Measures of Personality Personality

Kenneth C. Hergenrather MSEd, MRC, CRC Department of Rehabilitation and Special Education Auburn University, Auburn Alabama

Purpose of Personality Assessment (Maki, Pape, & Prout, 1979)

Identify those personality strengths or deficits that impact job demands. Identify where and how the client can function effectively. Determine what training might be needed to enhance behaviors demanded for suitable job adjustment

Personality Assessment
In rehabilitation, personality refers to that client information related to typical behaviors as distinct from the intellectual attributes of the individual. Within the work environment, personality is directly related to the degree to which it reflects work behaviors.

Personality Assessment
For the rehabilitation Counselor, personality is a grouping of interests, values, and behaviors that allow an individual to meet appropriate work environment parameters in a particular job setting.

Personality Assessment
We, the rehabilitation counselor can assess the client personality by focusing on behaviors necessary for employment or productive output. Traditionally,we have obtained an evaluation of the clients personality functioning by a psychosocial evaluation by a psychologist. But is the information relevant to our plan?

Personality Assessment
Kaplan and Questad 1980, reported that what is relevant to successful rehabilitation outcomes are issues surrounding a clients motivation (16 PF), mood/temperament (MMPI-2), self-concept, and acceptance of/adjustment to disability (MMPI-2 & 16 PF). Self-concept is very often a useful predictor of rehabilitation success. Many times client needs (16 PF) and values are neglected.

Personality Assessment
With needs exploration, the clients values should be conducted since these factors contribute to job satisfaction.

Personality Assessment
In identifying work-related values, there are ways to assist a client identify these: Questioning:

Would you work if you did not have to? Why? In which situations do you work harder than usual? Name people whose work you admire. What do you admire about it?

Personality Assessment
Simon,Hoew,and Kirschenbaum (1972) suggest sentence completion:

What I want most in life is. I do my best when.. I think my parents would like me to People who know me well think I am I am concerned most about

Personality Assessment
Much information about a clients behavior can be gained through the interview. The same is true of the personality assessment. Many personality inventories require extensive training in their administration and interpretation. Two personality inventories recommended for use in rehabilitation are the MMPI-2 and 16 PF

Personality Assessment
When using tests, remember:

The administration, scoring, interpretation, and reporting SHOULD be under the supervision of a person who meets the qualifications as defined by YOUR state law AND the American Psychological Association (SAX 1981).

Purpose of Assessment
Provide relevant information from which to make a decision. Make that decision with reduced uncertainty and error. Remember: The results from the personality inventories report as much about the Rehabilitation Counselor as the Client.

The Assessment Process

1.) Defining the Assessment Objective a.) What do I need to assess? b.) Which variables are relevant? c.) How are they interpreted?

2. Obtaining Empirical Data

a.) How much weight will be given to the variables I feel are important? b.) Which test(s) is/are valid? c.) Test administration.

3. Matching the Data to the Model

a.) Test results are interpreted. b.) Test results are matched with the model.

Remember:
Planning precedes testing!

Validity and Utility of the SelfReport Method

Self-report questionnaires do represent a time-saving but inadequate substitute for more in-depth methods of assessment such as clinical interview or more direct observational methods. It is not clear from the research that the cost savings in administering a self-report test represent a significant loss in reliability, validity, or utility.

Major Self-Report Structured Personality Resources

We will review TWO broad based instruments: -16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) -Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI/MMPI-2

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) Most extensively studied and commonly used for assessing personality.

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) Developed by Raymond Cattell in 1936 and introduced for commercial use in 1949. Cattells research concerns in the development of this tool were directed toward theoretical and psychometric concerns. Little attention was given to practical issues of profile analysis or clinical interpretation.

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) Five published forms of the test

A & B each contain 187 items, requires 7/8th grade reading level; approximately one hour to administer. C & D each contain 105 items, requires a 6/7th grade reading level;approximately 30 minutes to administer. Each item is followed by three answer choices.

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) Form E is appropriate for clients having a 3/4th grade reading level. Items are presented in a forced-choice format to simplify responding. The form has been validated and normed on special populations, including persons with visual and aural impairments, rehabilitation clients, and convicts.

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) For clients whose reading levels fall below the fourth grade level, or for clients with visual impairments, Form E of the 16PF can be administered via audiotape cassette.

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) Measures 16 primary personality characteristics:

Warmth, intelligence, emotional stability, tension, dominance, impulsivity, conformity, boldness, sensitivity, suspiciousness, imagination, insecurity, shrewdness, radicalism, self-sufficiency, selfdiscipline

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) Second order factors such as anxiety, extraversion, and independence can be measured through combing scales Several scales exist for measuring client tendencies for faking good and faking bad

16 Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) By itself, the 16PF is weak in assessing major affective and cognitive disorders. It is theoretically grounded in research on the base structure of adult personality and represents a significant resource for decision making in the field of Rehabilitation Counseling.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) The most frequently used instrument for the evaluation and diagnosis of clinical personality symptoms and disorders.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Clinical assessment of mental health patients in the 1930s was a difficult and somewhat flawed activity. Sheer frustration in understanding clinical patients led Starke Hathaway and J.C. McKinley to begin developing the MMPI.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Originally developed at the University of Minnesota Hospitals to aid clinicians in the routine tasks of assessing and diagnosing patients with mental disorders. It became immediately successful in filling the void in clinical assessment by providing useful and practical assessment in a variety of settings.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) In developing the format of the MMPI, Hathaway and McKinley chose a true/false statement response format. Relatively straightforward and low reading level Took about 90 minutes to complete.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

In developing the items for the MMPI, Hathaway & McKinley compiled a large pool of potential items (1,000) which were indicative of symptoms of mental disorders. This was reduced to 504 items. Increased to 550 items by the addition of two scales: (1)Masculinity-Femininity and (2)Social Introversion Empirical contrasts were used between a sample of normal subjects and groups of well-defined patients to determine the items comprising a particular scale.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) Most of the subjects in the norm sample were visitors to the University of Minnesota Hospital. The MMPI scales were viewed as dimensions reflecting particular problem. The data was published in 1943 and immediately gained acceptance in clinical settings.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) In 1943, this began being used for:

Patients in generalized medical settings Adolescents in schools Inmates in correctional institutes Clients in substance abuse centers Military personnel Applicants for highly responsible positions 1940s translations were completed in Cuba, Italy, Germany, Japan, and Puerto Rico (by 1976 >130)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory MMPI

By the 1970, problems with the MMPI became apparent: items were out of date or objectionable. In 1982, the University of Minnesota Press (the copyright holder) decided to sponsor a revision of the MMPI and named this the MMPI Revision Committee.

MMPI Revision Committee.

It was determine that the MMPI needed to be revised and a two testing booklets would be developed: the MMPI-2 (revision of MMPI) and the MMPI-A (for adolescents). Outdated item/objectionable items would be withdrawn and new items(suicidal behavior, treatment readiness, Type A behaviors, problematic substance drug use) were added.

MMPI Revision Committee.

In the development of the MMPI-2 & MMPI-A, the following goals were accomplished:

The deletion of objectionable and nonworking obsolete items were replaced by contemporary clinical problems and applications. Validity, standards and scale measures were kept relatively intact. New scales were developed that were not addresses in the original MMPI.

MMPI Revision Committee.

New representative randomly solicited and nationally based nonpatient samples of adults and adolescents were collected to develop ageappropriate norms. New normal distributions for the MMPI-2 and the MMPI-A were developed that better reflected clinical problems. New scales were validated using a broad range of clinical data for evaluating changes in the original scales

MMPI Revision Committee.

The MMPI-2 normative sample consisted of 2,600 subjects (1,462 women and 1,138 men, aged 18 and older) sampled from seven states (California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington). The test was 704 questions. Several scales maintained their validity and new scales were added ( Addiction Potential, Addiction Acknowledgement, and the Marital Distress Scale)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2 and MMPI-A) Administration:

Relatively easy administration format. Takes a 5/6th grade reading level to understand the questions. individuals are instructed to read the items and determine which answer is true or false.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2 and MMPI-A)

Scoring:

The practitioner simply places a scoring template over the answer sheet and counts the number of items endorsed in the scored direction of each scale. Raw scores from each scale are placed appropriately on the profile sheet. Once all scales are scored, a line is drawn connecting the points that mark each appropriate raw score of each scale. Data points present a client profile.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2 and MMPI-A) Limitations:

Does not have a theorectical foundation. Requires a certain reading and comprehension level. Requires some motor response for marking. Limited by the motivation of the client(can be faked). The 567 items may take too long to complete. It is problem oriented without respect to assessing client strengths or resources.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2 and MMPI-A) Why, after 60 years after its introduction is the MMPI (now the MMPI-2 and MMPI-A) still the first and foremost choice by practitioners when it comes to understanding patients problems?

Cost-effective Validity Control over undesirable response patterns Use of simple language

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2 and MMPI-A)

Simplicity of administration. Simplicity of scoring. General clinical familiarity of the profile variables. Provides a means of comparing a persons score on a scale in a normative framework (a persons score on the test could be compared with others to determine whether his/her scores were low or high compared to the norms).

Cautions about interpretations

Be certain of construct validity of your personality testing instrument. It is essential for the interpretation of your instrument. Class Exercise: The Scrud Test

The Scrud Test

Take out one sheet of paper 8 x 11 Draw four lines

two lines that love each other Two lines that hate each other A happy line An angry line

The Scrud Test

If we observe that there are many similarities in these drawings, but we can also know that there will be differences. We can observe who drew what similar to others, and who was outside of the norm. We may inspect the internal consistency of the Scrud by assessing the different aspects of the same drawing.

The Scrud Test

We may measure the degree to which each of these drawings takes up space on the paper and determine how loving, angry, happy, or hateful a person is. We may also infer qualities of the person from the drawing. We may look at the structure of the Scrud. Is it drawn in heavy lines or faint lines?

The Scrud Test

However, caution is necessary since qualitative research shows that such an interpretation is warranted only if the lines drawn on the Scrud test exhibit behaviors or scores on other tests that are known to indicate those qualities of love, hate, anger, or happiness.

The Scrud Test

Therefore, when administrating and interpreting performing personality inventories, NEVER use only ONE test for an assessment, use a test battery to measure what you need to measure and have findings validated using other tests.

CONCLUSION
Responses to personality inventories comprise the clients attempts to describe themselves. Such attempts allow the clients to view themselves or are willing to have others see them. Personality inventories probe into issues/ feelings that the clients may view as private.

CONCLUSION
It is our responsibility to create conditions that assist the client in gathering information that is useful in self-understanding and selfacceptance. Client may also try to avoid all of this by faking bad or faking good. Always explain the nature of the test and its importance in the planning process.

CONCLUSION
And last, but certainly NOT least, be absolutely certain your interpretation of the test results are accurate.