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Personality measurement and theory
Analysis of personalities
Strengths and weaknesses of personality tests
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Comparing and Contrasting the MMPI and the Rorschach Inkblot Technique
Tirrany Grandville
Argosy University
Dr. Robison
Psy 415
Comparing and Contrasting the MMPI and the Rorschach Inkblot Technique
Personality is a multifaceted concept that measures a person’s success and difficulties as well as their ability and achievements. Personality is difficult to define because there are several definitions of personality. One of those definitions are "a set of behaviors and attitudes that are consistent over time" as it is stated in Module 4 (Argosy, 2014). While there are many issues with measuring personality, there are ways that personality assessment can be a great help. One of those ways is in marriage and family therapy. If
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Their perception can be calculated and later classified in attempts to help the patient. Unlike other types of testing, personality testing does not measure personality in quantity. While people often say that one person has more personality than another person, this statement does not translate in the world of psychology. Personality tests, such as the MMPI-2 and the Rorschach Inkblot Test, seek to define how individuals relate to the world, others, and themselves (Argosy, 2014). One measures the basics while the other hones in on the intricacies of the mind and the pictures that they paint. There is no one right or wrong way to evaluate personality but is can be observed and measured, analyzed and broken down for research. Personality tests are often quite helpful because they expose, not just the things that we want to hide, but things that we may not have even known about …show more content…
The Exner scoring system changed that. This scoring system breaks down each of the test taker’s comments but there was still much scrutiny over the test as well as the accuracy of the results. While the Exner presented itself as rigorous scoring system, latitude remained in the actual interpretation, and the clinician's write-up of the test record is still partly subjective (Gracepoint, 2016). Research found during convergent-validity studies that the MMPI accounted for 23% to 30% of variance, while the Rorschach accounted for 8% to 13% of the variance (Garb, 402). This, simply put, means that the Rorschach is not as valid as the
Self-report has always been one the easiest ways to gain insight of a person’s personality. These test can range from quizzes filled out online that tell you which pop star is your personality twin to standardized tests requiring a certified test user. Some of the most popular and highly researched tests have been the MMPI and its successors. The MMPI, created by Stark R. Hathaway and John Charneley McKinley, was the first step towards the MMPI-2-RF. The MMPI was firstly created to test individuals who were 14 years old and older. Throughout the years, the MMPI has through a lot of changes, evolving into three tests used today: MMPI-2, MMPI-A, and MMPI-2-RF (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2013).
I do believe that a personality test is a valid tool in the simple fact that they narrow down multiple aspects of a person in a short test. It also works because you don't need to be evaluated by a person who wants your money first just to give you the same
These types of personality assessments are useful because they can help us see how each of us are different and how we each fit into our roles and responsibilities. Life would not be nearly as functional if we were all the same, and personality assessments can be useful by showing us how we all can work together and see our strengths and weaknesses in a way that can help us improve them.
The history of personality testing dates back to ancient times. Humans have tried to explain behavior by grouping personality into specific types (Ashton & Lee, 2013). Personality evaluations have been developed to describe aspects that are stable all through a persons life span (Ashton & Lee, 2013). They show an individual's natural way of behaving, thinking and feeling.
The results Tyler received from the Rorschach Inkblot Test explain him fairly well, with just a few surprises here and there. The first personality trait Tyler expressed in his test was imagination. He has the ability to see animals or other objects moving proving he has a brain for imagination. A fine example of this is in picture #2 when his response was a lizard walking through a puddle. His responses also indicate that he shows emotion toward others as well as about others or things. The test shows his emotion because he used color to explain what he saw. The color affected his thoughts and made the images seem clearer of what they exactly were. Tyler gave a few negative responses, or in other words violent responses. An example of this
The Rorschach test was introduced by the Swiss Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Hermann Rorschach, on whom the test is named after. Hermann was the first to use inkblot stimuli and responses as a diagnostic instrument, which was published in 1921 in his book “Psychodiagnostik.” Rorschach’s original study consi...
In the vast and detailed world of psychology, there are a variety of different tests you can participate in. For example, you can participate in aptitude, verbal or numerical reasoning, and psychometric tests. These tests assess a variety of different situations such as: behaviors, abilities and intelligence. Personality tests, a common and favored test, measure things such as: behavioral style, opinions, motivators, personal values and career interests. Most often, people complain or disagree with the score of some areas on their personality test; however, there are no right or wrong answers.
Personality is a branch of scientific discipline that studies temperament and its variation among people. It is a dynamic and a set of characteristics possessed by their atmosphere, cognitions, emotions, motivations and behaviours in various things. Personality conjointly refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings, social adjustments and behaviour consistently exhibited over time that powerfully influences one’s exceptions, self-perceptions, values and attitudes. It also predicts human reactions to different folks, problems and stress.
I believe our personalities make up who we are and how others perceive us at times. Personalities are our own unique qualities, that we possess as individuals. In writing this short paper, I have found that psychologists use assessments to define an individual’s personality to determine their qualities and what makes them different from other individuals. Through the Big Five Personality test, I found it difficult to define and understand an individual personality
Different people describe the word ‘personality’ differently. Martin et al. (2010,p.610) describes personality as a “particular pattern of behavior and thinking that prevails across time and situations, and differentiates one person from another”. According to Mullins and Christy (2013,p.136), they explain that Personality may be perceived as “consisting of stable characteristics that explains why an individual behaves a certain way. Independence, conscientiousness, agreeableness and self-control are all examples of personality characteristics”. Mullins and Christy (2013, p.136) further explain that we can only identify and understand a person’s personality from listening, watching and observing them. For instance, an independent person may show independence characteristic by demonstrating a strong sense of self-sufficiency. It would be expected that this individual would not be dependable on other people around him and if this is established, it can support the characteristic being a consistent part of the person’s behavior. Individuals are therefore generally consistent in the way they respond to situations. At...
Personality can and has been defined in a myriad of ways. In preparation for delving into the topic of personality assessment address the following questions:
For psychologists, one of the more popular theories espoused is the trait approach to personality, or “the idea that people have consistent personality characteristics that can be measured and studied” (Kalat, 2002, 512). However there are several problems that arise. First, there are significant cross-cultural differences, so one set of personality traits for one culture may differ considerably for another. The next problem would concern the creation of a test that could accurately measure these traits. While psychologists have for the most part addressed these issues, I will focus on the latter of the two. There has been a number of multiple personality tests put to use such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), the Rorschach Inkblots and others. In our class we were instructed to take the 16 PF personality test in which we would judge for ourselves how accurate the test was based on our own personal experiences. In judging the usefulness of this test we took into consideration its reliability and validity. For a test to be reliable it must be able to accurately reflect consistent results for various people that can be agreed upon by researchers and therapists alike. Reliability in turn relates to validity. To be valid a test must be dependable producing data that can be used to detect a mental illness or otherwise certain personality dimensions within psychologically healthy individuals. Furthermore personality tests must be standardized, having data capable of being “interpreted in a prescribed fashion” (Kalat, 2002, 528). These standards are based on a comparison of a large number of people who have taken the test, one group with a particular disorder and another group who consist of the normal range. These allow researchers to identify people who score within a certain range to be more typical of a particular disorder. While the 16 PF personality test meets these criteria, whether or not the test is accurate remains to be explored. Within the next couple of pages I will describe the results of the test and discuss whether or not the data is an accurate reflection of my own personality.
Personality is as unique to each individual as their fingerprint or DNA. A basic definition of personality is a pattern of traits combined with characteristics, however how it is seen in an individual is complex. The Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator test is based off Jung's theory of psychological types. The personality indicator test was developed in the late 1900’s. According to the Myers-Briggs Foundation, the purpose of the test is, “personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people's lives”().
This includes things like mood, emotion, idiosyncrasies. When it comes down to discussion personality traits are debated on a lot many have created tests and theories based on them. Like the one used in this experiment. Why is this debated? It’s because humans want to be able to understand the answers to questions like: ‘Why do I prefer staying home and playing video games then going to large parties with my friends?’ They want to know more about themselves. Kate Reilly Thorson in her article ‘Why so we take personality tests?’ says that the main 3 reasons people take personality tests is because they help us achieve an identity, we like getting feedback that confirms our views of ourselves, and that it helps us justify our behavior.(Why so we take personality tests?,Thorson) Acclaimed American personality psychologist, Lewis Goldberg, created a theory on the “Big five traits of personality”. These include Openness to experience which compares adventure and caution, conscientiousness which measures a person’s organization and planning skills, extraversion comparing introversion to extraversion, neuroticism compares self-consciousness and confidence, agreeableness which compares combativeness and coldness as opposed to friendliness and warmth.(Big five personality,Goodtherapy.org) Much like the theory behind the personality used in this
Personality tests tell a person a lot about why a person is who they have become. I believe that these test if taken truthfully can identify deficiencies that individuals can work on to benefit not only themselves but others in the organizations that they work in. Some models state that it is in human nature and chemicals that decided how a person acts but I believe it is based on life experiences and a personality can change as long as a person knows the deficiencies and works to change them.