Personality Inventories

Chapter 11Assessment in Counseling

Personality Inventories

Instruments designed to assess personal, emotional, and social traits and behaviorsSelf-report personality inventories

Respondents check or rate items they believe describe them best

We will discuss 11 personality inventories commonly used by counselors

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Most widely used personality inventory in the world, >2 million administered each yearSelf-scored or computer-scored Briggs found similarities between her conclusions and Carl Jung’s MBTI is based on Jung’s concepts of individual differences in perception & judgment

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Extraversion vs. Introversion (E-I)Focus energy on outer vs. inner world of people & things

Sensing vs. Intuition (S-I)Rely on senses to perceive vs. relying on indirect perception

Thinking vs. Feeling (T-F)Judge information with objective vs. subjective methods

Judging vs. Perceiving (J-P)Orientation for dealing with external world Anxious to use thinking or feeling mode to make decisions vs. more comfortable collecting information through a sensing or intuitive process

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)

Personality type summarized in 4 letters indicating direction of preferences on each of 4 dimensionsCombinations yield 16 personality typesNorms change substantially between adolescence and adulthoodInternal consistencies of Form M yield correlation coefficients >.90Test-retest reliability only 50-50 chance of being identicalOne attraction of test is no good or bad combinationsCounseling uses include exploring couples relationships, work relationships, and vocational counselingNo specific guidelines for interpretation

California Psychological Inventory (CPI)

Developed for use with relatively well-adjusted individualsAssesses individual’s strengths & positive personality attributesMMPI was the basis for CPI’s developmentTakes 45-60 minutes to completePencil & paper or computer-basedBrief form used for organizational training & evaluationCPI 260 specifically developed for managerial assessment & leadership training

California Psychological Inventory (CPI)

Items deal with typical behavior patterns & attitudes with less objectionable content than the MMPIScales designed to assess positive personality characteristicsScales aid in understanding of interpersonal behavior of normal individualsTermed “the sane person’s MMPI”

CPI: 20 Folk Scales Organized in 4 Clusters

Class I assesses interpersonal adequacy of poise, self-assurance, and ascendancy (7 scales)

Dominance, Capacity for status, Sociability, Social Presence, Self-Acceptance, Independence, and Empathy

Class II measures socialization, responsibility, and character (7 scales)

Responsibility, Socialization, Self-control, Good impression, Communality, Well-Being, and Tolerance

CPI: 20 Folk Scales Organized in 4 Clusters

Class III measures intellectual and academic themes useful in educational counseling (3 scales)

Achievement via Conformance, Achievement via Independence, and Intellectual Efficiency

Class IV is a mixed group unrelated to other clusters (3 scales)

Psychological-Mindedness, Flexibility, & Femininity-Masculinity

CPI: 3 Dimensions (Vectors) Facilitate Understanding and Interpretation

Vector 1 Measures Internality vs. ExternalityVector 2 Measures Norm Favoring vs. Norm QuestioningVector 3 Measures Self-Doubting Vulnerability vs. Self-Actualization

Vectors 1 & 2 measure personality typeVector 3 measures levels of personality adjustment

4 Quadrants or Lifestyles:Alphas are ambitious, productive, and socially competentBetas are responsible, reserved, and conformingGammas are restless, rebellious, and pleasure seekingDeltas are withdrawn, reflective, and detached

CPI Usefulness

Shown to predict success in educational & vocational areasShown to predict school & college performance beyond IQ & Scholastic Assessment aloneNot effective for clinical use, but it was not designed for that useValidity scales should be inspected when interpreting CPI resultsPay attention to highest & lowest T scores

Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire

Raymond Cattell listed adjectives to apply to human beings, 4,500 trait names – reduced list to 171 termsUsed 16 primary factors to develop 16 scales

High & low scores represent opposite characteristics

Additional scores on 5 global factorsExtraversion, Anxiety, Tough-Mindedness, Independence, & Self-Control

3 Validity scales detect random responding, detect faking-good responses, & predict attempts to give a bad impressionNorms available for adults, college students, & high school juniors & seniorsAdaptations for marriage, career, job proficiency, and managerial assessment counseling

NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R)

Developed to assess the Big Five personality factors (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, & ConscientiousnessFive 48 item scales on a 5-pt agree-disagree continuum, plus 30 subscalesEasy to administer & hand score, yet computer administration, scoring, & interpretation is availableDeveloped with adults – need different norms for teens and college studentsNEO-4 developed for career counselingResearch favors NEO PI-R for assessment of normal adult personality

Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised (EPQ-R)

Brief, broad, & well-researched measure of personality characteristics3 Personality Scales, 1 Addiction Scale, & 1 Validity ScaleDesigned for use with nonpathological population, yet extreme scores usually indicate psychopathologySatisfactory test-retest reliabilitySeparate age & sex norms neededEPQ Junior for younger age groups

Personality Research Form (PRF)

20 Scales assessing personality traits such as:Affiliation (friendly & accepting of others)Endurance (patient & persevering)Nurturance (sympathetic & comforting)

2 Validity IndicesSocial Desirability ScaleInfrequency Scale

Manual contains norms for 6th grade though college

Jackson Personality InventoryRevised (JPI-R)

Developed to assess normal personality characteristics300 True-False Items yield 15 scalesScales organized in 5 clusters measuring traits like anxiety, tolerance, energy level, and responsibilityEasily & quickly scored in 10 minutesReasonable concurrent validityNot well known & not often used in counseling & other applied settings

Millon Index of Personality Styles Revised (MIPS-R)

Assess personality styles for adults within normal rangeDeveloped for counseling situations involving relationships, career placement, & problems in daily living180 true-false items yielding 24 scales & 4 validity indices3 Dimensions of normal personality:

Motivating Styles (emotional dealing with environment)Thinking Styles (mode of cognitive processing)Behaving Styles (interrelating with others)

Useful for counseling & helping professions, including family & career settings

Hogan Development Survey (HDS)

One of several instruments from Hogan Assessment SystemsDesigned for normal clients168 itemsMeasure 11 dysfunctional dispositions that disrupt relations with others & hamper occupational, career, or marital successCan use for selection for high-stress jobs, clients with interpersonal or situational adjustment problems, or for career development programs

Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventories (SEI)

Defined self-esteem as “the evaluation a person makes and customarily maintains with regard to him- or herself.”Reasoned that people with confidence in their abilities will be more persistent and successfulSchool Form (Form A) designed for students 8-15yo

6 scores – total self-esteem, subscores about peers, parents, school, & personal interest, & a lie scale to check for defensiveness

School Short Form (B) takes 10-15 minutesAdult Form (C) 25 items adapted from School FormBehavioral Academic Self-Esteem (BASE) developed for teachers to evaluate student’s performance

Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (2nd Edition)

90-item instrument yields 14 scales for counseling purposesScales assess self-concept in terms of identity, feelings, & behaviorItems on a 5-point scale, 9-measures of self-conceptTwo summary scales & 4 validity scales 2nd edition was standardized on a nationwide sampleChild Form for ages 7 – 14 Young-Person Form for ages 13+

Chapter 11 Summary1. To interpret results of a personality inventory completely, the

counselor must understand both the personality characteristics being assessed & the approach used to develop the various inventory scales

2. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator has gained great popularity and is used in many settings in addition to its use by counselors and clinicians

3. California Psychological Inventory, Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire, & Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised are carefully developed inventories, with much research backing, that assess everyday personality traits

4. The NEO Personality Inventory-Revised provides measures of the Big Five Personality factors that account for most of the variance among personality measures

5. The Personality Research Form & the Jackson Personality Inventory-Revised are two personality inventories that have capitalized on the capabilities of modern computers in their construction. Millon Index of Personality Styles-Revised and Hogan Development Survey are other potentially useful personality inventories

6. Two inventories useful in assessing self-concept are the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and the Tenness Self-Concept Scales (2nd edition)

Projective Techniques and other Personality

MeasuresChapter 12

Projective Techniques

Unstructured tasks are presented to the examinee who is expected to reflect their needs, experiences, inner states, and thought processes.

This process is know as projective hypothesis – responses to ambiguous stimuli reflect a person’s basic personality

Rorschach Ink Blot TestDeveloped by Herman Rorschach in 1921 by putting ink on a piece of paper and folding it in half.A series of 10 ink blots are given; some are gray and others are color. Scored using the Exner’s Comprehensive System which looks at:

Location (which part or whole of blot)Determinant (which feature or color)ContentPopularity(common or original)

First image in the inkblot test. Popular responses are bat, badge, and

coat of arms.

Thematic Apperception TestKnown as the picture interpretation techniqueConsists of 30 black and white picture cards. Most cards contain one or more human figures and one completely blank card. Only 20 of the 30 cards are presented in an administration of 10 cards over two tests Cards are chosen based on the age and sex of the examineeExaminee makes up a story from each picture including what is happening in the picture, what led up to that situation, how the people in the story feel, and how the story endsExaminee is expected to identify with the hero in their story and project their needs, attitudes, and feelings on the hero

House-Tree-Person

A drawing technique that is widely used because it yields a lot of clinical information and it is easy to useIndividual draws a house, a tree, and a person on three separate sheets of paper.They must describe, define, and interpret each of the drawingsCharacteristics of the drawings are scored and interpretive concepts are applied to the characteristics and the responses

Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank

Examinee is asked to complete 40 sentence fragments related to possible conflicts or emotions and is expected to express their attitudes, traits, and emotions in their responsesMost of the fragments are written in first person, such as “what bothers me most…”There are three forms: one for high school, one for college, and one for adultsResponses are compared with sample answers and given a score of 6 to 0, with 6 being highly unhealthy and 0 being healthy

Early Recollections

Adler’s use of early recollections is described as the first truly projective testAsk client to think back to one of their very first memoriesAnswers should be specific and can be analyzed for cognitive and behavioral patternsThe themes, outlooks, and attitudes revealed by the examinee are examined and interpreted rather than the behavior

Person-Environment InteractionBased on Lewin’s formula B=f(P*E) which says behavior (B) is a function of the interaction of the person (P) and the environment (E)Theory emphasizes the important role that environment plays in shaping behaviorMany tests have been formed from this theoryOne test is the College Student Experiences Questionnaire which is used to assess the quality of students’ college experience

Health and Lifestyle Inventories

These inventories assess the biopsychosocial issues that encourage or inhibit the recovery of individuals from injury or illness.Examples:

Battery for Health Improvement 2Coping with Health Injuries and ProblemsWellness Evaluation of LifestyleLifestyle Assessment Questionnaire

Psychosocial Development

Look at the developmental changes that occur as an individual moves through various life stagesInstruments designed to assess the effect of these influences have been constructed but are not ready for use in individual counselingAlthough not ready to be used, they do offer useful concepts for assessing individuals with particular concerns that occur at various points in the life cycle

Assessment of Interpersonal Relationships

Chapter 13

Assessment of couples differ from individual

assessment in a number of ways:

1. Focuses on relationships & interactions between two or more persons

2. Can provide the opportunity to directly observe interpersonal communication

3. May involve attempting to maintain a supportive alliance while assessing antagonistic partners

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Used to help couples understand their differences in the four dimensions measured by the MBTI and to help them use their differences constructively rather than destructivelyData suggests that people are only slightly more likely to marry individuals of similar than of opposite types

Taylor-Johnson Temperament Analysis

180 items equally divided among 9 scales measuring the following traits: Nervous-Composed, Depressive-Lighthearted, Responsive-Inhibited, Dominant-Submissive, and Self-Discipline-ImpulsiveBased on a set of norms but not necessarily from a representative sampleThe “crisscross” procedure is done too where the person records their own traits and their impressions of another person which is useful in the family counseling

Marital Satisfaction Inventory, Revised

A self-report inventory used to assess marital interaction and the extent of marital distressIntended to be used in couples counseling with both partners taking the scale and the results displayed on a single profile that indicates areas of agreement and disagreement

Derogatis Sexual Functioning Inventory (DSFI)

Yields 12 scores & consists of 10 scalesScales include Information, Experience, Psychological Symptoms, Gender Role Definition, and Sexual SatisfactionTakes 45-60 minutes to completeDesigned to assess individual rather than couple sexual functioningPrimary measures current functioning, yet subscales include lifetime experiencesRange from low to adequate internal consistenciesProvides counselors with considerable information regarding sexual functioningComputer version also available with extensive interpretive information

Couple’s Precounseling Inventory

For use in planning and evaluating relationship therapy based on a social learning modelCouples describe current interaction patterns rather than personality characteristicsBased on social learning theory and designed to examine relationship characteristics and motivations that can be useful in suggesting avenues of treatment if the relationship is to survive

Family Environment Scale

Social climate scaleOne form assesses client’s perception of the family as it is (Real Form)Second form assesses how the client would prefer the family to be (Ideal Form)Third form assesses how the client would expect the family to react to new situations (Expectation Form)Three 90-item inventoriesChildren’s Pictorial VersionCriticized for possessing a middle-class bias and for not considering today’s varying family patterns

Family Assessment Measure-III

Diagnostic tool for therapy that assesses family structure, strengths, and

weaknesses:5-item general scale that looks at general family functioning42-item dyadic scale that looks at how family members perceives his or her relationship with another family member42-item self-rating scales that looks at how each member rates their own functioning within the family

Sternberg’s Love Scales

Sternberg’s Triangular Love Scale is a 45-item scale measuring 3 components of romantic relationships

Intimacy, Passion, & Commitment

Difficult to develop scales of measurementTechnique helps clients identify stories of what they perceive love to beHelpful exploring couple’s relationshipsSimilar profiles of storied tend to be more satisfied with their relationships

NEO Couples Compatibility Report

Software program has been developed to identify aspects of each partner’s personality that may be affecting a couple’s compatibilityReport generated that indicates how well the partners’ personalities fit together

Summary – Chapter 13

1. Personality inventories such as the MMPI, CPI, and especially the MBTI, commonly used in other types of counseling, are most likely to be used by counselors with clients concerned with marriage or relationship issues

2. There are instruments specifically developed to assess marital satisfaction, communication issues, and family environments that counselors can use to assist clients to understand and deal with relationship problems

3. Interpersonal assessment instruments usually evaluate an individual’s interaction with others in terms of 2 dimensions: control and affiliation

4. Through the cooperative construction of a multigenerational graphic family structure – the genogram – insight into family constellations and interpersonal relationships within the family can be revealed to both the counselor and the client