Personality
Examination
The Interview
► Personality
is measured by interviews,
observation, questionnaires and projective
tests.
► Interview- a face-to-face meeting held for
a purpose of gaining information about an
individuals personal history, psychological
state and personality traits.
Types of Interviews
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Unstructured Interview - an interview in which
conversation is informal and topics are taken up freely as
they arise.
Structured Interview - An interview that follows a
prearranged plan.
Its used to identify personality disturbances and the study
the dynamics of personality.
Diagnostic Interview - Interviews used to find out how
a person is feeling and what complaints/symptoms they
have.
Limitations
► Interviewers
can be swayed by:
► Preconceptions
► The interviewers own personality or gender
► People lying in their interview.
► As well as the Halo Effect- tendency to
generalize a favorable/unfavorable first impression
to unrelated details of personality.
Direct Observation and Rating Scale
► Observing
people in public places, such as a
park, is known as “direct observation”,
which is basically and extension of “people
watching”
► For example, a psychologist may choose to
observe a child at play and evaluate the
child using a “rating scale”
Behavioral Assessment Situational
Testing
► Behavioral
assessment Records frequency of
specific behaviors. Alternate to direct
observation.
► Situational tests are test that simulate real
life conditions so that a persons reaction
can be observed.
Personality Questionnaires
► Objective
alternative to interviews
► Good tests are reliable and valid
 Reliable: same score if given multiple times
 Valid: measures what it says it measures
► Examples
of tests:
 Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey
 CA psychological Inventory
 MMPI-2
MMPI-2
► Minnesota
Multiphase Personality Inventory
► Most widely used
► Charts 10 major aspects of personality
► Resulting graph is called MMPI-2 Profile
Inkblots
► Example
of a Projective test
 Projective tests uncover unconscious wishes
through ambiguous stimuli
 Known as the Rorshach Technique
 The patient is shown inkblots and told to
describe what he or she sees
 There answers are used to identify conflicts and
fantasies
 Content is less important than how they
organize images
Example
TAT Example
Thematic Apperception Test
► Or
TAT developed by theorist Henry Murray
► Consists of 20 sketches depicting scenes
► Patients are asked to form a story around the
scene a psychologist might count the number of
emotional reactions that appear in a persons story
► The limits of the projective tests are ambiguous
they are best used in Test Battery
TAT example 2
Sudden Murder Example
► Fred
Cowan was a push over at work
► Shortly after being fired he went to his work
and killed 4 coworkers and police officers
before killing himself
► Study which was carried out found shy
introverted and restrained personalities can
become violent when they lose control