Toward a Process-Based Framework for Classifying Personality Tests: Comment on Meyer and Kurtz (2006)

We analyzed the contemporary empirical and theoretical literature concerning the two predominant approaches for scoring formal thought disorder on the Rorschach, the Comprehensive System special scores, and the methodology of Rapaport, Gill, and Schafer (1946/1968). The psychoanalytic research related to selected special scores is reviewed, and some linkages to psychoanalytic developmental theory and psychopathology are made. Recommendations are presented to bridge the gap between these two important avenues of Rorschach research, with an emphasis on empirical rigor and intrapsychic contextual meaning.     

Detecting differential item functioning with confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory: toward a unified strategy

In this article, the authors developed a common strategy for identifying differential item functioning (DIF) items that can be implemented in both the mean and covariance structures method (MACS) and item response theory (IRT). They proposed examining the loadings (discrimination) and the intercept (location) parameters simultaneously using the likelihood ratio test with a free-baseline model and Bonferroni corrected critical p values. They compared the relative efficacy of this approach with alternative implementations for various types and amounts of DIF, sample sizes, numbers of response categories, and amounts of impact (latent mean differences). Results indicated that the proposed strategy was considerably more effective than an alternative approach involving a constrained-baseline model. Both MACS and IRT performed similarly well in the majority of experimental conditions. As expected, MACS performed slightly worse in dichotomous conditions but better than IRT in polytomous cases where sample sizes were small. Also, contrary to popular belief, MACS performed well in conditions where DIF was simulated on item thresholds (item means), and its accuracy was not affected by impact.     

Personality reflected in a coherent idiosyncratic interplay of intra- and interpersonal self-regulatory processes

This article discusses a framework that conceptualizes personality in terms of a unique pattern of interacting intra- and interpersonal self-regulatory mechanisms employed in the service of constructing and maintaining a desired self. These personal goals motivate the individuals' self-construction efforts and give direction, organization, and coherence to the self-regulatory dynamics--both within the person and in the social world in which they play out. The framework is illustrated through research on construct validation of the narcissistic personality type and extended by brief applications to dependency and rejection sensitivity to show how it may help us understand the complex signatures that are the expressions of a personality type. It offers a guide for where to look for and how to organize the unique features and idiosyncratic dynamics of different self-construction types and to make sense of their otherwise often seemingly paradoxical expressions. In so doing, the framework speaks to basic goals of personality psychology by providing an approach for capturing trait-like individual differences while simultaneously shedding light on the psychological mechanism that underlies them.     

Toward a complete decision model of item and source recognition

In a recognition memory test, subjects may be asked to decide whether a test item is old or new (item recognition) or to decide among alternative sources from which it might have been drawn for study (source recognition). Confidence-rating-based receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for these superficially similar tasks are quite different, leading to the inference of correspondingly different decision processes. A complete account of source and item recognition will require a single model that can be fit to the entire data set. We postulated a detection-theoretic decision space whose dimensions, in the style of Banks (2000), are item strength and the relative strengths of the two sources. A model that assumes decision boundaries of constant likelihood ratios, source guessing for unrecognized items, and nonoptimal allocation of attention can account for data from three canonical data sets without assuming any processes specifically devoted to recollection. Observed and predicted ROCs for one of these data sets are given in the article, and ROCs for the other two may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society’s Archive of Norms, Stimuli, and Data, www.psychonomic.org/archive.     

人格测验在人事测评中的应用

在人事测评过程中,利用成熟的人格测验方法对管理者或应聘人员的人格特征进行诊断,可以为合理利用人力资源提供参考依据。文章首先强调了人格测验在人事测评中的必要性,在此基础上介绍了四种经典人格测验和三种管理情境中的人格测验,分析了人格测验在预测个体未来工作表现、工作风格以及实现人岗匹配方面所发挥的作用。最后,文章提出:加入社会评价性维度的人格测验可以鉴别个体是否具有健康人格,更好地发挥人格测验的三大功能。有助于企业在人事测评中合理使用人格测验。     

The Assessment of Individual Personality by Projective Tests: Current Problems

The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI) has been recently developed as an alternative to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and shares some of its psychometric advantages and disadvantages with the MMPI-168, a short form of the MMPI. The current study compared the structure and utility of the MCMI and MMPI-168 for a general hospital inpatient psychiatric population. Overall, the two instruments were highly correlated and found to have conceptually similar factor structures. Empirical comparison of the factor structures indicated that construct validity is greatest for neurotic traits. Both instruments demonstrated a similar utility in predicting discharge diagnosis.     

Correcting Personality Tests for Faking: A Review of Popular Personality Tests and an Initial Survey of Researchers

We reviewed a number of personality tests that are commonly used for personnel selection and found that some of the more popular tests provide a “correction” for faking. Additionally, a survey of researchers' preferences regarding correcting personality test scores for faking was conducted. The respondents, who were experienced in using personality tests for industrial‐organizational purposes, generally favored the use of faking corrections (69% were in favor). The apparently common practice of correcting personality scores for faking was contrasted with relevant conceptual, empirical, and statistical concerns as to the advisability of applying the correction for faking.     

Toward a complete decision model of item and source recognition: A discrete-state approach

In source-monitoring experiments, participants study items from two sources (A and B). At test, they are presented Source A items, Source B items, and new items. They are asked to decide whether a test item is old or new (item memory) and whether it is a Source A or a Source B item (source memory). Hautus, Macmillan, and Rotello (2008) developed models, couched in a bivariate signal detection framework, that account for item and source memory across several data sets collected in a confidence-rating response format. The present article enlarges the set of candidate models with a discrete-state model. The model is a straightforward extension of Bayen, Murnane, and Erdfelder's (1996) multinomial model of source discrimination to confidence ratings. On the basis of the evaluation criteria adopted by Hautus et al., it provides a better account of the data than do Hautus et al.'s models.     

Toward a Tripartite Model and Measurement of Proactive Personality

Although proactive personality (Bateman & Crant, 1993), as a relatively stable disposition to bring about change in one's environment, is a central construct in the management and organizational behavior literature, questions have arisen about its definition and structure. To answer these questions, we present a tripartite model of proactive personality consisting of 3 dimensions: perception (i.e., perceiving opportunities for change), implementation (i.e., planning and executing change), and perseverance (i.e., persisting until the change is realized). Exploratory factor analysis informed the construction of a 14-item scale, and confirmatory factor analyses supported the validity of the scale. The new scale demonstrated satisfactory reliability and accounted for significant variance in task performance above that of original proactive personality, personal initiative, conscientiousness, and social desirability. Tripartite proactive personality might provide a more nuanced view of dispositional proactivity and greater predictive power than the original unidimensional proactive personality.     

Readability of Three Adult Personality Tests: Basic Personality Inventory,Jackson Personality Inventory,and Personality Research Form-E

Three personality tests, the Basic Personality Inventory (BPI), the Jackson Personality Inventory (JPI), and the Personality Research Form-E (PRF-E) were evaluated for readability using a number of indices. Sentence length, word length, sentence type, and four readability formulas indicated that the readability of the BPI, JPI, and PRF-E would not impede the administration or interpretation of these tests in broad segments of the population.     

The item structure of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire across method and culture

Since its publication, the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) has endured much criticism of its psychometric properties. As the most stringent of these attacks has derived from hierarchical factor analytic studies it is reasonable to ask whether the inadequacies reported accrue to the questionnaire itself or to the problematic features of factor analysis as a method. A further feature of empirical studies that are critical of the EPQ is that they are, by-and-large, based upon non-British samples. As the EPQ was constructed in Britain it is quite conceivable that cultural artifacts are responsible for the inconsistent findings of Canadian and American researchers. This paper offers a brief review of some of the critical research and reports a study in which the item structure of the EPQ is explored by non-metric multidimensional scaling techniques upon a sample of Irish adolescents. The MDS configuration was then compared with the higher order factor analytic results of American researchers to examine invariance across method. A clear item structure emerges supporting the Eysencks' theoretical model although items of the P scale are less homogenous than would be ideal for a psychometric tool.     

职业选拔情境下人格测验作假研究

在职业选拔情境下被试很容易对人格测验作假,从而制约了人格测验在企业中的应用。许多研究者在努力解决作假问题,分别就应聘者是否会作假,作假给人格测验带来的负面影响、应聘者如何作假以及如果应对作假等问题进行了深入的探讨。经过几十年的发展,该研究领域已经形成了包括实验诱导设计、已知群体设计和量表设计等几种特定的研究范式。研究结果显示,大多数应聘者会作假,但其负面影响并不严重;作假不同于社会称许性反应,它是一种工作称许性反应。目前的几种应对作假的方法尚存在一些问题,其有效性有待提高。总之,人格测验的作假作用明显,其研究难度较大,有待革新性理论和方法的出现     

The Effects of Personality Tests on State and Trait Anxiety

52 college student volunteers received the MMPI, Rorschach, TAT, and Sentence Completion Test in counterbalanced order with a test-retest interval of approximately 24 hours. State and trait anxiety measures were assessed immediately prior to and immediately following each test administration. Results indicated that state anxiety measures increased significantly following administration of the more ambiguous, unstructured test stimuli, namely the Rorschach and TAT. In contrast, the more structured, direct assessment methods, namely the MMPI and Sentence Completion Test, did not induce any significant changes in state anxiety. In all cases, trait anxiety measures remained relatively stable.     

Toward a Four-Factor Theory of Temperament and/or Personality

This article makes a case for a four-factor theory of temperament/personality, tracing its origin to Hippocrates, who first postulated a four-factor theory of temperament in 400 B.C. Historical developments are discussed as they relate to the postulation of a four-factor mode, continuing from Galen in the 2nd century A.D. to the present day. Theoretical formulations are discussed along with considerations of applications in the field of personality assessment.     

Implicit psychophysiology: Effects of common beliefs and idiosyncratic physiological responses symptom reporting

Every individual exhibits unique perceptual, behavioral, and physiological responses within and across a variety of settings. Despite the idiosyncratic nature of responses, we seek to establish theories that generalize across a large number of individuals. A strict idiographic method intensively examines the response patterns of a small number of individuals, whereas a nomothetic approach focuses on common responses across a large number of individuals. In the present investigation, we seek to learn how individuals perceive and report physical symptoms and sensations. We offer a methodology that capitalizes on the unique physiological responses of individuals but, at the same time, assumes that the underlying perceptual processes relevant to symptom reporting are comparable across individuals. Our approach, then, is both idiographic and nomothetic. As will be discussed, this integrative approach has the potential to be applied to a multitude of behaviors and processes that are of interest to social and personality psychologists.     

Connecting DSM-5 Personality Traits and Pathological Beliefs: Toward a Unifying Model

Dissatisfaction with the DSM-IV model of personality disorders has led to the development of alternative conceptualizations, including pathological trait models and models linked to particular theoretical approaches, such as Beck and Freeman’s (1990) cognitive framework. An important issue involves the potential to interweave such models into a single, parsimonious system that combines their distinct advantages. In this study, pathological trait and dysfunctional belief data from 616 individuals in a non-clinical sample were evaluated for commensurability using structural equation modeling. These models can be integrated via five higher-order factors, and that specific dimensions of dysfunctional beliefs can be differentiated based on features of the DSM-5 trait model. Overall, these results suggest that traits provide scaffolding for individual differences in pathological personality, within which dysfunctional beliefs offer specific vectors for clinical intervention in a cognitive framework. Implications of the empirical commensurability of trait and cognitive models are discussed.     

管理情境中人格测验的社会评价性研究

在现代的人事测量中,人格测验被广泛地用来挑选“人-职匹配”的员工并对员工的绩效作出预测。但是一般而言,人格测验的中性导致其测试结果与工作绩效并无显著性相关。因为,除了能力等中性因素之外,能够预测员工工作状况的是诚实、忠诚、尽责等与社会评价指标有关的心理特性,如开朗、乐观、大度和积极向上、具有创造潜能的人格特征。因此,开发具有社会评价性意义的人格测验对人事工作特别是绩效预测有着重要的作用。