Chapter 8 Assessment: Self-Report and Projective Measures INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2E HUNSLEY & LEE PREPARED BY DR. CATHY CHOVAZ, KING’S COLLEGE,

Chapter 8Assessment: Self-Report and Projective Measures

INTRODUCTION TO CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2EHUNSLEY & LEE

PREPARED BY DR. CATHY CHOVAZ, KING’S COLLEGE, UWO

Central Concepts in Self-Report and Projectives The Person-Situation Debate Self-presentation Biases Culturally Appropriate Measures Clinical Utility Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory Millon Measures Measures of Normal Personality Functioning Self-report Checklists of Behaviours and

Symptoms Projective Measures

Topics:

Personality traits: Consistent behaviors, attitudes and emotions across time

Objective personality tests: Tests that are scored the same way each time and not as open to interpretation

Projective personality test: Test taker responds to ambiguous stimuli and assessor determines some interpretation of the data

Clinical utility: Do the tests add important and useful information?

Central Concepts in Self-Report and Projectives

Walter Mischel: 1968 book Personality and Assessment launched debate

Limits to self-knowledge Situational influences Are behaviours consistent over time?

Research evidence points to influence of both person and situation

The Person-Situation Debate

Emphasizing the positive: People are often motivated to present themselves in a favourable light (e.g., custody cases, job applications) – “faking good”

Malingering: Trying to look worse than one is (e.g., insanity defence) – “faking bad”

Random responding: Not taking test seriously or cognitively impaired?

Validity scales: Portions of personality tests that are designed to catch these biases

Self-Presentation Biases

Projective tests may get around the self-presentation bias issue because the stimuli are ambiguous Research evidence is mixed on whether this is the

case

Self-Presentation Biases

Tests can be biased in several ways May not be relevant to all cultural groups How tests are related may not be equal across

groups Cut-off scores may be different for different groups Different factors may exist for different groups

Culturally Appropriate Measures

Clinicians should only use measures that are validated with the ethnic group it is being used with (or results interpreted with caution)

Cross-cultural adaptations of tests are often needed

Culturally Appropriate Measures

Assessing cultural and linguistic factors: Immigration history Contact with other cultural groups Acculturative status Acculturative stress Socioeconomic status Language

(see Exhibit 8.1 p. 290)

Culturally Appropriate Measures

Must consider:1.Basic perspective – extent of knowledge

2.Applied perspective – clinical utility? Do clinicians find the tool useful? Reliable and valid information? Does the tool improve upon clinical decision-

making and treatment outcome?

Clinical Utility

MMPI-2 (for adults) and MMPI-A for adolescents: Most commonly taught and used personality inventory in clinical psychologyFirst version published in 1943, had 550 items

Used empirical criterion keying: items were chosen that discriminated groups

Second version has 567 and adolescent version 478 items;

Used content approach to test construction: developing items that designed to tap a construct (not by how groups responded)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Cannot Say (?): Total number of unanswered items

Lie Scale (L): A measure of self-presentation that is unrealistically positive

Infrequency Scale (F): A measure of self-presentation that is very unfavourable–malingering or severe psychopathology

Defensiveness Scale (K): Unwillingness to disclose personal information and problems. High K scale scores increase some other scores

Some MMPI-2 Validity Scales

Scale 1 (Hs: Hypochondriasis): Preoccupation with health issues

Scale 2 (D: Depression): Common symptoms of depression

Scale 3 (Hy: Hysteria): Physical symptoms when stressed and minimization of interpersonal problems

Scale 4 (Pd: Psychopathic Deviate): Rebellious attitudes, conflict with authorities and family, and antisocial activities

Scale 5 (Mf: Masculinity-Femininity): Measures gender-stereotyped interests and activities

MMPI-2 Clinical Scales

Scale 6 (Pa: Paranoia): Feelings of being mistreated, and delusions of persecution

Scale 7 (Pt: Psychasthenia): Tendency to worry, rumination, fearing loss of control

Scale 8 (Sc: Schizophrenia): Tendency to experience social alienation, delusions, hallucinations

Scale 9 (Ma: Hypomania): Tendency toward hyperarousal, excessive energy, agitation

Scale 0 (Si: Social Introversion): Introversion, not enjoying social contexts

MMPI-2 Clinical Scales

Norms: Developed with a large random sample selected from a diverse group in terms of ethnicity, SES, geography Not a large sample of low educated or low-income

individuals in norm group

Reliability: Good to mediocre depending on the scale; test-retest validity is very good (>.8)

Validity: Enormous amount of data – interpretation is complicated with many clinical and content scales

MMPI-2 Norms, Reliability and Validity

Focused on DSM diagnostic categories, but otherwise similar in design to the MMPI MCMI-III 175 item (true false) MACI (for adolescents) also 175 T/F items

Norms may underrepresent the American and Canadian population

Good reliability including test-retest reliability and internal consistency

Some possible over-pathologizing may exist

Millon Measures: MCMI-III and the MACI

Note: used with the general population, so no validity scales

California Psychological Inventory (CPI): 434 items similar in structure to the MMPI (shares

many similar items); good normative, reliability and validity data

NEO-PI-Revised: Factor analytically derived inventory defines five

factors: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism (acronym: ocean). Very good normative, reliability and validity data

Measures of Normal Personality Functioning

Achenbach (Child Behavior Checklist CBCL): Parents report a series of problems in their children (versions for teachers, caregivers)

Symptom Checklist 90-revised (SCL-90-R): Most widely used symptom measure in clinical settings. 90 items – 9 subscales; good reliability, but norms are not adequate and high intercorrelation among items

Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II): 21-item multiple choice on severity of depressive symptoms; scores may decrease with repeated administration

Self-report Checklists of Behaviours and Symptoms

Stimuli are ambiguous with respect to content and meaning

Based on psychoanalytic idea that people project their negative attributes about themselves onto ambiguous external stimuli

However, recent evidence indicates that the responses are about the person’s experiences and personality, not projection per se

Many of these tests lack rigor of testing guidelines

Projective Measures

Developed by Hermann Rorschach – 10 cards; symmetrical inkblots; people report on what they see in the inkblots

John Exner’s Comprehensive Scoring System Main way to score the inkblots based on a very

large normative sample of responses; although people of colour not adequately sampled

Recent norms have better representation – although test is not recommended currently for youth (because of over-pathologizing)

Good reliability; mixed data on validity

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Developed by Murray, 1943 31 cards with pictures on them Participant tells a story about what they see in the

picture

No consistently-used scoring mechanism, although the stories are supposed to yield data on needs, emotions, interpersonal relations, and conflicts within the individual

No clear norms or reliability data, making the TAT a test that is not recommended since its validity cannot be determined

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

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