Psychological Testing (Psych 362)
Review Sheet for Test 4
(Personality Assessment)
Readings o Personality Theory: 314-319 (Psychoanalytic), 323-326 (Traits) o Objective Personality Assessment: 343-344 (Intro), 374-377 (MBTI), 380-382 (NEO), 349-355
(MMPI & MCMI) o Organizational applications of Personality Assessment: 477-482, 492-497 o Response Biases: F&B Chapter 10 o Projective Personality Assessment: 326-340 (Intro, Association/Rorschach,
Completion/Sentence-Completion, Construction/TAT, Expression/Draw-A-Person & HTP) o Evidence of test bias – UC Report, Gregory Reader 248-254 (material on actual findings):
Conceptual basis of Personality Testing
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Two fundamental features of personality (book)
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Trait theory o What is a “trait”? o R. Cattell and the use of factor analysis, surface traits, source traits, o Eysenck’s model o Five-factor model (FFM)
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What are the big five?, Lexical hypothesis, How the FFM related to evolution?
Where did the big five come from? o Problems with trait approach (circular? predictive validity, prediction of what exactly is
“low”? “Personality coefficient”? Mischel?) o Importance of personality traits – are they useful or related to anything important? (eg longevity?) o How can we reconcile “traits” with cross-situational variability in behavior? (class notes) o Why is it not a big problem that some people might feel “constrained” when responding to personality items such as: “I like going to parties”? That is, why do we not worry too much that some people might want to answer “it depends” to that type of item? o Why do we generally prefer a “trait” conceptualization of personality over a “type” conceptualization?
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Psychoanalytic theory o Key elements of Freudian theory. Implications for personality measurement?. o Defense mechanisms – purpose? What is being defended from what? What the implications of this for personality assessment? Be familiar with at least three or four specific defense mechanisms, including projection, reaction formation, and displacement.
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Personality pathology. o What are the 10 basic personality disorders? Be able to briefly describe (or recognize a description of each) o What are problems with the categorical, symptom-driven approaches (e.g., heterogeneity, etc)
Objective Personality tests
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Structured/objective tests vs unstructured/projective tests – what are the differences?
 What is a “broad band” test of personality?
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MBTI o What do the initials stand for? o Scales/what does it measure? o Format

o Dimensionality, reliability, validity – empirical evaluation of these (i.e., what does evidence say about these psychometric qualities) o pros/cons of typological interpretations? o Any overlap with the FFM? Implications of this? o Overall evaluation of its utility?
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NEO-PI-R o What do the initials stand for? o Scales/what does it measure? o Structure (Factors, facets) o Format, reliability, validity, dimensionality o IPIP – what is it?
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MMPI o What do the initials stand for? o What is a criterion-keyed inventory? o Normative sample (past and present) o Format, Interpretations (T scores), reliability, validity o Scales (eg validity, clinical) – meaning/interpretation of each of the core scales o Logic of configural approach and “type codes” – elevation and identifying type codes o Qualification requirements
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MCMI o What do the initials stand for? o What does it measure (generally speaking)? o How is it different from the MMPI? o Format, reliability, validity
Response biases
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Types of biases (describe; how do they affect test scores, test score interpretation, research analyses?)
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Solutions (how do they prevent, minimize, or otherwise cope with the problems?) o Including the meaning and measurement of social desirability (BIDR, OCQ)
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Know which solutions are relevant for which problems
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In depth – malingering o To what degree does malingering occur? o Detecting malingering –
 Which MMPI scales are intended to detect malingering, and how?
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Can it be detected? How is this question addressed by research, and what does the answer seem to be? o Is it coached? Where, by whom? o Is coaching effective?
Projective Personality tests
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Basics of projective tests o Logic, assumptions
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Types of projective tests - association, completion, etc o Format/Logic of each
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Rorschach, Sentence Completion Tests, TAT, Draw-A-Person test, HTP o Format, process, interpretations, reliability, validity
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Rorschach - in depth o Administration o Scoring/coding (know the basic categories and examples of each) o Interpretation – how are scores/codes used?

o Psychometric quality-
 reliability, validity – generally speaking, what does the research seem to say?
Organizational applications of Personality Assessment
Personality traits and prediction of job performance
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History and current status
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Hurtz and Donovan’s (2000) meta-analysis – what was done and what was found?
Integrity Tests
 Problems with “proprietary tests” (and what are such tests?)
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Integrity test – o overt tests and Personality tests - logic, formats, fakability, o validity of integrity tests
Career selection/placement (Interest inventories)
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Goals
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SII
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Basic assumptions
Construction of the SVIB/SII
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Structure of the SII (# of items, themes, scales, etc.)
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Evaluation
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Vocational Prefernce Inventory (know the 6 P-E “types” and their logic)
Note that the following material was not covered on the previous test, so it will likely be included on this test.
Test bias
Sources/forms of test bias – evidence regarding the existence of test bias on widely-used standardized tests:
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Content bias – o Definition o Evidence about degree of content bias in well-known standardized tests
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Predictive/Criterion bias o Definition, o Evidence about degree of criterion/predictive bias in the SAT
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Construct bias o Definition o Evidence about degree of construct bias in well-known standardized tests. Be able to identify and interpret the implications of results, as shown in class
Case study of Test bias and the SAT (based mainly upon the UC Report and class discussion).
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What were the bias-related arguments raised in WFU’s criticisms of the SAT? Along
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 what demographic dimensions was the SAT accused of being biased?
Which of these arguments are addressed by empirical information in the UC Report, and in what way does the UC Report data support or fail to support those arguments? Be able to read and interpret the relevant information, both at a technical level (ie in terms of the logic of multiple regression) and explain at a more intuitive, psychological level
(ie, in a way that your parents or peers would understand).
Link between SES, SAT, and HSGPA – Are SAT scores associated with SES? Is
HSGPA associated with SES (recall “within-school” analyses vs “between/acrossschool’ comparison)?