited range of situations
• We may only remember the situations that support the consistency of our view

Question 18

What are some common item formats of personality tests?

Answer 18

• true-false format
• two-item choice format (like/dislike)
• semantic differential format
• forced-choice format
• adjective checklist

Question 19

What are some examples of self-report inventories?

Answer 19

• MMPI-2
• Millon Clinical Miltiaxial Inventory (MCMI)
• California Self-report inventory (CPI)
• Cattell’s 16PF
• NEO-PI-R
• Eysenck’s Personality Assessment

Question 20

Describe the MMPI-2

Answer 20

• 543 true/false/can’t say items
• Produces a personality profile about current/characteristic ways of functioning
• Good reliability and validity
• Has questions to tap into construct validity
• Consists of 10 clinical scales

Question 21

What are the 10 clinical scales of the MMPI-2?

Answer 21

1. Hypochondriasis
2. Depression
3. Hysteria
4. Psychopathic deviate
5. Masculinity-femininity
6. Paranoia
7. Psychasthenia (rigid, anxious, tense, obsessive and compulsive thoughts)
8. Schizophrenia
9. Hypomania
10. Social introversion

Question 22

Describe the Millon Clinical Miltiaxial Inventory (MCMI)

Answer 22

• Self report adult questionnaire designed and normed for psychiatric populations
• Focused on personality disorders
• Ranked second to MMPI in importance
• 175 items - 28 scales
• Provides information assisting diagnosis
• Good reliability and validity

Question 23

Describe the California Self-Report Inventory (CPI)

Answer 23

• Often referred to as the “sane man’s” MMPI, as it’s not necessarily measuring maladjustment
• Developed in 1957, revised in 1987
• Self report questionnaire for those aged 12-70
• Often used for personnel selection
• 462 true-false items
• 178 items in common with the MMPI
• Relates well to 5 factor model
• Good reliability, but limited validity studies
• Second most popular test in clinical programs

Question 24

Describe Cattell’s 16PF

Answer 24

• Most widely used system for categorising and defining personality
• Puts 16 PF into 5 themes

Question 25

What are the 5 themes of Cattell’s 16PF?

Answer 25

○ Extraversion: Introverted-extraverted
○ Anxiety: low anxiety-easily worried and generally tense
○ Will: Open minded - resolute and determined
○ Independence: Accommodating - Independent and persuasive
○ Self control: Free thinking - structured and inhibited

Question 26

Describe the NEO-PI-R

Answer 26

• Based on Costa and McCrae’s NEO Five factor inventories
• Two types:
○ NEW-PI-R (240 items): Reliability .90
○ NEO-FFI (60 items): Reliability .80
• NEO-PI measures 30 traits which load onto the five basic dimensions

Question 27

Describe Eysenck’s Personality Assessment

Answer 27

• Based primarily on physiology and genetics
• Used factor analysis to find (initially) two dominant factors: neuroticism and introversion-extraversion
• Normal people can score high on the neurotic scale
• Later, a third dimension: psychoticism
• (3-factor model: neuroticism, introversion-extraversion, psychoticism)
• Not necessarily forced choice, gives people the options of yes, no, or don’t know

Question 28

What are the strengths and weaknesses of self-report inventories?

Answer 28

• Employers often use personality profiles in the selection & promotion process, often beyond a test’s capability
• Socially desirable responding
• Acquiescence (agreeing with everything)
• Non-acquiescence
• Deviance
• Gambling/cautiousness (guessing answers)
• Overly positive
• Children don’t understand Likert scales

Question 29

What are some examples of projective personality tests?

Answer 29

• Association
• Construction
  
  • Inkblot tests
  • TAT
• Expression
• Completion