2010 Bruno Klopfer Distinguished Contribution Award. Some considerations for enhancing psychological assessment

The field of psychological assessment appears to be bogged down in recent decades on refining existing measures and techniques to the detriment of real change. This article attempts to highlight some of the changes that need to take place in psychological assessment in the next few decades if real progress is to be achieved: (a) developing guidelines for psychological tests and measures; (b) establishing explicit criteria for training; (c) establishing guidelines for competencies; (d) recognizing the impact of marketing; (e) embracing electronic technology; and (f) implementing computer adaptive testing.     

Society for Personality Assessment,Inc.: Information for Membership Applicants

An uncritical analysis of the empirical Rorschach literature in the area of suicide could lead one to conclude that the test has little value for the identification, prediction and understanding of suicide. It was felt that the reasons for this could be related to the several inconsistencies in methodology and design found among the studies. The research data were classified into four groups (1) determinants and ratios, (2) single signs, (3) multiple signs, and (4) content, and reviewed from a methodological standpoint. From this analysis it was concluded that there was no specific pathognomic sign for suicide on the Rorschach. It was also pointed out that certain difficulties (“paper” investigations, and research conditions which mediate against significance at the .05 level) reduce the effectiveness of the Rorschach investigator. Certain methodological and design weaknesses were discussed in terms of their contributing to equivocality among the studies. Comparisons between the studies cited were difficult to make because of their differing experimental designs and operational definitions of suicide. Because of this, the Rorschach itself cannot be held culpable for the equivocal results.     

Society for Personality Assessment,Incorporated Minutes of the Board of Trustees Meeting

When the record of both parents is considered together, we see a constellation in which the parental figures are each struggling to achieve gratification for strong dependency needs with the mother being the stronger and better integrated person but with exhibitionistic trends which may appear seductive to the child. Thus, for a male child who has the constellation of a weak dependent father and a somewhat disturbed exhibitionistic mother with unresolved dependency, the boy's identification as a male will have many vicissitudes. It is likely that, in many ways, he will be caught not only in the individual needs of these parents but in their difficult symbiotic relationship.     

Personality Psychology in Europe (Vol. 3) (Book)

This study explored the effect of defensive (i. e., fake-good) responding by substance-abusing patients on the scale scores of the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II; Millon, 1987). Patients asked to respond honestly (N = 62) had significantly higher scores on most of the scales than patients who were instructed to respond defensively (N = 62) and forensic subjects suspected of abusing psychoactive substances (N = 54). Significantly fewer subjects in the defensive responding simulation and the forensic group had elevated the Drug Dependence and Alcohol Dependence scales compared to the honestly responding patients. These results indicate that most drug-abusing individuals can conceal the presence of a substance-related disorder, as reflected by scale scores on the MCMI-II, if motivated to do so.     

Directory of Members of the Society for Personality Assessment as of April 1, 1974

A handwriting analyst blindly rated standard handwriting samples of 22 subjects on five personality dimensions chosen and defined by her in consultation with two counseling psychologists, who rated the same subjects independently on the same scales. Although there was some evidence of inter-counselor agreement, there was no clear evidence of agreement between the analyst's ratings and those made by the counselors.