Personality Assessment

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Prevalence rates.

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base rates

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The use of computers to administer (and possibly interpret) responses to clinical interviews, IQ tests, self report inventories, and so on.

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computer-based assessment

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The interpretive profiles generated by computer scoring programs for various psychological tests.The use of such profiles has been the subject of intense debate.

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computer-based test interpretations (CBTIs)

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An approach to test construction in which scales are developed based on a specific theory, refined using factor analysis and other procedures, and validated by showing(through empirical study) that individuals who achieve certain scores behave in ways that could be predicted by their scores.

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construct validity approach

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The process by which one ensures that a test will adequately measure all aspects of the construct of interest. Methods of content validation include carefully defining all relevant aspects of the construct, consulting experts, having judges assess the relevance of each potential item, and evaluating the psychometric properties of each potential item.

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content validation

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An approach to test development that emphasizes the selection of items that discriminate between normal individuals and members of different diagnostic groups, regardless of whether the items appear theoretically relevant to the diagnoses of interest.

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empirical criterion keying

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A statistical methodoften used in test construction to determinewhether potential items are or are not highlyrelated to each other.

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factor analytic approach

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A comprehensive model of personality that comprises the dimensions of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness,Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness as well as six facets belonging to each dimension.

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Five-Factor Model (FFM)

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In the context of projective testing, the phenomenon by which certain test responses become associated with specific personality characteristics. These responses come to be viewed as signs of the trait in question and may be given undue weight when interpreting the test.

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illusory correlation

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The best known and most widely used of the sentence completion techniques, consisting of 40 sentence stems.

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Incomplete Sentences Blank (ISB)

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The extent to which a scale score provides information about a person’s behavior, personality features, or psychopathology features that is not provided by other measures.

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incremental validity

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A measure of psychopathology that was developed using the empirical criterion keying approach. The MMPI-2 consists of 567 true–false items and provides scores on ten clinical scales,seven validity scales, and several content and supplementary scales.

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MMPI-2

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Personality assessment tools in which the examinee responds to a standard set of questions or statements using a fixed set of options (e.g., true or false, dimensional ratings).

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objective personality measures

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Psychological testing techniques that use people’s responses to ambiguous test stimuli to make judgments about their adjustment–maladjustment. Proponents believe that examinees “project”themselves onto the stimuli, thus revealing unconscious aspects of themselves.

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projective techniques

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A self-report measure of the FFM that consists of 240 statements, each of which is rated on a 5-point scale. This test yields scores on all five domains of the FFM (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness)as well as the six facets corresponding to each domain.

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Revised NEO-Personality Inventory (NEOPI-R)

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A projective technique that interprets people’s responses to a series of ten inkblots.

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Rorschach

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A simple projective technique in which people are asked to complete, in writing, a number of sentence stems(e.g.,“I often believe…”).

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sentence completion method

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The extent to which a particular cutoff score accurately classifies people as either possessing or not possessing the disorder or trait in question.

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test bias

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Test scales that attempt to shed light on the respondent’s test-taking attitudes and motivations (e.g., to present themselves in an overly favorable light, to exaggerate their problems or symptoms, to engage in random responding).

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validity scales