Personality assessment Walter Mischel (1968) :
Walter Mischel (1968) - Personality and Assessment, criticized trait
view of personality and psychoanalytic approach. Said personality often
changes according to situations, unlike the previous approaches which
show consistency. Said trait measures poorly predict actual behavior.
Made view of situationism- personality varies considerably from one
context to another.
Most psychologists today are interactionists, believing in both trait
and situation ideas to describe personality. Link between traits and
situations specified: more limited and narrower a trait is, more likely
it will predict a behavior; not everyone consistent on the same trait;
traits give a strong influence on an individual's behavior when
situational influences are less likely to affect personality.
Self-esteem- evaluative & affective dimension of self-concept. AKA self-
image, self-worth. Research shows low self-esteem sufferers focus on
weaknesses, rather than strengths. Carolin Showers (1992) - showed
compartmentalization of pos and neg self-knowledge (i.e. "I'm a brilliant
student with wonderful grades" - pos. "I'm in hard classes with hard
tests and lots of homework" - neg.) also mixed compartmentalization (i.e.
"I'm a brilliant student that takes hard tests and has lots of homework"
and "I'm in hard classes that give me wonderful grades.") adjectives are
frequent in this compartmentalization.
Susan Harter (1988) - found kids with high self-worth are successful in
the domains they perceive as important and discount the importance of
other domains that they don't succeed well in.
Big Five Factors - emotional stability, extraversion, openness to
experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Paul Costa and Robert
McCrae (1992) made a test to check these - Neuroticism Extraversion
Openness Personality Inventory, Revised (or NEO-PI-R)
Longitudinal studies used often in assessing personality development and
if it ever stabilizes (Freud 5 years… William James 30 and stops). Costa
and McCrae studied 1000 college-educated men and women 20 to 96. started
mid-50's and 60's.. still going on today. Berkeley Longitudinal Studies -
500 kids and parents studied late 20's early 30's. John Clausen (1993)
started life hist interviews w/ 60 m's and f's from Berkeley long.
Studies. ‘planful competence' showed self-confidence, dependability and
intellectual investment. It influenced scheduling of major social roles
that were later occupied. Higher planful competence showed realistic
choices in spouses, occupation and education. Lower planful competence
showed unrealistic and less-satisfying jobs and schools. Showed that
stability and change fit to make a personality.
Palmists- (palm readers) analyze hands and use the Barnum effect -
making predictions so broad that anyone can fit the description.
Psychologists use testing to pinpoint exact ideas in personality, not
broad ones. Most tests show stable characteristics, not situational ones.
Projective test- presents individuals w/ an ambiguous stimulus and then
asks them to describe it or tell a story about it. Based on assumption
that ambiguity of stimulus allows individuals to project into it their
feelings, desires needs and attitudes. Elicits unconscious feelings and
conflicts, assessing underneath basic personality. Beyond overtly
presenting oneself
Rorschach inkblot test- Hermann Rorschach, 1921, uses inkblots to
determine a person's personality. Very popular. Gives freedom of response
to the person.
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)- Henry Murray, Christina Morgan,
1930's, ambiguous projective test to elicit stories to reveal personality
traits. Series of pictures.
Other tests use incomplete sentences to finish: "I often feel…" or
provide words like fear or happy and ask person to respond w/ first
thought.
Graphology- handwriting analysis to determine individual's personality
Self-report tests- assess personality traits by asking what they are;
don't reveal unconscious personality characteristics
Face validity- assumption that the content of test items is a good
indicator of individual's personality
Social desirability- we know this, right
Empirically keyed test- relies on items to predict criterion. Make no
assumptions on the nature of the items
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)- most widely used &
researched self-report personality test. Revised in 1989, it has
criticized for ability to differentiate answers from normal to abnormal.
encompasses questions that apply to everyone, so lying can be shown in
the testing