Chapter 13: Personality Assessment Methods
Personality Assessment Techniques
• Objective v. Projective
Objective Methods
• Self-report short-answer items
• Structured scoring system
• Emphasize reliability and validity
Projective Techniques
• Indirect open-ended questioning
• Semi-structured interview
• Reliance on clinical interpretation
Examples
• Rorschach Inkblot (Rorschach, 1921)
–Ten symmetrical inkblots on cards
–Inquiry and follow-up on perceived features
–Adolescent and adults
Two Parts
• Part 1
– “What might this be?”
• Part 2: Investigation
–Inquiry
–Testing the limits
Exner scoring system
• Norms
• Location
• Determinant
• Content
Limitations
• Assumptions are flawed
• Interpretation may vary by interviewer
• Situational variables
• Psychometric Properties
–Lack of standardization
–Low reliability
–Poor cross-validation
Examples
• Roberts Apperception Test for Children (RATC) McArthur & Roberts, 1982)
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Morgan & Murray, 1935
–Tell a story - beginning, middle, and end
• TAT
• 31 Cards
–1 is blank
–Black and white
Scoring System
• Defense Mechanisms Manual DMM
–Denial, Projection, Identification
• Social Cognition and Object Relations
–Complexity
–Affect-Tone
–Emotional Investment
–Social Causality
Scoring
• Need
• Press
• Thema
Word Associations
• Free association
–Test taker gives first word they think of in response to stimulus word
–Interpretation is based on unusualness of association
• Sentence Completion
–Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank
–40 items
–Scored in terms of attitudes and character
• family, social, sexual
• Examples
• I enjoy __________________________.
• What annoys me __________________.
• I would be much happier if __________.
• Going to school ___________________.
Behavioral Assessment Approaches
• Behavioral Observation
–3rd party or observed person
• Types
–Recordings or rating scales
• Self-monitoring
–Analogue studies
• similar variables or situations
–Situational performance measures
• Role Playing
• Psychophysiological methods
–Biofeedback
–Polygraph
–Plethysmograph
• Unobtrusive measures
–Physical trace
Behavioral Assessment Issues
• Reliability
• Contrast Effects
• Composite Judgment