Psychological
Assessment
Projective Personality Tests
Projective Tests: Essential
Features
Individuals must impose their own structure
which is meaningful
Stimulus material is unstructured
Indirect (disguised) method
Freedom of response
Interpretation is broad
Projective Tests
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Thematic Apperception Test
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Hermann Rorschach (18841922)
Nicknamed Kleck or
inkblot
Talented art student who
decided to study science
Dream convinced him of
relationship between
perception and unconscious
1921 published
Psychodiagnostik
Died in 1922
Rorschach
Inkblot
Test
Rorschach: Historical
5 Scoring Systems
Adopted by 5 American psychologists with
very different theoretical backgrounds
Shared common features (same blots were
used, response phase followed by inquiry)
5 different systems of administration, scoring
and interpretation emerged
Two most popular (Beck, Klopf)
Rorschach: Validity and
Reliability
Poor psychometric reputation:
Lack of standardized rules for administration
and scoring
Poor inter-rater reliability
Lack of adequate norms
Unknown or weak validity
Rorschach: Contemporary
Use
John Exner
Established Rorschach Research Foundation
in 1986
Integrated five scoring and interpretation
systems
Established empirical support for new system
Provide a center for training
Contemporary Use:
Administration
Association Phase
What might this be?
Present all the cards
Record response verbatim
Note location of response
Inquiry Phase
I want you to help me see what
you saw. Im going to read
what you said, and then I
want you to show me where
on the blot you saw it and
what there is there that
makes it look like that so
that I can see it too. Id like
to see it just like you did, so
help me now.
Rorschach Inkblot Test
A psychometrically sound test?
An in-class exercise
Contemporary Use: Scoring
Exner scoring system: The Structural Summary
Location
Location (W, D, Dd)
Use of white space (S)
Determinants
Form (good, poor, bad quality)
Movement (active and passive)
Color
Texture
Shading
Rorschach Inkblot Test
A psychometrically sound test?
Particularly useful in assessing thought
processes
Thematic Apperception Test
(TAT)
Developed by Henry Murray and colleagues
at Harvard Psychological Clinic
31 TAT cards depicting people in a variety of
ambiguous situations (one blank card)
Examinee is asked to create a story about
each picture
TAT: Administration
Now I want you to make up a story about
each of these pictures. Tell me who the
people are, what they are doing, what they
are thinking or feeling, what led up to the
scene, and how it will turn out.
TAT: Scoring/Interpretation
Content analysis of themes that emerge from
the stories
TAT: Psychometric Critique
Selection of cards is not standardized
Lack of norms
Clinicians rely on qualitative impressions
Thematic Apperception Test
Used to assess:
Locus of problems
Nature of needs
Quality of interpersonal relationships
Psychological
Assessment cont.
Objective Personality Testing
What is Personality?
characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling,
and acting
emerges in informal, familiar situations in
which we feel unconstrained
principle of aggregation
personality is the sum of the best descriptors and
predictors of our actions over time in a number of
situations
Objective Personality Tests
Material Covered
4 major approaches to test construction
Examples of test based on first three test
construction procedures
Use of personality tests in modern clinical
practice
Characteristics Objective
Personality Tests
Standard set of questions
Standardization as a concept: given to large #'s
of people--yield norms to which an individual's
scores can be compared
Norms are defined as a set of scores from a large
group of people who have completed the
measure.
Fixed response options
Objective Personality Tests:
Advantages
Individual or groups (economical)
Administration is simple/objective
Scoring is simple/objective
Interpretation of results requires less
interpretative skill than projective tests
Apparent increased objectivity and reliability
Objective Personality Tests:
Disadvantages
Items limited to behavior
Single overall score
Transparent meaning of items
Forced choice approach
Test Construction
Approaches
Logical or content validation
Empirical Criterion Keying (MMPI)
Factor Analysis (NEO Personality Inventory)
Construct Validity (Combines all of the above)
Approaches to Test
Construction: Content
Validation
Defining all aspects of the construct
Consulting experts about the constructs
Having expert judges assess each potential
item
Perform psychometric analyses of items
Content Validation: An
Example
Goal: Construct a test designed to measure
attitudes toward school
Answer true or false
I enjoy getting up in the morning for school
I like my teacher(s)
I enjoy seeing my friends at school
I enjoy the subjects I learn about at school
Content Validation: Advantages
and Disadvantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
Face validity with test
takers
Easy to fake good or bad
Content Validation: The Mooney
Problem Checklist
Assesses emotional functioning in the following areas:
Home and family
Interpersonal relationships
Courtship and marriage
Morals an religion
School/occupation
Economic security
social skills and recreation
Health and physical development
Approaches to Test
Construction:
Empirical Keying
Create test items to measure one or more
traits
Administer test items to a criterion and
control group
Select items that distinguish between these
two groups
Content of the item is not considered
important
Empirical Keying: Minnesota
Multiphasic Inventory (MMPI)
Developed in 1930s
Starke Hathaway Ph.D. & J. Charnley McKinley,
MD.
Needed test to identify diagnosis
Developed an item pool
Identified a group of patients and nonpatients
Resulting scale of 550 items (true/false/cannot say)
MMPI Clinical Scales
Scale #
Scale Name
Meaning of High
Score
Hypochochodriasis
Concern about health
Depression
Depression
Hysteria
Somatic complaints
Denial of psych. prob.
Psychopathic Deviate
Antisocial behavior
Mas.-Fem
Nonstandard gender
interests
Paranoia
Suspiciousness
Psychasthenia
Anxiety
Schizophrenia
Disturbed thought
Hypomania
Manic mood
10
Social Introversion
Shy, social inept
MMPI: Validity Scales
? (Cannot say)
Unanswered items
L (Lie)
Faking good
F (Infrequency)
Faking bad
K (Defensiveness)
Defensiveness in admitting to problems
Interpreting MMPI
Validity Scales
Single scales
Profile analysis
MMPI: Shortcomings
Unrepresentative normative sample
Language of items was outdated (including
sexist language)
Inadequately addressed difficulties such as
suicide or drug use
MMPI: Revision
Assembled team of MMPI experts
Rewrote some items
Added new items
Administered new item pool (n=704) to a
standardization sample (representative)
Retained 567 items from the item pool
Continued problems
failure of some items to reliably discriminate
between groups
dimensions based on pre-conceived theory about
structure of personality,
scales correlate highly and thus provide
redundant information
they are highly influenced by state at the time of
taking, and the test and re-test stability may
therefore be lower than desired (a problem for
many/most trait measures)
MMPI-2 Content Scales
Anxiety
Fears
Obsessiveness
Depression
Health Concerns
Bizarre Thoughts
Anger
Cynicism
Antisocial Practices
Type A
Low Self-Esteem
Social Discomfort
Family Problems
Work Interference
Negative Treatment
Indicators
Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI):
more useful than the MMPI-2 for diagnosis
The purpose of the MCMI is to help the clinician
make a diagnosis of personality disorder.
These disorders are pervasive and stable patterns of
maladaptive behavior that are deeply ingrained and
influence the individual's thinking, feeling, and acting in a
wide range of situations.
The MCMI is primarily used for clinical populations;
it is not intended for normal subjects.
Approaches to Test Construction:
Factor Analysis (Internal
Consistency)
Correlational technique used to determine
whether a group of items are correlated with
one another
Revised NEO Personality
Inventory (NEO-PI-R)
Based on five factor model of personality
(Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness,
Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness)
Name derived from initials of the first three traits
Assesses all five traits
Emphasizes assessment of normal personality style
rather than psychopathology
Parallel forms
The Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive
Personality (SNAP)
a factor-analytically derived instrument designed to
assess traits important in personality disorders
15 scales:
12 trait scales assess specific or primary traits and
3 temperament scales measure more general affective
traits.
5 validity scales plus an overall validity index
items to assess the personality disorder criteria in
the DSM
follows the three-factor model of personality
Neuroticism/Negative Emotionality, Extraversion/Positive
Emotionality, and Disinhibition vs. Constraint.
Approaches to Test
Construction: Construct Validity
Combines aspects of content validity,
empirical criterion keying and factor analytic
approaches in developing assessment
devises (Clark and Watson, 1995)
The Place of Personality Assessment
in Contemporary Clinical
Psychology
Or
Why do we use these tests?
Psychological Assessment:
Purpose (Textbook Response)
Classification (diagnosis)
Description
Prediction
Classification
Results from psychological testing assists in
making a diagnosis
Critics of psych testing- tests are not reliable
or valid diagnostic instruments
Defenders: test information is used in
conjunction with other clinical data
Description
Dependent
Depressed Client
Testing
provides a
time efficient
means of
developing a
broader
understanding
of the patient.
Narcissistic
Depressed
Client
Prediction
Test findings can be used to make predictions
about behavior
Whether client will benefit from
psychotherapy
What type of psychotherapy would be best
Suicidal risk
Risk for violence
The Place of Personality Assessment
in Contemporary Clinical
Psychology
Or
Why do we use these tests?
Psychological Assessment: Purpose:
Typical Referral Question
Please evaluate for organic brain damage
(patient has history of polysubstance abuse)
and evaluate for psychotic thinking
Tests Administered
Evidence of Organic
Damage
Weschler Memory
Scale
Trail Making Test
Rey-Osterieth Complex
Figure Test
Benton Test of Visual
Memory
Evidence of Psychotic
Thought
MMPI
Rorschach
Beck Depression
Inventory
Interpretation of Results
Normal performance on tests of memory, concentration and
attention
Personality testing suggested the primary etiological role of
emotional turmoil.
Presence of both acute distress and chronic characterological
problems.
Acute distress: severe depression and a risk for suicide
Reality testing in the normal range
Significant ego regression when faced with affective arousal was
noted.
Projective and Objective Personality
Tests: Incremental Validity
Degree to which assessment increases
prediction based on base rates (prevalence)
or other sources
Incremental Validity: Current
Findings
Tentative support for the incremental validity of the MMPI-2
scales in prediction of personality disorder, aggression, and
differentiation between depressed patients and substance abuse
patients
NEO-PI-R: personality disorder, maternal responsiveness to
infants and violence
Rorschach: thought disorder but not other scores
TAT: not adequately investigated
Objective Tests: Summary
Material Covered
4 major approaches to test construction
Examples of test based on first three test
construction procedures
Use of personality tests in modern clinical
practice
