Week seven - Personalty theory and assessment Flashcards
(37 cards)
What is Allport’s definition of personality?
Personality consists of any characteristic pattern of thoughts, feelings, and/or behaviours that are relatively consistent across time.
What is the difference between state and trait?
State refers to a transient experience.
Trait refers to a characteristic pattern that is consistent across time.
Can traits change across time?
Yes. Traits can shift and change across the lifespan.
What are personality assessments testing?
They are testing personality - both ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’, including psychopathology, such as personality disorderes.
Is it true that personality traits are continuous?
Yes. It is not binary, such as you are either an extrovert or an introvert. There are degrees along the spectrum of this trait.
There are structured and unstructured personality tests. What is the difference?
Structured personality tests, like all structured tests, have set items, standardised administrative and scoring procedures, norms that they use as reference and scores are determined based on these norms, evidence of reliability and validity.
What type of personality tests have high face validity?
Personality tests that have been developed with a deductive approach.
e.g. A question assessing levels of extroversion might be, “Do you like spending time with other people?”
Honestly, I am a bit confused about what a test developed through deductive reasoning is.
When personality tests have high face validity, what do they rely on to give accurate results?
Examinees having a high level of self insight and giving honest responses.
What was the first (known) personality test developed in the West?
The Woodsworth Personal Data sheet.
Developed in WWI.
Aimed to determine which recruits may break down in combat.
Essentially measuring resilience.
What is Holland’s theory of the person-job interaction (aka Career Choice)?
Holland’s theory states that people choose and flourish in jobs that are suited to their personalities.
This seems so obvious, but maybe at some point it was not.
What is the MMPI and how was it developed?
The MMPI is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It aims to measure personality and psychopathology. The questions have been developed by assessing which questions distinguish between groups, as opposed to measuring a trait directly. It has low face validity, and this is thought to elicit more genuine responses from examinees.
The MMPI has 562 true/false questions. What is the issue with this?
You need a grade 6 reading level.
It takes about 2 hours to complete.
How many validity scales does the MMPI have?
What do these validity scales measure?
9.
These scales measure whether the examinee is answering honestly or reading the questions/answering at random.
Can children take the MMPI?
No. It is for 18+ years.
Can personality be measured directly?
No. We can only measure behaviours.
What are the pros of the MMPI-II?
High test-retest reliability.
High construct validity.
What are some of the cons of the MMPI-II?
Too long.
Scales are heterogenous. Even though test-retest validity is high, the interal consistency is bad.
Is not considered to be a good measure of “normal” populations.
Still most widely used personality test.
Why do we measure personality?
It can be used as a clinical tool to diagnose and help understand how an individual’s personality may be shaping their experience.
May be used to determine whether someone is a good fit for a job, such as a firefighter or police person.
What do the psychopathology scales in the MMPI measure?
They measure psychopathology symptoms, such as depression, PTSD, schizophrenia.
What else does the MMPI measure?
The MMPI does not just measure psychopathology, it also measures personality traits.
It also has validity scales that measure the genuineness of answers to assess whether individuals are responding honestly.
How was the MMPI developed and what implications does this have for the assessment?
A set of many questions was given to samples from different populations of different psychopathologies and personalities. The questions that distinguished between groups were selected for the scale. The questions were not trying to ask any personality trait or psychopathology specifically.
This means that the questions in the assessment do not have high face validity and therefore elicit more honest responses - it is hard to tell what the “desirable” response is.
It also means that the questions are highly culturally specific and may offend some examinees.
“I like tall women” often selected by impulsive males, for example.
“I like showers over baths” answered by more empathetic people.
What is a T-score?
A T score has a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10. T-scores are converted from Z-scores. They are easier to interpret and compare for both lay people and clinicians.
How is factor analysis used in personalty test development?
Factor analysis allows for the grouping of questions based on a common factor (personality trait). Patterns of responses to a set of questions are associated with different personality traits. This means that a questions that do not have high face validity can be asked and the pattern of responses is what is used to determine personality traits. Allows for more honest answers.
Factor analysis can also be used to reduce number of questions that are asked, but determining which questions in a set are measuring the same/similar trait/factor.
