Measuring Personality and Individual Differences

Personality through Projection

Rorschach Inkblot (10 Cards)

John Exners Comprehensive Scoring System based on form, perceived movement, and color

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT, 31 Pictures) Henry Murray & Christina Morgan, Harvard, 1930s

Sentence Completion

Holaday et al. (2000). Sentence completion tests: A review of the literature and results of a survey of members of the Society for Personality Assessment. Journal of Personality Assessment, 74, 371-383. Rotter, J.B. & Rafferty, J.E. (1950). The Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank Manual: College form. New York: Psychological Corporation.

Personality Through Direct Testing

Criterion Keying Approach (Clinical Method)
Behavioral descriptions as items Comparing normal with the mentally ill Often used in clinical settings e.g., MMPI

Description of MMPI-2 Content Scales

_______________________________________________________ ANX (ANXIETY) 23 items FRS (FEARS) 23 items OBS (OBSESSIVE) 16 items DEP (DEPRESSION) 33 items HEA (HEALTH CONCERNS) 36 items BIZ (BIZARRE MENTATION) 24 items ANG (ANGER) 16 items CYN (CYNICISM) 23 items ASP (ANTISOCIAL PRACTICES) 22 items TPA (TYPE A) 19 items LSE (LOW SELF-ESTEEM) 24 items SOD (SOCIAL DISCOMFORT) 24 items FAM (FAMILY PROBLEMS) 25 items WRK (WORK INTERFERENCE) 33 items TRT (NEGATIVE TREATMENT INDICATORS) 26 items

Development of the MMPI in 1930s

Began with pool of 1000 items Presented items to criterion and control groups Criterion group: psychiatric inpatients at the UM Hospital Control group:700 relatives and visitors of the patients Validation: Criterion group differed from control group at p<.05.

Personality Through Direct Testing

Taxonomic Approach (Dictionary Method)
Single adjectives or phrases as items Factor analysis Often used in the normal population e.g., Catell 16PF Eysenck Personality Questionnaire NEO-PI

The Big Five and NEO-PI

N N A A

E E C C

O O

Conscientiousness

Deliberation Self-Discipline Achievement Striving Dutifulness Order Competence

8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8

Theory: The Big Five

Values Ideas Actions Feelings Aesthetics Fantasy

Positive Emotions Excitement-Seeking Activity Assertiveness Gregariousness Warmth

Extraversion

Vulnerability Impulsiveness Self-Consciousness Depression Angry Hostility Anxiety

Neurotism

Test: NEO-PI
8 8 8 8 8 8

Tender-Mindedness Modesty Compliance Altruism Straightforwardness Trust

Openness

Agreeableness

Pyschometric Properties of NEO-PI

Adult norms based on 500 men and 500 women matched to US population on age and race. College norms based on cases from 2 sites Internal consistency for domain scores range from .86-.92; Facet scores with median of .71 A huge amount of validity data based on factor analyses and correlations with other tests and across cultures

The Unhappy Person

Neuroticism (1) Anxiety Angry Hostility Depression Self-Consciousness Impulsiveness

The Happy Person

Extraversion (2) Warmth Gregariousness Assertiveness Activity Excitement-Seeking Positive Emotion

The Intellectual
Openness (3) Fantasy Aesthetics Feelings Actions Ideas Values

The Nice Person

Agreeableness (4) Trust Straight-forwardness Altruism Compliance Modesty Tender-mindedness

The High Achiever

Conscientiousness (5) Competence Order Dutifulness Achievement-striving Self-discipline

Chinese Personality: Inter Personal Relatedness

Ren Qing Harmony Flexibility Modernization Face Thrift Ah Q Q

Sample Items
Ren Qing
When dealing with institutions, things can work out more smoothly through the connections of friends working inside.

Though I may be perfectly aware of my friends lack of ability, if they ask me to find them a good job, I will do my best to help them.

,
When a friend borrows something from me and does not return it, I often feel uneasy about asking him/ her to give it back.

Sample Items
Face
Sometimes I pretend I understand a lot, because I do not want others to look down on me. , I feel a loss of face to be turned down by others. , Sometimes I will insist on giving a friend a decent gift even if it means borrowing money to buy it.

Sample Items
Thrift
,

Ah Q Q
, ,

A Comparison of Factor Pattern, Item Means, and Standard Deviations for Chinese Sample with Sample Reported by HARTER (1982)

Performance on mathematics test given at three testing periods (1980, 1984, 1990) for students from Japan ( ), Taiwan( ) and the United States( )

Performance on the reading vocabulary test given at two testing periods (1980, 1990) for students from Japan ( ), Taiwan( ) and the United States( )

Attitudes of Japanese (solid), Chinese (open), and American (hatched) mothers toward childrens academic performance as reflected in ratings on a three-point rating scale. Sample sizes for Japan, Taiwan, and United States, respectively:233, 197, and 214 (1980); 157, 104, and 117 (1984); and 258, 238, and 220 (1990).

Factors influencing academic achievement

Western Culture -High national spending -Small class size -Disposition (IQ, personality) -Primary control (the person) -Individual learning -Individualistic values -Intrinsic motivation -Ability attribution -High self-esteem e.g., Big fish Confucian Culture -Moderate spending -Large class size -Changeability (attitudes) -Secondary or environment -Cooperative learning -Social pressure, guilt -Extrinsic, social comparison -Effort attribution -Self-effacement e.g., Little pond

Findings on Likert-type scale response tendencies: Very Bad 1 Very Good 6

Note. Points A and C mark the mean American and Chinese ratings, respectively, on the internal and external attribution scales.

Percentages Agreeing With Responses to Scenarios in Illinois (n=123) and Hong Kong (n=181) First Choice
Illinois 1. You and your friends decided spontaneously to go out to dinner at a restaurant. What do you think is the best way to handle the bill? HC Split it equally, without regard to who ordered What VI Split it according to how much each person makes VC The group leader pays the bill or decides how to split it HI Compute each persons charge according to what that person ordered 2. You are buying a piece of art for your office. Which one factor is most important in deciding whether to buy it? VI It is a good investment HC Your coworkers will like it HI You just like it VC Your supervisor will approve of it Hong Kong

15 2 3 78

74 1 4 21

18 5 75 2

9 15 57 18

Percentages Agreeing With Responses to Scenarios in Illinois (n=123) and Hong Kong (n=181)
First Choice Illinois Hong Kong 38 6 28 17 3 3 79 14 12 Suppose your fiance(e) and your parents do not get along very . well. What would you do? HI Nothing VI Tell my fiance(e) that I need my parents financial support and he or she should learn to handle the politics HC Tell my fiance(e) that he or she should make a greater effort to fit in with the family VC Remind my fiance(e) that my parents anf family are very important to me and he or she should submit to their wishes 13 Teams of five people entered a science project contest. Your team . won first place and a prize of $100. You and another person did 95% of the work on this project. How should the money be distributed? HC Split it equally, without regard to who did what VI The other person and I get 95% of the money and the rest goes to the group VC The group leader decides how to split the money HI Divide the money the way that gives me the most satisfaction

41 35 12 14

46 16 23 15