Personality assessments can help counselors understand individual behavior, determine appropriate courses of action, and predict future behavior. Personality includes traits, states, and types. Traits are consistent dimensions of individual differences while states are temporary tendencies. Types describe a person generally, such as introverted or extroverted. Structured personality inventories like the MMPI-2 and MCMI-III use standardized questions while projective tests like the Rorschach and TAT use ambiguous stimuli to project unconscious feelings. Personality assessments provide insight into clients but rely on the interpreter's judgment.

1. Personality Assessments
Carlos F. Martinez MHA, M.Ed.
carlosFmartinez.com

2. Personality Assessment
What is personality?

3. Personality is:
 Personality includes all the special qualities
people have that make them different from
each other. These include: charm, energy,
disposition, attitude, temperament, cleverness,
and all feelings and behaviors they exhibit.

4. Personality is:
 Personality is the reasonably stable
patterns of thoughts, emotions, and
behavior that distinguish one person
from another.

5. Personality
 What does personality
assessment achieve?

6. Personality Assessment
 Personality Assessment assists counselors in:
 Understanding the behavior of a particular
individual
 Helps counselor come to a conclusion about a
possible future course of action
 Helps counselor make predictions about a
person’s unique future behavior.

7. Traits, States, and Types
 There are three fundamental terms related to
personality
 Traits
 States
 Types

8. Traits
 Personality Traits can be viewed as the
distinguishing characteristics or qualities
possessed by the individual.
 Traits are “dimensions” of individual
differences in tendencies to show consistent
patterns of thoughts, feelings and actions.

9. States
 Personality States refer to a temporary
behavioral tendency.
 Eg. A student may be described as being in an
anxious state before finals.
 Whereas trait refers to an enduring personality
characteristic, state usually refers to a
temporary behavioral tendency.

10. Personality Types
 Personality Types are regarded as a general
description of a person.
 Eg. Extroverted/Introverted.

11. Personality Inventories
 Inventories are commonly used to identify the
structure and features of one’s personality, or
one’s characteristic way of thinking, feelings
and behaving.

12. Examples
 A career counselor administers an inventory
in order to help a person choose a career.
 A psychologist wants to look at symptoms to
possibly diagnose a disorder
 A school counselor implements inventors to
see if a student is suffering from academic
problems.

13. Examples (continued)
 An employment counselor uses inventories to
see if an individual meets the right
requirements and performance.
 A neurophysiologist administers an inventory
to determine the extent of a possible brain
injury.

14. Approaches to Personality Inventory
Development
 Personality inventories may differ in the
approach by which they are constructed. Four
common approaches to personality inventory
development are Rational, Theory-
Based, Criterion Group, and Factor Analysis.

15. Rational Approach
 Rational Approach is one of the oldest methods of
personality test construction.
 Here, we use the use of reason and deductive logic to
construct test items.
 Eg. Woodsworth Personal Data Sheet, from
1920, which contained a 116-item self report in
response to needs for psychiatric screening during
the U.S. entry into WWI.

16. Theory-Based Approach
 This approach is founded on an established theory of
personality, unlike Rational Approach. The
psychodynamic theory of personality is followed and
the unconscious/inner conflicts play a significant
role.
 Clients are believed to eventually project or express
unconcious fears, conflicts, or inner needs.

17. Criterion Group Approach
 C.G.A. is an empirical method of personality
test construction that involves selecting items
that can discriminate between relevant
criterion groups and control groups. Control
Groups are usually studied alongside
Criterion Groups to identify items that
distinguish the groups from one another.

18. Factor Analysis
 Another empirical approach that uses
statistical procedures to analyze
interrelationships among a large number of
variables.
 Eg. Personality Traits.

19. Categories of Personality Inventories
Structured Personality Inventories: standardized,
usually self-report instruments. Use selected
response items (true/false, multiple choice) or
rating scales.
 No right or wrong answer (i.e., true may indicate a trait
– “outgoing”).
 Broad scope inventories are very comprehensive (1 to 2
hrs); for example, the MMPI-2.
 Narrow scope inventories focus on targeted aspects of
personality (i.e. BDI-II).

20. Structured Inventory
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
(MMPI-2)
 567 true/false questions
 18 years and older
 Takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete
 Has 10 clinical scales that assess dimensions of
personality and psychopathology , pg 254
 Has 9 validity scales to detect response styles
(i.e. unanswered questions), pg 253.
 Available in English, Hmong, French and
Spanish.

21. MMPI-2 (Example questions)
Source: https://antipolygraph.org/cgi-bin/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1109032158/0#0
1.I like mechanics magazines 11.A person should try to understand his
2.I have a good appetite dreams and be guided by or take warning
3.I wake up fresh & rested most from them
mornings 12.I enjoy detective or mystery stories
4.I think I would like the work of a 13.I work under a great deal of tension
librarian 14.I have diarrhea once a month or more
5.I am easily awakened by noise 15.Once in a while I think of things too
6.I like to read newspaper articles on bad to talk about
crime 16.I am sure I get a raw deal from life
7.My hands and feet are usually warm 17.My father was a good man
enough 18.I am very seldom troubled by
8.My daily life is full of things that constipation
keep me interested 19.When I take a new, I like to be tipped
9.I am about as able to work as I ever off on whom should be gotten next to
was 20.My sex life is satisfactory
10.There seems to be a lump in my
throat much of the time

22. Structured Inventory
Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III):
 175-item self-report
 18 years and older
 Approx. 30 minutes to complete
 Designed to assist with clinical and
personality disorders (Axis II on
DSM-IV-TR).
 Consists of 28 scales (pg. 256)

23. Sample of the MCMI-III
 Name: Sample Interpretive Report
 ID Number: 98765
 Age: 22
 Gender: Female
 Setting: Outpatient Never Hospitalized
 Race: White
 Marital Status: Never Married
 Date Assessed: 04/03/2009

24. Sample of the MCMI-III
Possible Diagnoses:
“She appears to fit the following Axis II classifications
best: Antisocial Personality Disorder, with Histrionic
Personality Features, and Paranoid Personality
Features.
Axis I clinical syndromes are suggested by the client's
MCMI-III profile in the areas of Alcohol Abuse and
Psycho-active Substance Abuse NOS.”
Source:http://www.pearsonassessments.com/hai/images/pa/pdfs/m
cmi3interp.pdf

25. Structured Inventory
The California Psychological Inventory (CPI):
 434 true/false statements.
 Ages 12 to 70.
 Takes about 50 to 60 minutes.
 Designed for “normal” people.
 Focus on behavior patterns, feelings and
opinions, and attitudes relating to
social, ethical, and family matters.

26. Structured Inventory
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
 Another non-pathological inventory.
 Designed based on Carl Jung’s typological theory.
 Extraversion - Introversion
 Sensing – Intuitive
 Thinking – Feeling
 Judging – Perceiving
They’re often referred to by an abbreviation of 4 letters,
indicating the 4 type preferences
 ESTJ: Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking, Judging.
 INFP: Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, Perceiving.

27. Projective Instruments
 Require the client to answer questions using
pictures, phrases, or inkblots.
 Associated with the psychodynamic theory of
personality – the unconscious mind (i.e., hidden
emotions, internal conflicts).
 Two well-known instruments are the Rorschach
and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

28. Projective Instruments
The Rorschach Inkblot Test
 Measures client’s view of his/her world.
 Clients are asked to look at inkblots and
to describe what they see.
 The test has 10 bilaterally symmetrical
inkblots printed on separate cards.
 Requires examiners to be thoroughly
trained.

29. Rorschach Inkblot Card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test

30. Rorschach Inkblot Card
Common Responses:
 Bat (53%),
 Butterfly (39%)

31. Rorschach Inkblot Card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test

32. Rorschach Inkblot Card
Common Responses:
 Dog
 Elephant
 Bear

33. Rorschach Inkblot Card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test


34. Rorschach Inkblot Card
Common Responses:
 Animal skin
 Skin Rug

35. Rorschach Inkblot Card
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorschach_test


36. Rorschach Inkblot Card
Common Responses:
 Heads of women or
children
 Human head

37. Projective Tests
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
 Contains 31 black and white pictures
 The usual number of cards shown to the client is
between 10 and 14
 Administration of the TAT usually takes an hour
 Client is asked to make a story about each
picture
 Examiner asks client several questions in order
to better understand his/her story

38. Image similar to the ones used in TAT
http://www.macalester.edu/psychology/whathap/ubnrp/intelligence05/Dpersonality.html

39. Image similar to those used in TAT

40. Image similar to those used in TAT

41. Projective Instruments
Verbal Projective Techniques
 Require verbal and/or written responses;
therefore, clients must have good verbal
and written skills.
 Examples of questions:
 If you had three wishes, what would you
wish for?
 If you could be anything you wanted to
be, what would you be?

42. Projective Instruments
Sentence Completion
 Examples of sentence completion
 I wish _________.
 I love _________.
 A husband should ______.
 My nerves are made of _________.
 I hate _________.

43. Projective Instruments
Projective Drawings
 Perhaps the oldest category of projective
assessments used with children and
adolescents.
 A very common technique is the “Draw-a-
Person” test (pg. 267).
 Another technique is the House-Tree-Person
Technique (pg. 267).

44. Projective Instruments
Issues
 Subject to the examiner’s opinion and
judgment.
 They have failed to provide research
support for their reliability and validity.

45. Questions
1. The MMPI-2 is:
a. an IQ test
b. a neurological test
c. a projective personality test
d. a standardized personality test
2. In a projective test the client is shown
a. something which is highly reinforcing
b. something which is highly charged from an emotional
standpoint
c. a and b
d. neutral stimuli

46. Questions
3. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator reflects the work of
a. Raymond B. Cattell
b. Carl Jung
c. William Glasser
d. Oscar K. Buros
4. The counselor who favors projective measures would most likely
be a
a. Rogerian
b. Strict behaviorist
c. TA therapist
d. Psychodynamic clinician

47. Questions
5. One of the oldest methods of personality test construction is
a. Rational approach
b. Theory-based approach
c. Criterion Group approach
d. Factor analysis
6. Personality Assessment assists counselors in:
a. Understanding the behavior of a particular individual
b. Coming to a conclusion about a possible future course of
action
c. Making predictions about a person’s unique future behavior.
d. All of the above

48. Outside Sources
 Butcher, J.N., Hstetler, K. (1990). Abbreviating MMPI Item
Administration. What Can Be Learned From the MMPI for the
MMPI-2? Psychological Assessment: A Journal of Consulting
and Clinical Psychology, March 1990 Vol. 2. No. 1.12-21
 Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III Interpretive Report with
Grossman Facet Scales. Theodore Millon, PhD, DSc
(http://www.pearsonassessments.com/hai/images/pa/pdfs/mcmi3i
nterp.pdf)
 Narron, M. C. (2005). Updating the TAT: A Photographic
Revision of the Thematic Apperception Test, Dissertations
Abstract International, DAI-B 66/01, p. 568, Jul 2005.

49. THANK YOU
Questions?
carlos@carlosFmartinez.com