Personality Assessment: PSY 831 Spring 2015, Tuesdays 1:50-4:40 153 Psychology Building Professor: Christopher J. Hopwood, Ph.D. (hopwood2@msu.edu) The purpose of this graduate clinical psychology course is to cover the empirical and clinical bases of personality assessment. The course covers the history and theory of measurement in personality psychology; theories of test construction as applied to a range of assessment methods; validation methods; culture and diversity as it applies assessment; developmental issues in assessment; test administration and interpretation; interviewing; and report writing. It will consist of didactic training as well as a practical component to facilitate both understanding of and experience with the personality assessment process. This course will focus exclusively on personality assessment; companion courses in the clinical doctoral curriculum cover cognitive assessment and psychometrics. Assignments Assignments will either be completed in person or can be turned in electronically prior to class or on paper in class. Points will be deducted for any late assignment for which an extension is not approved before the assignment is due. Reaction Papers should be relatively short (about 1-2 pages double spaced). They can be about any topic related to the readings or the course. The goal is for the papers to reflect your curiosity or interest in some aspect of personality assessment. Examples might include anything from a scholarly critique of a point of view expressed in the readings to an exploration of your concerns about doing clinical personality assessment, and many things in between. Reaction papers should be interesting to you, in which case they will likely be interesting to me too. Interpretation Assignments require you to make interpretations about people based on test data that I will provide. Your interpretations should be prepared as if they were going to be in a psychological report (I will provide example reports). Interpretations will be based on referral questions that may range from concrete (e.g., what is the likelihood that this person would meet diagnostic criteria for depression?) to abstract (e.g., why do you think this person has never had a mutually satisfying, long-term relationship?). Interviews with Instructor will be scheduled in class and will occur in my office. I will ask you to role play the assessor and I will role play an assessee. The content of the role plays will be described in class. There will be three foci across the three interviews: developing rapport, getting questions, and discussing results. Reports will be based on cases that we review in class. You should prepare a complete report in the standard format for this course. We will review one another’s reports. The case will be discussed and the report will be assigned in class on Tuesday, two weeks before it is due. The report should be drafted by the following Tuesday, and sent to all of your classmates and me before class. You should provide feedback about each of your classmate’s reports by Thursday at midnight, and cc me on this email. You should then edit your report based on comments and turn it in the following Tuesday in class. Grades Grades will be based on three sources: 3 reports will be worth 16% each (48% total), 7 other assignments will be worth 6% each (42% total), and class participation will be worth 10%. Class participation will include being an active member of in class discussions and activities and providing comments on drafts of your colleagues’ reports. You should complete all readings before class. There will be one extra credit assignment at the end of the course worth 2% of your grade. Availability I am available by appointment. Alternatively, my office door (107A Psychology) is often open and when it is you are welcome to come in. Michigan State University PSY 831: Personality Assessment, Spring, 2015 1 Required Books Archer, R.P. & Smith, S.R. (2008). Personality Assessment. New York: Routledge. Finn, S.E. (2007). In Our Clients’ Shoes: Theory and techniques of therapeutic assessment. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Kazdin, A.E. (2002). Methodological Issues and Strategies in Clinical Research (3 rd Edition). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Wiggins, J.S. (2003). Paradigms of Personality Assessment. New York: Guilford. Required Readings (will be provided): Blais, M.A. & Hopwood, C.J. (2010). A model of personality organization to integrate assessment data from multiple sources. In Blais, Mark A., Baity, Mathew R., & Hopwood, Christopher J. Clinical Applications of the Personality Assessment Inventory. NY: Routledge Mental Health. Donnellan, M.B. & Robins, R.W. (2009). The development of personality across the life span. In G. Matthews and P. Corr (Eds). Cambridge Handbook of Personality Cambridge University Press. Haynes, S.N., Leisen, M.B., & Blaine, D.D. (1997). Design of individualized behavioral treatment programs using functional analytic clinical case models. Psychological Assessment, 9, 334-348. Hopwood, C.J. (2010). An interpersonal perspective on the personality assessment process. Journal of Personality Assessment, 92, 471-479. Kvaal, S., Choca, J., Groth-Marnat, G., & Davis, A. (2011). The integrated psychological report. In T.M. Harwood, L.E. Beutler, & G. Groth-Marnat, (Eds.) Integrative Assessment of Adult Personality (3rd Ed., pp. 413-446). New York: The Guilford Press. Mihura, J. L., Meyer, G. J., Dumitrascu, N., & Bombel, G. (2012). The validity of individual Rorschach variables: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of the Comprehensive System. Psychological Bulletin Morey, L.C. & Hopwood, C.J. (2007). Casebook for the Personality Assessment Inventory: A structural summary approach. Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources. Pincus, A.L., Lukowitsky, M.R., & Wright, A.G.C. (2010). The interpersonal nexus of personality and psychopathology. In T. Millon, R. Kreuger, & E. Simonsen (Eds.), Contemporary directions in psychopathology: Scientific foundations for DSM-V and ICD-11 (pp. 523-552). New York: Guilford. Poston, J.M. & Hanson, W.E. (2010). Meta-analysis of psychological assessment as therapeutic intervention. Psychological Assessment, 22, 203-212. Various supplemental handouts Michigan State University PSY 831: Personality Assessment, Spring, 2015 2 Schedule Date Topic Reading Assignments Due 1: Foundations of Personality Assessment 1/13 History of Personality Assessment Clark & Watson (Kazdin); Meyer et al. (Kazdin) 1/20 Developmental and Cultural Issues Costa & McCrae (A&S); Donnellan & Robins, 2009; Merrell & Harlacher (A&S); PAI-A, PIY, and BASC reports Reaction Paper 1 1/27 Therapeutic Assessment Finn, 2007 (1-4); Poston & Hanson, 2010 Reaction Paper 2 2/3 Assessment Approaches Wiggins, 2003 (Intro, 3,4,7,10) Interview 1 2. Test Interpretation 2/10 MMPI Ben-Porath & Archer (A&S); Wiggins, 2003 (5,11); Caldwell report 2/17 MMPI and Report Writing Blais & Hopwood, 2010; Kvaal et al., 2011 Interpretation 1 2/24 Performance-Based Assessment Mihura et al., 2012; Meyer & Viglione (A&S); RPAS scoring and interpretation guide Interview 2 3/3 Performance-Based Assessment Ackerman et al. (A&S); Wiggins, 2003 (1,8) Interpretation 2 3/17 PAI Morey & Hopwood (A&S) 3/24 PAI Morey & Hopwood (2007) selected chapters 3/31 PAI Morey & Hopwood (2007) selected chapters 4/7 Interpersonal Assessment Pincus, Lukowitsky, & Wright, 2010; Wiggins, 2003 (2, 9) Report 1 3. Providing Durable Benefit 4/14 Integrative Interpretation Wiggins, 2003 (12); Blais & Smith (A&S) Report 2 4/21 Diagnostic Interviewing and Assessment Interventions Finn, 2007 (5-8); Hopwood, 2010; Maruish (A&S) Interview 3 4/28 Consultation and Treatment Planning Finn & Fischer (A&S); Haynes, Leisen, & Blaine, 1997 Report 3 Michigan State University PSY 831: Personality Assessment, Spring, 2015 3