Objective Personality Testing

Objective Personality Tests

Material Covered

4 major approaches to test construction Examples of test based on first three test

construction procedures Use of personality tests in modern clinical

practice

Characteristics Objective Personality Tests

Standard set of questions Fixed response options

Objective Personality Tests: Advantages Individual or groups (economical) Administration is simple/objective Scoring is simple/objective Interpretation of results requires less

interpretative skill than projective tests Apparent increased objectivity and reliability

Objective Personality Tests: Disadvantages

Items limited to behavior Single overall score Transparent meaning of items Forced choice approach

Test Construction Approaches

Logical or content validation Empirical Criterion Keying (MMPI) Factor Analysis (NEO Personality Inventory) Construct Validity (Combines all of the above)

Approaches to Test Construction: Content Validation

Defining all aspects of the construct Consulting experts about the constructs Having expert judges assess each potential

item Perform psychometric analyses of items

Content Validation: An Example

Goal: Construct a test designed to measure attitudes toward school

Answer true or false I enjoy getting up in the morning for school I like my teacher(s) I enjoy seeing my friends at school I enjoy the subjects I learn about at school

Content Validation: Advantages and DisadvantagesAdvantages

Face validity with test takers

Disadvantages

Easy to fake good or bad

Content Validation: The Mooney Problem Checklist

Assesses emotional functioning in the following areas:

Home and family Interpersonal relationships Courtship and marriage Morals an religion School/occupation Economic security social skills and recreation Health and physical development

Approaches to Test Construction: Empirical Keying

Create test items to measure on or more traits

Administer test items to a “criterion” and “control” group

Select items that distinguish between these two groups

Content of the item is not considered important

Empirical Keying: Minnesota Multiphasic Inventory (MMPI)

Developed in 1930’s Starke Hathaway Ph.D. & J. Charnley

McKinley, MD. Needed test to identify diagnosis Developed an item pool Identified a group of patients and nonpatients Resulting scale of 550 items

(true/false/cannot say)

MMPI Clinical ScalesScale # Scale Name Meaning of High Score

1 Hypochochodriasis Concern about health

2 Depression Depression

3 Hysteria Somatic complaints

Denial of psych. prob.

4 Psychopathic Deviate Antisocial behavior

5 Mas.-Fem Nonstandard gender interests

6 Paranoia Suspiciousness

7 Psychasthenia Anxiety

8 Schizophrenia Disturbed thought

9 Hypomania Manic mood

10 Social Introversion Shy, social inept

MMPI: Validity Scales

? (Cannot say) Unanswered items

L (Lie) Faking good

F (Infrequency) Faking bad

K (Defensiveness) Defensiveness in admitting to problems

Interpreting MMPI

Validity Scales Single scales Profile analysis

MMPI: Shortcomings

Unrepresentative normative sample Language of items was outdated (including

sexist language) Inadequately addressed difficulties such as

suicide or drug use

MMPI: Revision

Assembled team of MMPI experts Rewrote some items Added new items Administered new item pool (n=704) to a

standardization sample (representative) Retained 567 items from the item pool

MMPI-2 Clinical Scales

Anxiety Fears Obsessiveness Depression Health Concerns Bizarre Thoughts Anger Cynicism

Antisocial Practices Type A Low Self-Esteem Social Discomfort Family Problems Work Interference Negative Treatment

Indicators

Approaches to Test Construction: Factor Analysis (Internal Consistency)

Correlational technique used to determine whether a group of items are correlated with one another

Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) Based on five factor model of personality

(Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness)

Name derived from initials of the first three traits

Assesses all five traits Emphasizes assessment of normal

personality style rather than psychopathology Parallel forms

Approaches to Test Construction: Construct Validity Combines aspects of content validity,

empirical criterion keying and factor analytic approaches in developing assessment devises (Clark and Watson, 1995)

The Place of Personality Assessment in Contemporary Clinical Psychology

Or

Why do we use these tests?

Psychological Assessment: Purpose (Textbook Response)

Classification (diagnosis) Description Prediction

Classification

Results from psychological testing assists in making a diagnosis

Critics of psych testing- tests are not reliable or valid diagnostic instruments

Defenders: test information is used in conjunction with other clinical data

Description

Dependent Depressed Client

Narcissistic DepressedClient

Testing provides a time efficient means of developing a broader understanding of the patient.

Prediction

Test findings can be used to make predictions about behavior

Whether client will benefit from psychotherapy

What type of psychotherapy would be best Suicidal risk Risk for violence

The Place of Personality Assessment in Contemporary Clinical Psychology

Or

Why do we use these tests?

Psychological Assessment: Purpose: Typical Referral Question

Please evaluate for organic brain damage (patient has history of polysubstance abuse) and evaluate for psychotic thinking

Tests Administered

Evidence of Organic Damage

Weschlser Memory Scale Trail Making Test Rey-Osterrieth Complex

Figure Test Benton Test of Visual

Memory

Evidence of Psychotic Thought

MMPI Rorachach Beck Depression

Inventory

Interpretation of Results

Normal performance on tests of memory, concentration and attention

Personality testing suggested the primary etiological role of emotional turmoil.

Presence of both acute distress and chronic characterological problems.

Acute distress: severe depression and a risk for suicide

Reality testing in the normal range Significant ego regression when faced with affective

arousal was noted.

Projective and Objective Personality Tests: Incremental Validity

Degree to which assessment increases prediction based on base rates (prevalence) or other sources

Incremental Validity: Current Findings

Tentative support for the incremental validity of the MMPI-2 scales in prediction of personality disorder, aggression, and differentiation between depressed patients and substance abuse patients

NEO-PI-R: personality disorder, maternal responsiveness to infants and violence

Rorschach: thought disorder but not other scores

TAT: not adequately investigated

Objective Tests: Summary

Material Covered

4 major approaches to test construction Examples of test based on first three test

construction procedures Use of personality tests in modern clinical

practice