Chapter 14: Issues in Personality Assessment

Question 1

Sources of Information

Answer 1

• observational method
• interview method
• personality tests

Question 2

Observational Method

Answer 2

• direct observation in natural setting
  observer does not interfere
• observer ratings: opinions, scales
• self report: scales, diaries

Question 3

Interview Method

Answer 3

• structured interviews: formal interviews with precisely worded questions with rules for how the interviewer should select the questions
• unstructured clinical interview: requires skill and experience

Question 4

Subjective vs. Objective Measures

Answer 4

• subjective measures: information is gathered and then interpreted by the observer
• objective measures: information is based on a universal standard and requires no interpretation

Question 5

Examples Subjective Personality Tests

Answer 5

• projective personality tests
• rorschach
• house-tree-person test (HTP)
• thematic apperception test (TAT)
• sentence completion

Question 6

Thematic Apperception Test

Answer 6

• picture of a scene: interpretation

- repressed personality traits: motives, needs for achievement, coping skills, power, intimacy, trauma etc.

Question 7

Examples Objective Personality Tests

Answer 7

• IQ tests: WAIS-IV, WISC-IV, Standord-Binet IV

- MMPI, MMPI-2, MMPI-A, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Question 8

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Answer 8

• over 500 items
• clinical scales: depression, paranoia
• validity scales
• supplemental scales: anxiety scales
• psy 5 scales: aggressiveness, psychoticism, constraint, neuroticism, extroversion

Question 9

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Answer 9

• two pairs of cognitive functions
• rational: thinking and feeling
• irrational: sensation and intuition
• assumes that we have preferences in the way we interpret our experiences which underly needs, motives, values, behavior

Question 10

Myers-Briggs TI Classification

Answer 10

• personality classifies into 4 dichotomies or pairs of preferences
  1. extroversion - introversion: attitude
  2. sensing - intuition: function
  3. thinking - feeling
  4. judging - perception: lifestyle
• 16 possible combinations or profiles

Question 11

Reliability of Measurement

Answer 11

• internal reliability or consistency: agreement among responses to similar items
• interrater reliability: degree of agreement among raters
• test-retest reliability: degree of stability of ratings across time

Question 12

Predictive/Criterion Validity

Answer 12

scores are similar to another measure of same construct

Question 13

Convergent Validity

Answer 13

scores are similar to another measure of same construct

Question 14

Discriminant Validity

Answer 14

measure is not measuring another unmeasured construct

Question 15

Face Validity

Answer 15

measure makes sense on the surface

Question 16

Threats to Validity

Answer 16

• self-report methods
• response sets: readiness or tendency to respond to measure in a certain way that distorts the information
• acquiescene: tendency to agree in yes/no questions
• social desirability: tendency to present oneself in a good way

Question 17

Validity, generality and culture

Answer 17

• personality constructs can have different meanings in different cultures
• hard to generalize to other cultures
• language and wording is very important

Question 18

Difference between theoretical and empirical measure

Answer 18

• theoretical/rational: based on theory

- empirical: based on existing data

Question 19

Ethical Issues

Answer 19

• invasion of privacy
• deception
• misuse and misinterpretation of results