Download Intro to Clinical Psychology

Chapter 8 –
Assessment: SelfReport and
Projective Measures
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The Study of Personality
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The term “personality” refers to an
“invisible”, hypothetical entity
We cannot see what is going on
“inside” the person
We assess “what is going on inside”
on the basis of behavioral observations
Behaviors that are consistent along
time and across situations seem to
reflect one’s personality
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Cont-d
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We often want to explain the behavior
of other people, especially when this
behavior is unexpected
We need to explain in order to be able
to predict (and possibly to protect
ourselves)
The ability to predict provides us with
a sense of safety
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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The Person vs. the Situation
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One of the enduring questions in
psychology:
Is our behavior shaped by the situation we
are in (external), or by the type of person we
are (internal)?
Both the person and the situation contribute
to our behavior. On the one hand, we know
that we do not act the same way in all
situations, but on the other hand we also
know that in similar situations, under the
same conditions, different people act
differently.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Definition of Personality
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There is no single definition to the term
Burger suggests that personality can be
defined as consistent behavioral patterns
and intrapersonal processes originating
within the individual.
Note elements of this definition: personality
is consistent, along time and across
situations. Personality is our intrapersonal
processes (not interpersonal) —our
emotional, motivational, and cognitive
processes that affect how we feel and how
we act.
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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In Clinical Psychology
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Clinical psychologists are active in both
researching personality traits and
assessing traits for clinical purposes
In clinical setting, testing is aimed at
understanding a client's behavior,
predicting behavior, and assessing
possible personality changes as a
function of therapy
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Central Concepts in Self-Report and
Projectives
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Personality traits: Consistent behaviors,
attitudes and emotions across time
Objective personality tests: Tests that are
scored the same way each time and not as
open to interpretation
Projective personality test: Test taker
responds to ambiguous stimuli and assessor
determines some interpretation of the data
Clinical utility: Do the tests add important
and useful information
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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The Person-Situation Debate
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Walter Mischel: 1968 book
Personality and Assessment launched
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debate
Limits to self-knowledge
Situational influences
Are behaviors consistent over time?
– Research evidence points to influence of
both person and situation
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Self-presentation Biases
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Emphasizing the positive: People
are often motivated to present
themselves in a favorable light (e.g.,
custody cases, job applications)
Malingering: Trying to look worse
than one is (e.g., insanity defense)
Random responding
Validity scales: Portions of personality
tests that are designed to catch these
biases
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Self-presentation Biases
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Projective tests may get around the
self-presentation bias issue because the
stimuli are ambiguous
– Research evidence is mixed on whether
this is the case
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Culturally Appropriate Measures
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Tests can be biased in several ways
– May not be relevant to all cultural groups
– How tests are related may not be equal
across groups
– Cut-off scores may be different for
different groups
– Different factors may exist for different
groups
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Culturally Appropriate Measures
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Clinicians should only use measures
that are validated with the ethnic group
it is being used with (or results
interpreted with caution
Cross-cultural adaptations of tests are
often needed
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Culturally Appropriate Measures
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Assessing cultural and linguistic
factors:
– Immigration History
– Contact with Other Cultural Groups
– Acculturative Status
– Acculturative Stress
– Socioeconomic Status
– Language
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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory
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MMPI-2 (for adults) and MMPI-A for
adolescents: Most commonly taught and used
personality inventory in clinical psych
1st version was published in 1943 – 550 items;
Used empirical criterion keying: items were
chosen that discriminated groups
2nd version has 567 and adolescent version 478
items; used Content approach to test
construction: developing items that designed to
tap a construct (not by how groups responded)
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Some MMPI-2 Validity Scales
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Cannot Say (?): Total number of unanswered
items
Lie Scale (L): A measure of self-presentation
that is unrealistically positive
Infrequency Scale (F): A measure of selfpresentation that is very unfavorable –
malingering or severe psychopathology
Defensiveness Scale (K): Unwillingness to
disclose personal information and problems.
High K scale scores increase some other scores
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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MMPI-2 Clinical Scales
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Scale 1 (Hs: Hypochondriasis):
Preoccupation with health issues
Scale 2 (D: Depression): Common symptoms
of depression
Scale 3 (Hy: Hysteria): Physical symptoms
when stressed and minimization of
interpersonal problems
Scale 4 (Pd: Psychopathic Deviate):
Rebellious attitudes, conflict with authorities
and family, and antisocial activities
Scale 5 (Mf: Masculinity-Femininity):
Measures gender-stereotyped interests and
activities
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MMPI-2 Clinical Scales
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Scale 6 (Pa: Paranoia): Feelings of being
mistreated, and delusions of persecution
Scale 7 (Pt: Psychasthenia): Tendency to
worry, rumination, fearing loss of control
Scale 8 (Sc: Schizophrenia): Tendency to
experience social alienation, experience
delusions, hallucinations
Scale 9 (Ma: Hypomania): Tendency toward
hyperarousal, excessive energy, agitation
Scale 0 (Si: Social Introversion):
Introversion, not enjoying social contexts
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
MMPI-2 Norms, Reliability and
Validity
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Norms: Developed with a large random
sample selected from a diverse group in terms
of ethnicity, SES, geography
– Not a large sample of low educated or low-income
individuals in norm group
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Reliability: Good to mediocre depending on
the scale; test-retest validity is very good (>.8)
Validity: Enormous amount of data –
interpretation is complicated with many clinical
and content scales
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Millon Measures: MCMI-III and the
MACI
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Focused on DSM diagnostic categories,
but otherwise similar in design to the
MMPI
– MCMI-III 175 item (true false)
– MACI (for adolescents) also 175 T/F items
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Norms under-represent people of color, in other
ways are a good representation of the
population
Good reliability including test-retest reliability
and internal consistency
Some possible over-pathologizing may exist
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Measures of Normal Personality
Functioning
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Note: used with the general population so no
validity scales
California Psychological Inventory (CPI):
434 items similar in structure to the MMPI
(shares many similar items); good normative,
reliability and validity data
NEO-PI-Revised: Factor analytically derived
inventory defines 5 factors: openness,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness,
neuroticism (acronym: ocean). Very good
normative, reliability and validity data
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Self-report Checklists of
Behaviors and Symptoms
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Achenbach (Child Behavior Checklist
CBCL): Parents report a series of problems in
their children (versions for teachers, caregivers)
Symptom Checklist 90-revised (SCL-90R): Most widely used symptom measure in
clinical settings. 90 items – 9 subscales; good
reliability, but norms are not adequate and high
intercorrelation among items
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II): 21
item multiple choice on severity of depressive
symptoms; scores may decrease w/ repeated
administration
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.
Projective Measures
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Stimuli are ambiguous with respect to content
and meaning
Based on psychoanalytic idea that people
project their negative attributes about
themselves onto ambiguous external stimuli
However, recent evidence indicates that the
responses are about the person’s experiences
and personality, not projection per se
Many of these tests lack rigor of testing
guidelines
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Rorschach Inkblot Test
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Developed by Hermann Rorschach – 10 cards;
symmetrical inkblots; people report on what
they see in the inkblots
John Exner’s Comprehensive Scoring
System: Main way to score the inkblots based
on a very large normative sample of responses;
although people of color not adequately
sampled
Recent norms have better representation –
although test is not recommended currently for
youth (because of over-pathologizing)
Good reliability; mixed data on validity
Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All
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Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
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Developed by Murray, 1943; 31 cards with
pictures on them; Participant tells a story about
what they see in the picture
No consistently used scoring mechanism,
although the stories are supposed to yield data
on needs, emotions, interpersonal relations,
and conflicts within the individual
No clear norms or reliability data, making the
TAT an test that is not recommended since its
validity cannot be determined
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From the TAT
This picture shows a young woman and behind
her an elderly woman
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TAT
This picture shows a young woman standing behind a
young man, holding him and seems to be trying to
prevent him from moving away from her
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TAT
This picture shows a man lying on a bed in the
background and a woman in the foreground standing,
leaning on the wall, and covering her face with one of her
hands
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TAT
This picture shows a boy about age 8 or 9
sitting in front of a violin, looking down
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rights reserved.