PERSONALITY

ASSESSMENT: AN OVERVIEW

BROUGHT TO YOU BY: DANIEL CARLOS S. BUAN

WHAT IS PERSONALITY, EXACTLY?

• ACCORDING TO LAY PEOPLE

• IT REFERS TO AN INDIVIDUAL’S MAKEUP THAT CAN ELICIT POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE

REACTIONS FROM OTHERS.

• ACCORDING TO MERRIAM-WEBSTER

• “ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES (SUCH AS ENERGY, FRIENDLINESS, AND HUMOR) THAT MAKE

A PERSON INTERESTING OR PLEASANT TO BE WITH.”

PERSONALITY, ACCORDING TO SOME PROFESSIONALS

• MCCLELLAND’S DEFINITION

• “THE MOST ADEQUATE CONCEPTUALIZATION OF A PERSON’S BEHAVIOUR IN ALL ITS

DETAIL.”

• BYRNE’S DEFINITION

• “PSYCHOLOGY’S GARBAGE BIN IN ANY RESEARCH WHICH DOESN’T FIT OTHER

EXISTING CATEGORIES CAN BE LABELED ‘PERSONALITY.’”

PERSONALITY

• FOR OUR PURPOSES, WE WILL DEFINE PERSONALITY AS AN INDIVIDUAL’S

UNIQUE CONSTELLATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS THAT IS RELATIVELY

STABLE OVER TIME.

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

• THE ASSESSMENT SPECIALIST SEEKS TO DEFINE THESE TRAITS, TO MEASURE

THEM OBJECTIVELY, AND TO RELATE THEM TO SOCIALLY SIGNIFICANT ASPECTS

OF BEHAVIOUR. A DISTINCTIVE FEATURE OF THE SCIENTIFIC APPROACH

TO PERSONALITY MEASUREMENT IS THE EFFORT, WHEREVER POSSIBLE, TO

DESCRIBE HUMAN CHARACTERISTICS

TRAITS, TYPES, AND STATES

• WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND PERSONALITY STATES?

PERSONALITY TRAITS

• JUST AS NO CONSENSUS EXISTS REGARDING THE DEFINITION OF PERSONALITY,

THERE IS NONE REGARDING THE DEFINITION OF TRAIT.

• ACCORDING TO GORDON ALLPORT

• “BONA FIDE MENTAL STRUCTURES IN EACH PERSONALITY.”

• GUILFORD DEFINED IS AS

• “ANY DISTINGUISHABLE, RELATIVELY ENDURING WAY IN WHICH ONE INDIVIDUAL

VARIES FROM ANOTHER.”

PERSONALITY TRAITS

• GUILFORD DID NOT ASSERT THAT TRAITS REPRESENT ENDURING WAYS IN WHICH

INDIVIDUALS VARY FROM ONE ANOTHER. HE STATED THAT RELATIVELY

ENDURING. RELATIVELY MEANING EXACTLY HOW A PARTICULAR TRAIT

MANIFESTS ITSELF DEPENDENT ON THE SITUATION.

PERSONALITY TRAITS

• ALLPORT ADDRESSED THE ISSUE OF CROSS-SITUATIONAL CONSISTENCY OF

TRAITS BY:

• “PERFECT CONSISTENCY WILL NEVER BE FOUND AND MUST NOT BE EXPECTED...

PEOPLE MAY BE ASCENDANT AND SUBMISSIVE, PERHAPS SUBMISSIVE ONLY TOWARDS

THOSE INDIVIDUALS BEARING TRADITIONAL SYMBOLS OF AUTHORITY AND PRESTIGE;

AND TOWARDS EVERYONE ELSE AGGRESSIVE AND DOMINEERING... THE EVER-

CHANGING ENVIRONMENT RAISES NOW ONE TRAIT AND NOW ANOTHER TO A STATE

OF ACTIVE TENSION.”

PERSONALITY TRAITS

• PERSONALITY THEORISTS AND ASSESSORS HAVE ASSUMED THAT PERSONALITY

TRAITS ARE RELATIVELY ENDURING OVER THE COURSE OF ONE’S LIFE.

• ROBERTS AND DELVECCHIO (2000) EXPLORED THE ENDURANCE OF TRAITS BY

META-ANALYSIS OF 152 LONGITUDINAL STUDIES.

EXAMPLE

• WOULD THE PHYSICALLY

AGGRESSIVE HOCKEY PLAYER WILL

STILL BE AGGRESSIVE DURING HIS

RETIREMENT YEARS?

PERSONALITY TYPES

• A CONSTELLATION OF TRAITS THAT IS SIMILAR IN PATTERN TO ONE IDENTIFIED

CATEGORY OF PERSONALITY WITHIN A TAXONOMY OF PERSONALITIES.

• TRAITS – CHARACTERISTICS POSSESSED BY AN INDIVIDUAL

• TYPES – MORE CLEARLY DESCRIPTIONS OF PEOPLE E.G “DEPRESSED TYPE”

PERSONALITY TYPES

• STARTED WHEN HIPPOCRATES STARTED CLASSIFYING PEOPLE INTO FOUR TYPES

(MELANCHOLIC, PHLEGMATIC, CHOLERIC, AND SANGUINE)

• CARL JUNG DEVISED A TYPOLOGY WHICH BECAME THE BASIS OF MYERS-

BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR

PERSONALITY TYPES

• JOHN HOLLAND

• ARGUED THAT MOST PEOPLE CAN BE CATEGORIZED INTO SIX TYPES:

• ARTISTIC

• ENTERPRISING

• INVESTIGATIVE

• SOCIAL

• REALISTIC

• CONVENTIONAL

PERSONALITY TYPES

• JOHN HOLLAND

• USED THE SELF-DIRECTED SEARCH TEST – A SELF –ADMINISTERED, SELF-SCORED,

AND SELF-INTERPRETED AID USED TO TYPE PEOPLE.

PERSONALITY TYPES

• MEYER FRIEDMAN AND RAY ROSENMAN

• CARDIOLOGISTS WHO DEVISED ANOTHER PERSONALITY TYPOLOGY, WHICH IS

JENKINS ACTIVITY SURVEY:

• TYPE A PERSONALITY

• COMPETITIVENESS, HASTE, RESTLESSNESS, IMPATIENCE, STRONG NEEDS OF ACHIEVEMENT, BEING

TIME-PRESSURED, AND DOMINANCE

• TYPE B PERSONALITY

• OPPOSITE OF TYPE A,: MELLOW OR LAID-BACK.

MMPI

•  MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY (MMPI)

• IS THE MOST WIDELY USED AND RESEARCHED STANDARDIZED PSYCHOMETRIC

TEST OF ADULT PERSONALITY AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

• DATA FROM THESE TESTS ARE DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF THE PATTERNS OF SCORES

EMERGED ON THE SUBTESTS.

• THE PATTERN IS REFERRED TO AS “PROFILE”.

PERSONALITY STATES

• AN INFERRED PSYCHODYNAMIC DISPOSITION DESIGNED TO CONVEY THE

DYNAMIC QUALITY OF ID, EGO, AND SUPEREGO IN PERPETUAL CONFLICT.

• ASSESSMENT OF THESE DISPOSITIONS MAY BE MADE THROUGH THE USE OF

• FREE ASSOCIATION, WORD ASSOCIATION, SYMBOLIC ANALYSIS OF INTERVIEW

MATERIAL, DREAM ANALYSIS, AND ANALYSIS OF SLIPS OF THE TONGUE

PERSONALITY STATE

• STATE – REFERS TO THE TRANSITORY EXHIBITION OF SOME PERSONALITY TRAIT

- INDICATIVE OF A RELATIVELY TEMPORARY PREDISPOSITION.

PERSONALITY STATES

• CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER

• DISTINGUISHES TRAITS FROM STATES

• DEVELOPED THE STATE-TRAIT ANXIETY INVENTORY (STAI)