Personality Inventories

• Personality


  Used to explain behavioral differences between persons and to understand the behavioral consistency within each individual
• Personality


  • Each person is consistent to some extent; we have coherent traits and action patterns that arise repeatedly
  • Each person is distinctive to some extent; behavioral differences exist between individuals
• Theories of Personality try to account for personality
• Trait and Factor Theories


  One of the theories of personality
• Big Five or the Five-Factor Model of Personality (OCEAN)


  • Openness Factor
  • Conscientiousness Factor
  • Extraversion Factor
  • Agreeableness Factor
  • Negative Emotionality Factor/Neuroticism
• Openness Factor


  Refers to the number of interests to which one is attracted and the depth to which these interests are pursued. High openness (EXPLORER) refers to a person with relatively more interests. Low openness (PRESERVER) refers to a person with relatively few interests and relatively more depth in each of those interests.
• Conscientiousness Factor


  Refers to the number of goals on which one is focused. High conscientiousness (FOCUSED) refers to the person who focuses on fewer goals and exhibits the self-discipline associated with such focus. Low conscientiousness (FLEXIBLE) refers to one who pursues a larger number of goals and exhibits the distractibility and spontaneity associated with diffused focus.
• Extraversion Factor

  Refers to the number of relationships with which one is comfortable. High extraversion (EXTROVERT) is characterized by a larger number of relationships and a larger proportion of one's time spent enjoying them. Low extraversion (INTROVERTS) is characterized by a smaller number of relationships and a smaller proportion of one's time spent in pursuing those relationships.
• Agreeableness Factor


  Refers to the number of sources from which one takes norms for right behavior. High agreeableness (ADAPTER) describes a person who defers to a great many norm sources such as a spouse, religious leader, friend, boss, pop culture, Tiktok and IG followers etc. Low agreeableness (CHALLENGER) describes one who, in the extreme, only follows one's inner voice.
• Negative Emotionality Factor/Neuroticism


  Refers to the number and strength of stimuli required to elicit negative emotions in a person. More RESILIENT persons are bothered by fewer stimuli in their environment, and the stimuli must be strong in order to bother them. More REACTIVE persons are bothered by a greater variety of stimuli, and the stimuli do not have to be strong in order to bother them.
• Non-Psychometric Methods of Personality Assessment


  • Critical Incidents
  • Standardized checklists
  • Observations
  • Interview
  • Checklists
  • Rating Scales
• Observations


  • Time-consuming
  • Presence of observer bias (forked-tail and halo effect; prior knowledge about the person; cultural and ethnical biases)
  • Hawthorne Effect / Guinea Pig effect (the tendency of not acting n normally due to the knowledge of being observed; imaginary public)
  • Behavior can be affected by social desirability (e.g. best foot forward at all times)
  • Sufficiency in the number of observations to make a conclusion (state parameters)
• Interview


  • More demanding than observations; involves an active interchange
  • Relies on the assumption that the interviewee is an authority of the subject matter and is willing to undergo an interview
• Checklists


  • Nominal scales (all or none)
  • Many don't undergo the process of psychological validation
• Rating Scales


  • More of an ordinal scale where degrees are checked
  • Unipolar (with only 1 pole and 1 dimension; rated from very low to very high)
  • Bipolar (with two extremes categories; opposite poles; has a neutral score in the middle; completely dissatisfied, mostly dissatisfied, neither satisfies nor dissatisfies, mostly satisfies, completely satisfied)
• Personality Inventories


  • Consists of items concerning personal characteristics, thoughts, feeling, and behavior
  • Well constructed and more structured measure of a broader range of variables
  • Requires true/false or multiple choice type of response which are scored for objectivity
• Tactics for Personality Inventory Test Development


  • Theory-Guided Inventories / Rational-Theoretical Strategy
  • Factor Analytically Derived Inventories
  • Criterion-Keyed Inventories
• Theory-Guided Inventories / Rational-Theoretical Strategy


  • Uses intuition, judgment, logic, common sense, and TOP
  • Guided closely by formal or informal TOP
  • Test developer designs the instrument around a pre-existing theory
  • Advantage: High face validity
• Factor Analytically Derived Inventories


  • A collection or pool of items are broken down into smaller groups of highly correlated traits
  • Disadvantage: Susceptible to faking
• Criterion-Keyed Inventories


  • Item selection and instrument validation consist of determining the extent to which items and scores on specific scales differentiate between specified criterion groups
  • Advantage: Low susceptibility to faking
• Sources of Error in Personality Inventories


  • Acquiescence
  • Barnum Effect
  • Social Desirability
  • Middle Categories
  • Norms
• Acquiescence


  People have the tendency to agree with items regardless of the content
• Barnum Effect


  Powerful tendency to believe the information given to us about our personal qualities
• Social Desirability


  People prefer to put themselves in a good light and so have the tendency to respond in a way that makes them appear all right
• Middle Categories


  Many questionnaires ask people to respond on a five-point scale (such as bipolar scales), and there is a tendency for people to use the middle value
• Norms


  Foreign-made tests
• Ipsative Scoring


  A scale in which the points distributed to the various different items must sum to a specific total. On such a scale, all participants will have the same total score but the distribution of the points among the various items will differ for each individual. Ipsative scores represent results in relative terms rather than as absolute totals. This is done by comparing individuals against himself or herself and produce the data that reflect the relative strength of each need. Each person therefore provides his/her own frame of reference.