Clinical Psychology - Chapter 10
Objective Personality Tests
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-
2 (MMPI-2)
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-
2 (MMPI-2)
Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-
III)
NEO Personality Inventory - Revised (NEO-
PI-R)
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Include unambiguous test items, offer clients a limited range of
responses, and are objectively scored
Typically self-report questionnaires
Typically a series of brief statements or questions to which clients
respond in a true/false or multiple choice format
Most popular and most psychometrically sound objective personality
test
based on finding pathology. gives scores and shows the extent to
which the client matches these scores
MMPI and MMPI-2 also feature validity scales
o Can identify clients who "fake good" or "fake bad," or clients who
respond randomly
Strengths include psychometrics (established reliability and validity)
and comprehensiveness
Limitations include length, reading requirement, attention requirement,
and emphasis on pathology/abnormality
Like the MMPI-2 in some ways
Main difference: MCMI-III emphasizes personality disorders
Main distinction: measures "normal" personality traits (not pathologies)
oBased on Five Factor model of personality
Lacks validity scales, and of limited help with clinical diagnosis
California Psychological Inventory-III (CPI-
III)
Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Projective Personality Tests
Tell-Me-a-Story (TEMAS)
Sentence Completion Tests
Like NEO-PI-R, doesn't emphasize pathology
Emphasize positive attributes of personality - strengths, assets, internal
resources
Consistent with recent positive psychology movement
Not a comprehensive test of personality, but a brief, targeted measure
of one characteristic (depression symptoms)
Lacks validity scales, and much more limited scope than other tests
discussed to this point
Based on the assumption that clients will "project" their personalities
when presented with unstructured, ambiguous stimuli and an
unrestricted opportunity to respond
Lack of objectivity in scoring and interpretation
oConsidered by many to be empirically inferior to objective tests
oUsage has declined in recent decades
Advocates claim they are less "fake-able"
Recent TAT-style apperception test
Greater emphasis on cultural sensitivity (via portrayal of diverse
individuals in cards)
Greater emphasis on empirical scoring via normative data
The ambiguous stimuli are not inkblots or interpersonal scenes, but
beginnings of sentences
Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (RISB) is most widely used
Stimulated examples:
oI enjoy _____________
oIt makes me furious _____________
oMy greatest weakness ___________

Projective Drawings
Behavioral Assessment
Technique of Behavioral Assessment
Technology in Behavioral Assessment
Not often formally or empirically scored
Reliability and validity are questionable
Draw a person
House-Tree-Person
Draw-a-Family
Kinetic Family Drawing
Assumes that client behaviours are not signs of underlying issues or
problems; instead, those behaviours are the problems
The behaviour a client demonstrates is a sample of the problem itself,
not a sign of some deeper, underlying problem
Direct, systematic observation of a client's behaviour in the natural
environment
Also known as naturalistic observation
Requires operationally defining target behaviour and measuring its
frequent, duration, or intensity across specified time periods
oOften more accurate than asking client to report on their own
behaviours
When naturalistic observation is not possible, analogue observation is
used
oReplicate situation in clinic
Recording of behaviours is crucial
oDone by parent, teacher, friend or client
oEnables functionality of behaviour to be determined
oThis functionality is key concept in behavioural assessment
Laptop computers or handheld devises can be used to record
observed behaviours
Numerous software programs have been created for this purpose
Clients can use similar technological tools for self-monitoring