• Discuss the utlity of MMPI2 as a tool of clinical assessment and

describe its various clinical and validity scales?(15 marks)

•

Present the description of the content scales of MMPI 2 that
asses the clinically relevant aspects of personality? (10
marks )
• The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
( M M P I )

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI) is the most widely used and researched clinical
assessment tool utilized by mental health professionals to
help diagnose mental health disorders.1

Originally developed in the late 1930s, the test has been
revised and updated several times to improve accuracy and
validity. The MMPI-2 test questions consist of 567 true-false
and take approximately 60 to 90 minutes to complete; the
MMPI-2-RF has 338 true-false questions, taking 35 to 50
minutes to finish.
• History of the MMPI

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
was developed in 1937 by clinical psychologist Starke R.
Hathaway and neuropsychiatrist J. Charnley McKinley at
the University of Minnesota.
•T Y P E S O F M M P I T E S T S

MMPI-2: The revised edition of the test was released in 1989
as the MMPI-2.3 The test received revision again in 2001 and
updates in 2003 and 2009, and it’s still in use today as the
most frequently used clinical assessment test.

MMPI-2-RF: Another edition of the test, published in 2008, is
known as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-
Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), an alternative to the MMPI
- 2 . 4

MMPI-A: There is also an MMPI, published in 1992, that’s
geared toward adolescents aged 14 to 18 years old called
the MMPI-A. With 478 questions, it takes about an hour to
complete.5
MMPI-A-RF: In 2016, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory-Adolescent-Restructured Form (MMPI-A-RF) was
published. Like the MMPI-2-RF, it’s shorter, with just 241
q u e s t i o n s t h a t t a k e 2 5 t o 4 5 m i n u t e s t o a n s w e r. 6

MMPI-3: The latest version of the instrument, MMPI-3, was
released in 2020. The test takes 25 to 50 minutes to complete
and is available in English, Spanish, and French for Canada
f o r m a t s . 7



• H o w t h e M M P I I s U s e d

The MMPI is m ost com m only used by m ental health
professionals to assess and diagnose mental illness, but it
has also been utilized in other fields outside of clinical
psychology. The MMPI-2 is often used in legal cases,
i nc l u d i ng c ri m i na l d e f e ns e a nd c u s t o d y d i s p u t e s .

The test has also been used as a screening instrument for
certain professions, especially high-risk jobs, although using
it in this manner has been controversial. It’s also used to
evaluate the effectiveness of treatment programs, including
substance use programs.
CONTENT SCALES

ANX - ANXIETY

FRS - FEARS

OBS - OBSESSIVENESS

DEP - DEPRESSION

HEA - HEALTH CONCERNS

BIZ - BIZARRE MENTATION

ANG - ANGER

CYN - CYNICISM

ASP - ANTISOCIAL PRACTICES

TPA - TYPE A

LSE - LOW SELF-ESTEEM

SOD - SOCIAL DISCOMFORT

SOD - SOCIAL DISCOMFORT

FAM - FAMILY PROBLEMS

WRK - WORK INTERFERENCE

EG ATIV E TREATMENT IN D ICATO RS
TRT - N
• W H A T T H E M M P I T E S T M E A S U R E

S c a l e 1 — H y p o c h o n d r i a s i s

This scale was designed to assess a neurotic concern over bodily
functioning. The items on this scale concern physical symptoms
and well-being. It was originally developed to identify people
displaying the symptoms of hypochondria, or a tendency to believe
that one has an undiagnosed medical condition.
•S c a l e 2 — D e p r e s s i o n

This scale was originally designed to identify depression,
characterized by poor morale, lack of hope in the future, and
general dissatisfaction with one’s own life situation. Very high
scores may indicate depression, while moderate scores tend
to reveal a general dissatisfaction with one’s life.9
•S c a l e 3 — H y s t e r i a

The third scale was originally designed to identify those who
display hysteria or physical complaints in stressful situations.
Those who are well-educated and of a high social class tend
to score higher on this scale. Women also tend to score
higher than men on this scale.
•Scale 4—Psychopathic Deviate

Originally developed to identify psychopathic individuals, this
scale measures social deviation, lack of acceptance of
authority, and amorality (a disregard for morality). This scale
can be thought of as a measure of disobedience and
antisocial behavior.
• High scorers tend to be more rebellious, while low scorers
are more accepting of authority. Despite the name of this
scale, high scorers are usually diagnosed with a personality
disorder rather than a psychotic disorder.9
•Scale 5—Masculinity-Femininity

This scale was designed by the original authors to identify
what they referred to as “homosexual tendencies,” for which
it was largely ineffective. Today, it is used to assess how
much or how little a person identifies how rigidly an
individual identifies with stereotypical male and female
gender roles.
•S c a l e 6 — P a r a n o i a

This scale was originally developed to identify individuals
with paranoid symptoms such as suspiciousness, feelings of
persecution, grandiose self-concepts, excessive sensitivity,
and rigid attitudes. Those who score high on this scale tend
to have paranoid or psychotic symptoms.
•S c a l e 7 — P s y c h a s t h e n i a

This diagnostic label is no longer used today and the
symptoms described on this scale are more reflective of
anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.9
This scale was originally used to measure excessive doubts,
compulsions, obsessions, and unreasonable fears.
•S c a l e 8 — S c h i z o p h r e n i a

This scale was originally developed to identify individuals
with schizophrenia. It reflects a wide variety of areas
including bizarre thought processes and peculiar perceptions,
social alienation, poor familial relationships, difficulties in
concentration and impulse control, lack of deep interests,
disturbing questions of self-worth and self-identity, and
s e x u a l d i f f i c u l t i e s .



The scale can also show potential substance abuse,
emotional or social alienation, eccentricities, and a limited
interest in other people.
•S c a l e 9 — H y p o m a n i a

This scale was developed to identify characteristics of
hypomania such as elevated mood, hallucinations, delusions
of grandeur, accelerated speech and motor activity, irritability,
flight of ideas, and brief periods of depression.
•Scale 10—Social Introv ers ion

This scale was developed later than the other nine scales. It’s
designed to assess a person’s shyness and tendency to
withdraw from social contacts and responsibilities.9

M M P I T e s t V a l i d i t y S c a l e s

T h e L S c a l e

Also referred to as the lie scale, this “uncommon virtues”
v alidity sc ale was dev elop ed to detec t attem p ts b y
individuals to present themselves in a favorable light.

People who score high on this scale deliberately try
• People who
sc ore high on
this scale
deliberately try
to present
themselves in
t h e m o s t
positive way
possible,
re j e c ti ng
shortcomings or
unf a v o ra b l e
characteristics.
11
•T h e F S c a l e

This scale is used to detect attempts at overreporting.
Essentially, people who score high on this scale are trying to
appear worse than they really are, they may be in severe
psychological distress, or they may be just randomly
answering questions without paying attention to what the
q u e s t i o n s s a y .



This scale asks questions designed to determine if test-
takers are contradicting themselves in their responses.11
•T h e K S c a l e

Sometimes referred to as the “defensiveness scale,” this
scale is a more effective and less obvious way of detecting
attempts to present oneself in the best possible way by
u n d e r r e p o r t i n g .



People may underreport because they’re worried about being
judged or they may be minimizing their problems or denying
that they have any problems at all.12
•T h e ? S c a l e

Also known as the “cannot say” scale, this validity scale
assesses the number of items left unanswered. The MMPI
m anual re c o m m e nd s that any te st wi th 3 0 o r m o re
unanswered questions should be declared invalid.12



T R I N S c a l e

T he True Resp onse I nc onsistenc y ( T RI N) sc ale was
developed to detect people who use fixed responding, a
method of taking the test without regard to the question,
such as marking ten questions “true,” the next ten as “false,”
and so on.
• Fixed responding could be used due to not being able to read
or comprehend the test material well or being defiant about
having to take the test. This section consists of 20 paired
questions that are the opposite of each other.12
•

V R I N S c a l e

The Variable Response Inconsistency (VRIN) scale is another
method developed to detect inconsistent, random responses.
Like fixed responding, this can be intentional or it can be due
to not understanding the material or not being able to read it.
•T h e F b S c a l e

This scale is designed to show changes in how a person responded in
the first half of the test versus how they responded in the second half
by using questions that most normal respondents didn’t support.



High scores on this scale sometimes indicate that the respondent
stopped paying attention and began answering questions randomly. It
can also be due to over or underreporting, fixed responding, becoming
tired, or being under severe stress.11
•T h e F p S c a l e

This scale helps detect intentional overreporting in people
who have a mental health disorder of some sort or who were
using random or fixed responding.

T h e F B S S c a l e

The “symptom validity” scale is used for people who are
taking the test because they’re claiming that they had a
personal injury or disability. This scale can help establish the
credibility of the test taker.
•T h e S S c a l e

The “superlative self-presentation” scale was developed in
1995 to look for additional underreporting. It also has sub-
scales that assess the test taker’s belief in human goodness,
serenity, contentment with life, patience/denial of irritability,
and denial of moral flaws.11
 Advantages

• This has two advantages. First, it makes it very difficult for

subjects to ‘fake’ responses, deny problems or give a
particular impression. Second, the MMPI-2 is based on
empirical research and not on a clinician’s assumptions
about what answers indicate particular personality traits.
Disadvantages

• The disadvantages of the MMPI-2 are: The MMPI-2 is

very long at 567 questions. The MMPI-2RF is shorter,
however, and only has 338 true/false questions.