Personality assessments can help organizations and clinicians understand patterns in a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior. In high-stress occupations such as policing, assessment may be used as one part of applicant screening, but no single test can determine by itself whether someone will be a good officer.
A self-report inventory is an objective personality test in which people respond to questions about themselves. Items commonly use multiple-choice answers or a numbered scale. A Likert scale, named after Rensis Likert, may range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
All flashcards
What is a self-report inventory?
An objective personality assessment in which people answer items about their own thoughts, feelings, or behavior, often using multiple-choice responses or rating scales.
What is a Likert scale?
A numbered response scale that represents degrees of agreement or disagreement, such as a range from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
What is the MMPI used for?
The MMPI is a widely used personality inventory that creates a profile across multiple clinical scales. It is used in clinical assessment and also in settings such as occupational screening and counseling.
What does the MMPI Lie Scale assess?
The 15-item L Scale helps evaluators consider whether respondents may be minimizing problems or presenting themselves as unrealistically healthy—sometimes called “faking good.”
How do reliability and validity differ?
Reliability concerns the consistency of test results. Validity scales can help identify response patterns that may distort interpretation; validity and reliability are related but distinct ideas.
Quiz questions
What is a self-report inventory?Answer: An objective personality test in which people answer questions about themselves.
What does a Likert scale commonly ask respondents to indicate?Answer: Their degree of agreement or disagreement with a statement.
Why was the MMPI-2 sample considered an improvement over the original MMPI sample?Answer: It used a more representative national sample.
An applicant endorses several implausibly positive statements, such as “I have never told a lie.” Which MMPI feature may help evaluators consider this response pattern?Answer: The Lie Scale, which can indicate possible “faking good.”
Which statement best distinguishes reliability from validity scales in personality assessment?Answer: Reliability concerns consistency; validity scales can flag possible response distortion.
Based on Psychology 2e by Rose M. Spielman, William J. Jenkins, Marilyn D. Lovett (OpenStax), licensed CC BY 4.0. Adapted into a summary, flashcards and quizzes.