4 – 19 – 99/ Test 2 Tonight
The Legal Aspects of Psychology Testing
Chapter 15B
 PART ONE from my notes from her lecture
Undertrained/poorly trained newly licensed people screw up the interpretations
and overpathologize. Too many false positives. People are not really sick.
Federal rules – Expert witnesses are based on their education, training &
experience. They are paid lots of money for this. Not every psychologist is going
to qualify.
The uses of tests are widespread. Psychology and legal field have guidelines to
follow. There are guidelines for the practitioners, students and any individual
who’s working for a psychologist.
Psychologists are there to protect the client. They have to act in the best
interest of the client.
Guidelines – professional codes handed down from the APA.
APA cannot punish you if you are not a member. Only if you belong to the group
can they punish you.
On trial, you risk yourself in you are found in contempt. But then you violate your
ethics as a counselor to not harm your patient by giving out private information.
The APA can censure or reprimand you depending on the deed. The worst case
scenario is that they kick you out of their organization. Costly in terms of fines
and re – education. Bad consequences for this. Ex. screwing a client is a no –
no. You cannot have a friend as a client.
You are duty bound to break confedionality if someone is a threat to themselves
and/or others.
Before 1985, test manuals did not have all that validity information like they do
now. Every test post 1985 has this information for us written in the test booklets.
Before 1985 psychometric measures were not enforced.
Revisions have to be made if the test is offensive to some people/races.
Standards: PRIMARY & SECONDARY. All primary standards must be met
before the tests are used. Such as Informed Consent, where the patient knows
what’s going on. The patient is to be given the results of the test. And you
cannot release the test scores without consent.
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4 – 26 – 99
Legal Code and Standards are different from the Ethics code. If you break
the legal code you go to jail. If you break the standards then nothing happens to
you if you are not a member of the APA. Ethics code – the worst the APA could
do is kick you out. The flavor of the ethics code is to always act with integrity. To
make sure no one, no entity including our field is harmed by our actions.
If the ETHICS CODE conflicts with the LEGAL CODE then we have to
adhere to the higher standard; that means even if it means going to jail for the
sake of your client.
OUTLINE OF PRINCIPLES & STANDARDS – WORKBOOK p. 128 – 135.
 If we are going to develop tests we have to make sure the tests are valid and
reliable before making them available. Because some people can be harmed
by bad tests.
 These ethics codes applies to everyone in the field of psychology.
 We have to adhere to the general principles & make make sure others follow
the rules of the general principles.
 1.04 psychologists should only be working within the boundaries of what they
know. Don’t give out tests we do not know how to administer. Only after we
have taken appropriate steps to become experts in our field.
 It is wrong for psychologists to act out a Dual lifestyle by treating his patients
as well as his friends and family. If you were a teacher then you should act
only as a teacher to student not as a therapist to client. 2.01 p. 131
 Continue 2.01 we have to have data to back up our interpretations/diagnosis
from our test results.
 2.02 Important! Page 131 & 131. This comes from the heels of the general
standard. There are lots of overlap in these rules. “Psychologists refrain from
the misuse of assessment techniques, interventions, results and
interpretations and take reasonable steps to prevent others from misusing
the information these techniques provide.”
 2.03 Remember about pre-1984 tests didn’t have validity information. Testing
standards were not developed before then. Now we are told to make sure
our standardization is representative of the target population and to provide
information on reliability and validity. Prior to that time there were no set
standards for the development of tests. Now we have to use scientific
procedures. Most of the tests from the 30’s & 40’s would not exist today if we
used these standards were used back then.
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 Most of the projective tests do not meet the scientific rigor to become an
appropriate test.
 Many tests do not meet the scientific standards to become an approved test
today with our standards.
 2.04 psychometricians must know all the validity information on tests.
 2.07 Don’t use outdated tests with no re-norming. Norms can get outdated so
they must be updated. People change with the times.
 2.08 Because of human error we use interpretation services to give us a leg
up on the interpretation results. “Psychologists who offer assessment or
scoring procedures to other professionals accurately describe the purpose,
norms, validity, reliability & applications of the procedures and any special
qualifications applicable to their use.
 2.10 Nobody can have access to the MMPI. If the public knew the answers to
the test the test would not be valid as an IQ test. We don’t want people to be
familiar with these tests to protect the integrity of the tests. Its our
responsibility to keep it a secret.
 5.01 There are limits to confidentiality – we are duty bound to tell on patients
when they are abusers to others or themselves. People still unload their
secrets to the therapists even after being told about breaking confidentiality.
And they still say “please don’t tell, please don’t tell” But we have to and it
works out in the end.
 We are now going to electronically record the therapy sessions. Awkward to
the patient.
 5.04 maintenance of records. We are responsible to keep the records
confidential; locked droors.
 5.05 We can only disclose information when mandated by law or when John
Doe has not made a payment for a session, you can tell someone you are
just seeing him. Normally that information is also not disclosed.
 Or you can disclose information when the patient gives their okay.
 If someone tells you they have killed someone, you cannot tell anyone. But if
they say they will kill someone then you can report the case.
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Chapter 15B Professional Standards, Ethical Issues and courtroom testimony.
(Notes from text)
 BEST INTERSET OF THE CLIENT
When used ethically and professionally tests help users make fair and sound
decisions about individuals and groups. Several ethical principles recognize that
all psychological services, including assessment, are provided within the context
of a professional relationship. Therefore, we are enjoined to accept the
responsibility implicit in this relationship. The practitioner is guided by one
overriding question: What is in the best interests of the client?
Assessment should serve a constructive purpose for the individual examinee.
If it doesn’t, the practitioner is probably violating one or more specific ethical
principles.
 CONFIDENTIALITY AND THE DUTY TO WARN
Practitioners have a primary obligation to safeguard the confidentiality of
information, including test results, that they obtain from clients in the course of
consultations. Such information can be ethically released to others only after the
client or a legal representative gives consent, usually in written information.
In most states a psychologist who learns in the course of testing that the
client has physically or sexually abused a child is obligated to report that
information to law enforcement. Psychologists also have a duty to warn that
stems from the 1976 decision in the Tarasoff case. She was a young woman
who was murdered in California by a student from India. His therapist warned
the police but not the parents. Clinicians must communicate any serious threat
both to the potential victim and to law enforcement agencies.
 EXPERTISE OF THE TEST USER
The test user must accept ultimate responsibility for the proper application of
tests. From a practical standpoint this means that the test user must be well
trained in assessment and measurement theory. The user must possess the
expertise needed to evaluate psychological tests for proper standardization,
reliability, validity, interpretative accuracy and other psychometric
characteristics.
 INFORMED CONSENT
Before testing is done, the test user should obtain informed consent from test
takers or their legal representative. The Standards Manuel devotes a separate
standard to it: “Informed consent implies that the test takers or representatives
are made aware, in language that they can understand, of the reasons for
testing, the type of tests to be used, the intended use and the range of material
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consequences of the intended use and what testing information will be released
and to whom.”
Even young and retarded kids should receive an explanation of the reasons for
testing.
 OBSOLETE TESTS & THE STANDARD OF CARE
Standard of care is a loose concept that often arises in the professional or legal
review of specific health practices, including psychological testing. Practitioners
of testing must be wary of obsolete tests, since their use might violate the
prevailing standard of care. Ex. The MMPI-2 is now the standard of care, not the
first MMPI, in MMPI based assessment of psychopathology.
I/O psychology is the subspecialty of psychology that is concerned with the
behavior in work situations. In its broadest sense, I/O includes diverse
applications in business, advertising and the military. For example, I/O
psychologists act as consultants to help design and evaluate hiring procedures,
business may ask I/O psychologist to appraise the effectiveness of advertising
and military leaders rely heavily upon I/O testing for recruits.
There are different approaches to Personnel Selection.
1. Autobiographical data
2. Employment interview – worst.
3. Cognitive ability tests
4. Personality, temperament & motivation tests
5. Paper & pencil integrity tests
6. Work samples and situational tests – these two are the best tests.
Biodata – (page 392) Objective or scorable autobiographical data, biodata, are
typically secured by means of a structured form variously referred to as a
biographical. This is information collected during the interview & entered into a
formula for prediction. The rationale for the biodata approach is that future work
related behavior could be predicted from past choices and accomplishments.
Biodata have predictive power because certain character traits which are
essential for success are also stable & enduring. Interviewers look to see how
long this person has been at one job. If he’ll just quit after getting hired.
Employers cannot ask you when and where you were born. That is age
discrimination. They can ask questions that are relevant to the job you are being
interviewed for.
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The validity of biodata has generally positive findings. Cross – validated
correlations between biodata score and length of tenure were .58 for minorities
and .56 for nonminoritites.
 The EMPLOYMENT INTERVIEW
Interviews are bad for getting to know someone. They have poor predictor
reliability. A STRUCTURED INTERVIEW works out a little better, where
everyone is asked the same questions.
 COGNITIVE ABILITY TESTS
Cognitive ability can refer either to a general construct akin to Intelligence or
to a variety of specific constructs such as verbal skills, numerical ability, spatial
perception or perceptual speed. A vast body of empirical research offers modest
to strong support for the validity and fairness of standardized ability tests in
personnel selection.
An ongoing debate in I/O psych. is whether employment testing is best
accomplished with highly specific ability tests or with measures of general
cognitive ability. The weight of the evidence seems to support that “g” are better
predictors of training and job success than cognitive tests.
In class we took the Wonderlic Personnel Test (very hard)
Wonderlic Personnel Test – the WPT is really a group test of general
intelligence. It is popular because it is fast to take at 12 minutes and numerous
parallel forms. The Reliability of the WPT is quite impressive, especially
considering the brevity of the instrument. Internal consistency reliabilities usually
exceed .90. no accommodation is made for non-native speakers.
Bennett Mechanical Comprehension Test
This test looks for Specific abilities. In many trades and occupations, the
understanding of mechanical principles is a prerequisite to successful
performance. This test consists of pictures about which the examinee must
answer straightforward questions. The BMCT has been widely used since WWII
for military and civilian testing, so an extensive body of technical and validity
data exists for this instrument.
Split half reliability coefficients range from the .80’s to the low .90’s. Based
on a huge body of earlier research, the concurrent and predictive validity of the
BMCT appear to be well established.
The problem is that it’s an old test that needs to be updated. It is sexist and
offensive to minorities. Modernization could increase the acceptability of the test
to these groups.
WORK SAMPLE & SITUATIONAL EXERCISES
A work sample is a miniature replica of the job for which examinees have
applied. We “take the content of a person’s job, shrink it down to a manageable
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time period and let the applicants demonstrate their ability in performing this
replica of the job. Work samples are for “Blue Collar” jobs. Such as a typing test.
It is the single best predictor for skilled work with a predictive validity at .45 to
.60
A situational exercise is approximately the white – collar equivalent of a work
sample. They are used for managerial and professional positions.
These tests are based on the conventional wisdom that the best predictor of
future performance in a specific domain is past performance in that same
domain.
 The In – Basket Test
The classic paper in the in-basket test is the monograph by Frederikson. The
candidate is instructed to be a manager and perform tasks a manager would do.
What needs to be completed first; how do you prioritize information coming to
you. Information would be telephone calls, letters, memoranda and other
documents. Has good predictive validity.
Integrity Tests p.400
A problem with integrity tests is that their proprietary nature makes it difficult
to scrutinize them in the same manner as traditional instruments. Overt Integrity
Tests typically consist of two sections. The first is a section dealing with
attitudes toward theft and other forms of dishonesty. The second is a section
dealing with overt admissions of theft and other illegal activities. These overt
tests can be easily faked compared to personality based integrity tests.
Personality Based integrity Tests typically do not contain obvious references
to theft or other forms of undesirable employee behavior. A serious problem
with most integrity tests is the very high fail rate, typically in the 30 to 60 percent
range. Integrity tests are the final hurdle for job seekers. So this test is a way to
filter out the applicants. Organizations, which employ these tests, must be in a
position to turn away the majority of applicants.
Has an average validity coefficient of .41 when integrity tests were used to
predict supervisory ratings of job performance. These tests predicted global
disruptive behaviors(theft, illegal activities, absenteeism, tardiness, etc…)
Ability and Personality tests are for selection, evaluation, screening for
promotion. Also for enhancement for the employees. It’s quicker and
inexpensive. Also easier to interpret. Such as the Shipley & the Wonderlic test
we took.
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There are the multiple aptitude test batteries, like the DAT. Then specific
ability tests, like the Bennett Mechanical Comprehensive Test.
Employment Testing
1. Biodata
2. Interviews
3. Work samples & situational exercises
4. Ability & Personality Tests
Integrity tests – they have a lot of false positives; they identify people as
dishonest when they are really not. Still a huge demand for this test. There is a
1988 law that prohibits polygraph testing for job selection.
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5 – 3 – 99
3 lecture for FINAL
Read Chapter 11: Vocational, Career & Values Testing
rd
Due Next Monday 5 – 10 – 99
 Homework #12 “mock personality test” due next week.
 Homework #13 will be done in class
 ETHICS assignment due (2 pages).
Extra Credit – Find three websites that give psychological tests and take one.
Read directions in handout. Evaluate the 3 tests we look at. DUE AT THE LAST
DAY OF CLASS. 5 – 17. This will move the distribution up higher.
 Look at the Study Guide for the Final.
 FINAL is on May 24th at 7:30pm.
LECTURE
Chapter 10B
The Wonderlic, along with the Bennett test, has had significant race
differences in test results. In 1971 there was a Supreme Court Case, “Griggs
Vs. Duke Power”. A black man worked for the Duke Power Co. in Illinois and he
wanted to transfer out to a new location. In order to transfer, the company made
you take the Wonderlic and Bennett tests. You had to score above the national
mean in order to transfer. This was their co. policy. He did not pass the co. cut
off point to pass. He noticed that only whites were passing the tests.
The test was disproportionality harder for the black workers than the white
workers, so the test did discriminate against blacks. There was no
discriminatory intent by the Duke Company. Then the Supreme Court reversed
the ruling of the lower court and said you cannot give out tests for employment
purposes without their proper validation. Griggs ruling is against the use of tests
for employment uses without proper validation.
Court made these points:
1. Fairness in employment testing is determined by consequences, not intent.
2. Testing practices must have a demonstrable link to job performance. Griggs
was already doing the job he wanted to do when he transferred. The test had
nothing to do with the job he was doing. HAVLENA SAID TO REMEMBER
THIS ONE.
3. Burden is on the employer to show that the test is job related. The employer
should have access to job validity information.
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Prior to 1964, there was no problem taking a test to get a job. No legal
hassles yet. 1964 was the year of the Meyers Vs. Motorola case. First case
where employment testing was a primary issue. A black applicant wanted to get
a job at a television assembly plant. He had relevant experience to do the job as
a repairman. But he was denied employment because he did not pass an IQ
test of mental ability. He sued Motorola. The court ruled in his favor, the test
was biased against the uneducated & people with a disadvantaged background.
But the higher court overturned this ruling.
This case is important is because it set a precedent that you could walk into
court and file a case against the use of tests because of discrimination.
Also in 1964, the Civil rights Act passed. Title VII prohibits employment
discrimination against race, color & gender. Every place has this posted up. The
EEOC resulted from this act. Stands for Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission – they created the guidelines. The guidelines were for fair
employee selection procedures that companies had to adhere to. First
published in 1966 but the guidelines were vague. Only after several cases
passed that it became clearer, such as the Griggs case.
 Then in 1975, Albermarle Vs. Moody came. You cannot use the supervisor’s
ratings as the criteria against which you would validate a test. This is way too
subjective.
 Then in 1978, Washington Vs. Davis case says it is acceptable to use the
employee’s performance in an on the job training as a criterion against which
you could validate a test. This strengthened the EEOC’s power in terms of
setting new guidelines. In this case, the Supreme Court ruled that
performance in a police officer training program was a sufficient criterion
against which to validate a selection test.
 In 1978, the EEOC finally published “THE UNIFORM GUIDELINES ON
EMPLOYEE SELECTION”. It is this document & its’ provisions that are used
extensively in court to decide cases of unfair employment practices.
 It is this 1978 Guidelines that specifically defines ADVERSE IMPACT. When
selection procedures favor applicants from one group (whites) over other
groups (women), we would say that selection procedure has adverse impact.
If those minority groups were not selected less than 4/5th the rate of the
group that was most often selected.
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 Adverse Impact means a particular employment decision results in negative
consequences more often for members of one protected group than for
members of the non protected group. Adverse Impact is legally determined
through the 4/5 rule. That is, the percentage of blacks hired must be at least
80% of the percentage of whites who are hired. Refers to percentages and
not raw numbers.
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Test Fairness
Testing practices are unfair if members of a sub population obtain lower scores,
but the differences in scores are not reflective in differences of job performance.
If women and minorities obtain low scores on a selection test; it is unfair to use
those tests if those differences in scores are not reflective in differences in the
ability to do the job. This is what happened in the Griggs case. He was already
doing the job. The test he took didn’t have anything to do with the job; the test
did not equate with an inability to do the job.
So Fairness was defined in how those testing scores were being used.
Guidelines also regulate affirmative action.
1978 guidelines also lay out technical standards for evaluating test validity
for selection tests.
Cognitive ability tests have good predictive validity, like the Wonderlic or the
Shipley, run as high as .63. And also Job tryouts have very high predictive
validity. Cognitive ability tests are on the top of the heap with Job Tryouts a
close second.
Interviews are .14 for predictive validity. Poor prediction. Education does not
correlate with job performance at .1 Age also has no correlation with job
performance. (Don’t need to know the numbers for these, just what they mean.)
WONDERLIC TEST
We are now going over the Wonderlic test. This is the 12 minute test of
intelligence we took in class on the day we got our test 2 results back. B.F.
Wonderlic first used the test in 1938. 32,000 businesses in the U.S. use this test
as their primary selection procedure technique. It is a Short, Group, Timed test
of 12 minutes and 50 questions with an ascending level of difficulty.
Why do companies use this test? Because it correlates .9 with the Wechler
Adult Intelligence Scale.
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SURVEY OF INTERPERSONAL VALUES
For interest inventories, the problem is the subjects can always choose a
neutral answer such “doesn’t apply to me” or “no opinion”. Problems of
response sets:
1. Acquiescence – means “conformity” or “compliance”
2. Social Desirability
To avoid this problem, some tests use a Forced Choice Format – used in the
SIV test. 2 statements that are equal in social desirability. Choose one that is
most like you and choose one that is least like you and leave one statement
blank. We had to choose whether we wanted to or not; it didn’t fit in with the way
we wanted to respond to the question.
The results on a forced choice format are called Ipsative Measurement. Every
single item whether we chose it or not is designed to load on one of the scales
of the test. In selecting an item that loads on one of the scales, you have not
selected an item that would have gone to another scale.
You cannot have uniformly high or low scores on ipsative measurement. A
certain number of points will be allocated. Every single person’s score will add
up to this same number, but the scores will load up on different scales for each
individual. The scale scores are relative to one another. Lower scores on one
scale means you value this scale less than this other person who scored high
on it; this doesn’t mean you don’t value it at all.
The SIV is used for companies to get the employees to get to know each
other; for employment enhancement. But used more for vocational and marital
counseling. Given to people aged 14 years and above.
Adequate psychometric properties. Good enough for self – knowledge. SIV
looks at 6 psychological constructs. There are gender differences so genders
are compared separately. What we use for norms are percentiles for different
ages too. We are looking at norms for college students.
1. Support – females are high
2. Conformity – “ “
3. Recognition – males are high
4. Independence – “ “
5. Benevolence – females are high
6. Leadership – males are high
So this test follows gender stereotypes.
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Intelligence tests, Aptitude tests, Cognitive ability tests – the Wonderlic, are
some of the best predictors off success in business and school. These tests
tells us what a person is capable of and therefore allow us to predict success in
business or school. But all these tests, cognitive IQ tests, do not tell us whether
we will be happy with our careers.
Aptitude, intelligence, cognitive & ability tests are tests of MAXIUMUM
PERFORMANCE. They tell us what we are capable of under the best of
conditions; what we are maximally capable of producing. They do a good job at
telling if we will be successful in our jobs but does not say anything about job
satisfaction.
To predict satisfaction, we use interest inventories, personality tests, values
surveys. These are considered tests of typical performance. Tell what we are
like on a daily basis. Just because we have the capability to do the job doesn’t
mean we will like it. We’d all make good secretaries but not all of us would like
doing it.
Interest has a genetic component. It is a stable trait by high school or later.
Behavioral Geneticists say kids are born with a predisposition toward certain
interests. There are significant correlations between parents and their kids.
While there are few interests between parents and their adopted non-biological
kids. Identical Twins reared apart are alike – provides the best evidence for the
heritability of traits. People like what they do well in. these abilities are a function
of temperament or inherited.
Interest inventories really predict what we want to do, not what we are good
in. This is because career choice goes beyond interests. This is a function of
ability and opportunity. We might want to become a veterinarian but do not have
the proper math skills. Also be extremely motivated because though it is hard
work, it is not really profitable.
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INTERESTS & VOCATIONS
Anne Roe, a personality theorists, in the 50’s said the primary factor in
career choice is whether a person is “people oriented” or a “nonperson
oriented”. It is like a measure of introversion and extroversion.
J.L. Holland analyzed personality types according to six major areas.
Came up with the acronym “RIASEC”
1. R – realistic, likes to work with tools and things than work with people. Do not
like expressing themselves.
2. I – investigative, you like science activities. Like problem solving. Not good
with people either. Ex. Engineers, Scientists, Social Scientist Researchers.
3. A – artistic, high self-expression. Acting and creating. Also wants to work
alone. They like individuality – musicians and artists. They want to be original
and intense.
4. S – social, if you valued benevolence than you would score high in this. They
want to be the center of attention. Do not like physical exertion. Very good at
self-expression. Are good leaders and achievers and listeners and being
popular.
5. E – Enterprising, Good talkers, very persuasive, politicians and salesmen
and lawyers. They like power and status and wealth. Like to see results
immediately.
6. C – conventional, like high structure. They like office work and conformity.
They do not want to be in charge. Hate ambiguity. Value wealth and status
also. Most of these occupations bank jobs, a math teacher, and computer
experts.
We use interest inventories for occupational and educational counseling. Not for
job selection/placement. Give this inventory to people who want to know what
they would do well in terms of job satisfaction. Reliability is .8 range, very high.
The validity is also adequate. The scores correlate with job satisfaction.
We do need to know that scores on these interest inventories correlate with
motivation, socioeconomic status, response sets and faking. VERY HIGH FACE
VALIDITY – that’s the problem on these interest inventories. We could make the
results turn out to be the we want them to turn out.
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SSI p. 104 in our workbook.
 It was Developed by Strong in 1927 and revised by David Cambell.
 SII – strong interest inventory by E. Strong and CISS by Cambell.
 SII – Counseled people on how their profile fit with people who were satisfied
with their jobs.
 Identified a major theme, then look to see how your profile fit with others
profiles who were satisfied with their jobs.
 This is for the purpose of occupational & educational counseling.
 High school kids can use this, 9th grade and up. Prior to this, kids do not have
a realistic view on occupations.
EMPIRICAL KEYING
 This is a technique where they found people who were already happy with
their specific occupation/jobs and developed norms based on those
individuals profiles. They then used them as the normative group against
which your profile would be compared to, to see if you would also be satisfied
with the job.
 Over the long run, we will change but our interests remain stable.
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5 – 10 – 99
4 lecture for Final/CHAPTER 13A
th
NEXT WEEK:
 Homework #13 we’ll do in class next week.
 Test question for Final is due – write on “acting with integrity” lecture.
 HW#15 p.80 Projective assignment” TAT test. Ask the subject what going on
with this picture.
 Read chapters 13 & 14
PERSONALITY
|Most personality tests have a Barnum effect.
Each person is consistent to some extent, we have coherent traits and action
patterns that arise repeatedly. Second, each person is distinctive to some
extent. Behavioral differences exist between individuals.
Personality is “what people are like on a daily basis” And what makes them
unique. We are interested in the assessment of behavior that is typical in
performance – what people are like a consistent daily basis. Also what makes
us unique.
We would NOT see good correlation between personality tests because no
one single criterion is adequate to describe personality. Different tests and
techniques assess different part of personality. It is going to be an accumulation
of data that will support its CONSTRUCT VALIDITY.
Construct validity – we’re looking at multiple sources of information to see
whether these tests are valid or not. Many techniques to choose from.
 Clinical observation – made by a trained observer
 Structured interview – over the phone or face to face. Certain personal
information is given. Structured interviews ask the same questions in the
same order all the time. Opposite of an unstructured interview.
 Unstructured interview – allows the subject to determine where the
conversation is going. Therapists rely on these interviews.
 Rating scales – Completed by the subject (self-report) or someone who
knows the subject.
 Checklists – Simplest and cost effective device for personality assessment.
Fairly reliable. A related technique is the Q – sort technique. This is where
traits are listed on cards and the subject is asked to sort the pile from “most
like them” to “least like them”.
 Projective techniques – Techniques that use ambiguous stimuli to get at
unconscious thought processes.
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Two of the oldest personality assessment techniques are PHRENOLOGY &
GRAPHOLOGY. Phrenology is feeling the bumps on one’s head; the bumps
represent/correlate to certain traits the person has. This is a “clinical
observation” technique. But it doesn’t really work. Graphology is handwriting
analysis – lacks any real statistical validity. Fortune 500 Companies are hiring
“graphoanalysts” to assess whether or not they have good future employees
whom will earn 6 figure salaries. There is a “no – better than chance rating” in
concurrent validity in graphology but it still goes on today.
In Class – we’re looking at handwritings of famous people:
 Robert Citron – “forget that money doesn’t grow on trees and is used to
having your own way”, independent. This assessment was made “after the
fact” when he invested in bad deals. But he really wasn’t independent in his
decisions. Havlena said this description is probably a standard one where a
few sentences have been omitted to fit Citron’s personality.
 Bob Dornon – Congressman from Santa Ana. “you have a way of getting
along with people” and “concise and to the point” Havlena said this is wrong
about him.
 Reverend Schuller – from the Crystal Cathedral. “Always immaculate. Too
peaceful”. Havlena said we’re dealing with Barnum like descriptions for all of
these.
CURRENT APPROACHES TO PERSONALITY
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis was the original creation of Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939).
Freud postulated that the root cause of hysteria was buried memories of
traumatic experiences such as childhood sexual molestation. He believed that
the unconscious was the reservoir of instinctual drives and a storehouse of
wishes and thoughts that would be unacceptable to our conscious self.
Freud divided the mind into three structures, the EGO being the most
important for finding personality. The EGO is reality based and mediates
between the desires of the chaotic ID that wants and wants and the
SUPEREGO, THE moral/ethical part of personality. The EGO is largely
conscious.
Psychoanalysts theorists like projective methods, so to assess the EGO, they
ask subjects to tell “stories”
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Type Theories
Separates personality into different types. People have a set of traits that
develop a personality that will cause you to act the same way across different
environments. Sorts people out into different types/categories. Ex. “type A”
people whom hyperactive. Havlena mentioned about the work of Sheldon’s
body types – mesomorph/athletic, ectomorph/skinny, and endomorph/fat.
PHENOMONOLOGICAL Theories
Phenomenological theories of personality emphasize the importance of
immediate, personal, subjective experience as a determinant of behavior.
Stresses the “the self”. What is the individual meaning we assign to experience.
Personal experience is what is important here and how we personally deal with
situations. Havlena gave the example of a molested kid growing up to be
screwed up adult and another kid with the same experience but growing up to
be a normal adult.
p. 502 in text The most influential phenomenological theorists was Carl
Rogers. His contributions to personality theory, known as Self – Theory, are well
appreciated by students. He popularized the Q – Technique. This is a
procedure for studying changes in self-concept. It consists of a large number of
cards, each containing a printed statement such as “I am poised”, “I am
likeable” and the subject is asked to sort out the statements into 9 piles. One
pile will have items most like him while the other pile has items least like him.
Social Learning Theory
View behavior to be learned as situation specific. The environment and your
experience count in learning behavior. And social learning theorists agree that
cognition does play a role in behavior. This means that just knowledge of
experience can change your behavior. This is different from trait theory where
you are the same across situations. But social learning theorists say we lean to
act quiet in a church and loud in a concert – even though our true self hasn’t
really changed. We know how to act appropriately in a given situation. Scoring a
Q – sort is usually a matter of comparing or correlating the distribution of items
against an established norm.
5 FACTOR MODEL OF PERSONALITY
Universal dimensions of personality have these broad recurrent factors.
These major traits are seen all over the place. The factors generalize across
procedures of evaluations, culture, sex and age.
1. Introversion/extraversion – the single most reliable measured trait in
personality.
2. Agreeableness (friendliness)/hostility
3. Conscientiousness – kindness, attention to details.
4. Neuroticism/emotional stability
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5. Openness to new experiences.
All these share a genetic component, especially neuroticism and
extraversion. So you might have to fight the urge to become one of these if you
inherited these traits from your parents. Havlena mentioned another test that
shows where you lie on these traits called the NEO – PI, stands for neuroticism,
extraversion, openness and personality inventory.
IDIOGRAPHIC APPROACH TO PERSONALITY
Personality Vs. Nomothetic approach. “Personality” – different traits respond to
different situations; everyone has a unique complex personality. Nomothetic
means what is common in behavior. Tries to explain behavior in a general way,
but this is an unrealistic method that doesn’t work.
Personality Objective Measures
Can be classified in three ways by the way they were developed.
1. Theory guided measure – The Meyers – Briggs test is one, which is based
on Karl Jung’s work. Also Jenkins test to test for type A behavior
2. Factor Analytic – Measure personality traits that have been clustered through
factor analysis. (16PF Test – know this test)
3. Criterion keyed (MMPI,CPI) – with these inventories test items are assigned
to a particular scale only if they discriminate between a well defined criterion
group and a relevant normal control group. Has the highest validity
coefficients for criterion keyed measures. We need to identify a group of
people to make a norm out of. Then take a control group and compare them
to find unique traits true only to the norm/mental patient’s sample. Then we
will “key” this “trait” only to whatever group we are trying to assess, ex.
Mental patients or students etc…
The reliability and validity of personality assessment poses a problem
because of the response sets; they are acquiescent. “we may say yes to
everything”. It’s not really true to your personality. Sometimes we may want to
make ourselves look good or bad and choose items to make this so. People
may want to get out of work or plead insanity in court case. So all personality
tests must come with their validity scales/information to circumvent this trickery.
Mood can affect outcomes, these are measures of STATES; we always
change our moods. If we are in a good or bad mood will affect our test taking
choices. If you just failed a test, you’re likely to answer questions differently than
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in a “normal” state. So never rely on just one personality test. Use multiple
sources of information. Our ethics requires that we have proper validation for
the interpretation that we make.
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5 – 17 – 99
PROJECTIVE TESTS
Projective Tests – Use Vague and ambiguous stimuli to elicit a response
thought to reveal unconscious aspects of personality. Designed to get at much
deeper levels than self – report measures. Hi – face validity. Poor validity. But
reliability techniques work a little, but most have lousy reliability and validity.
These tests may help the therapist to help the client. Projective tests are not
totally useless. But you cannot use these techniques to make decisions about
people for gaining jobs, gaining child custody & in court cases – because these
tests do not meet the psychometric criteria needed to make it a valid test.
There are 4 classifications used for the Projective Categories.
1. ASSOCIATION TECHNIQUES – Associate a word or picture to something
else. The Rorschach test does this. Ask individuals “what does this mean.”
Proponents say how we relate to the stimuli depends on what is going on in
our subconscious. What does this association mean? Two different
therapists may hear the same story but give different meanings to them. So
we have poor inter – rater reliability. W/O reliability there is no validity.
2. COMPLETION TECHNIQUE – Ex. My mother is ____. Then the subject fills
in the blank. The Rotter test is one like this.
3. CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES – Ask the individual to construct a story
about something. The TAT and CAT does this. Use stories to give us clues to
find out what’s going on in these subjects.
4. EXPRESSION TECHNIQUE - Any type of projective drawing. Example:
“Draw a person”, “house – tree – person” test & the “Kinetic family drawing”.
For the HTP test, if you draw a good detailed job of a house it says you are
stable. Expression techniques are usually part of battery. We often ask
people to draw pictures – draw themselves or another gender. Drawing is
something non – threatening. Great for kids who cannot say it, but draw their
problems.
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Projective Tests provide hypothesis or suggestions to clinicians about possible
areas of concern. They might suggest that diagnosis, but it would never confirm
a diagnosis – the test will just give clues. Projective tests are used as a vehicle
for a clinical interview. There is something non – threatening about this; so the
therapist can have a clinical interaction with his client. Over the years, the
Rorschach has become intimidating. “the patient feels the therapist knows
something that they don’t know.” Neo – Freudian and psychoanalysts love
projective tests to get at some unconscious aspect of their personality. These
tests are still popular despite their non-validity.
These are the most frequently used tests in the U.S.
MMPI – 2 (personality)
WAIS – R (Adult IQ)
Bender Visual Motor
Rorschach Test – 4th most popular test. Patients expect to get this test no
matter what. People see it a lot on TV and movies. Gives the therapist a lot
of power & latitude.
5. WISC – III
6. TAT – Thematic Apperception Test.
7. Sentence Completion Test
8. Draw A Person
9. House – Person – Tree – this comes in at #9
10. Peabody Picture Vocabulary
11. Rotter Incomplete sentence – comes in at #11
1.
2.
3.
4.
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THE RORSCHACH TEST
Association Test
The Rorschach consists of 10 inkblots devised by Herman Rorschach (1184
– 1922) in the early 1900’s. Each inkblot is displayed on a white background.
There two phases, the free association phase and the inquiry phase. In the
inquiry phase the examiner asks questions to clarify the exact blot location and
to determine which aspects of the blot, such as the form or color, played a part
in the creation of the response. Based on information collected during the
inquiry phase, the examiner can then code the location, determinants, form
quality and content of each response according to one or more formal scoring
systems.
Rorschach died before he could complete his scoring methods, so the
systematization of scoring was left to his followers. Five American psychologists
produced overlapping but independent approaches to the test. EXNER have
synthesized these earlier approaches into the Comprehensive Scoring System.
Once the entire protocol has been coded, the examiner can compute a number
of summary scores that the primary basis for hypothesizing about the
personality of the examinee. Support for this conjecture is at best mixed.
Inter – rater reliability went from zero to .9 with the structural summary
through the Exner scoring system
ROTTER INCOMPLETE SENTENCES
The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB) consists of three similar
forms, high school, college and adult, each containing 40 sentences stems
written mostly in the first person. In the objective scoring system each
completed sentence receives an adjustment a score from 0 (good adjustment)
to 6 (poor adjustment). These scores are based initially on the categorizing of
each response as follows.
 Omission
 Conflict response – indicative of hostility or unhappiness.
 Positive response – indicative of positive or hopeful attitude
 Neutral response – declarative statement with neither + or -.
Positive responses get a score from 0 to 2. Neutral response gets a 3. And a
negative response gets a 4 to 6 – represents psychological conflict. The most
common scoring system is to look at a CONTENT ANALYSIS. Look across the
test and seek out themes/areas that are constantly being revisited by the
examinee.
The original purpose of the test was to determine the fitness of soldiers, in terms
of psychological adjustment, after coming back injured home from WWII. Were
they psychologically okay to return to duty? This was the original purpose of the
test. They were trying to measure PSYCHOLOGICAL ADJUSTMENT.
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The test is semi – structured projected. There is some degree of structure.
We do ask the same questions over again to different people in the same order.
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Continue with the Rotter…
The normative group in the 1950’s was out of date. Any response hinting at
being a homo was seen as abnormal, given the highest conflict score. “I wish I
had a beer” was okay back then, not today.
They have norms and a scoring system so inter – rater reliability is high.
Even though the norms are problematic, this is the most valid of all the
projection tests because it is semi – structured.
THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST
Second most popular projective test. Old style pictures. Developed by Dr.
Henry Murray of Harvard. 4 years of age and up, old enough to articulate their
responses. Any theory can be used as the basis of interpretation – Murray says
this in the manual. He had his own personality theory in mind – NEEDS &
PRESS as the determinants of personality. Needs are BIOLOGICAL, food and
sex. Then PSYCHOGENIC NEEDS, like status and achievement.
PRESS, the influence of the environment. Like a loss or rejection in life. A
birth of a sibling or luck or death. The stories that they make up represents
what’s going on in their unconscious part of their personality. If he sees a “hero”
in the picture then that supposed to be him in the there.
There are 31 pictures. Even a “blank” one. Don’t use all 31 cards. Pick 6 –
10 cards. You pick the cards with the best “stimulus pull” for your client. Some
of the cards are for adults and others are for children. The kid’s one has animals
on the cards. On the back of each card, there is a designation for males or
females and for either children or adults.
A content analysis is done. Every doctor has his or her own administration.
They ask for a beginning, middle and end – for the pictures. Havlena is showing
us pictures from the TAT – a kid is looking at a violin, a man is crying, a man is
standing next to a naked woman.
Poor reliability and validity.
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