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.     

Standards for education and training in psychological assessment position of the Society for Personality Assessment

The Society for Personality Assessment is a national and international professional organization devoted to research and practice in the field of psychological assessment. As such, it represents practitioners of assessment regardless of discipline or degree.     

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.     

Profile of the Membership of the Society for Personality Assessment: Comparisons Between 1987 and 1990

In this study, we report the findings of a 1990 survey of the membership of the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) and compare these results with a similar survey conducted in 1987. A four-page questionnaire was sent to approximately 1,800 SPA members; 900 surveys were returned, for a 50% response rate. Information was obtained on professional activities, occupational setting, theoretical orientation, and various demographic characteristics. Clinical practice was reported as the primary professional activity of the vast majority of SPA members; more than 40% of the 1990 sample indicated private practice as their primary job setting, compared to 35% in I987. A larger proportion of SPA members are also now working in private/clinical practice, medical centers, and outpatient community clinics than in 1987. Although a psychodynamic-psychoanalytic orientation continues to be the dominant theoretical perspective of SPA members, the proportion of members with a cognitive-behavioral orientation has increased substantially since 1987. We concluded that SPA members are now more involved in clinical practice, and that the SPA has become more ecumenical in theoretical perspective as the membership has more than doubled over the past 3 years.     

Profile of the membership of the Society for Personality Assessment: comparisons between 1987 and 1990

In this study, we report the findings of a 1990 survey of the membership of the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA) and compare these results with a similar survey conducted in 1987. A four-page questionnaire was sent to approximately 1,800 SPA members; 900 surveys were returned, for a 50% response rate. Information was obtained on professional activities, occupational setting, theoretical orientation, and various demographic characteristics. Clinical practice was reported as the primary professional activity of the vast majority of SPA members; more than 40% of the 1990 sample indicated private practice as their primary job setting, compared to 35% in I987. A larger proportion of SPA members are also now working in private/clinical practice, medical centers, and outpatient community clinics than in 1987. Although a psychodynamic-psychoanalytic orientation continues to be the dominant theoretical perspective of SPA members, the proportion of members with a cognitive-behavioral orientation has increased substantially since 1987. We concluded that SPA members are now more involved in clinical practice, and that the SPA has become more ecumenical in theoretical perspective as the membership has more than doubled over the past 3 years.     

Model-Based Approaches for Teaching and Practicing Personality Assessment

Psychological assessment is a complex professional skill. Competence in assessment requires an extensive knowledge of personality, neuropsychology, social behavior, and psychopathology, a background in psychometrics, familiarity with a range of multimethod tools, cognitive flexibility, skepticism, and interpersonal sensitivity. This complexity makes assessment a challenge to teach and learn, particularly as the investment of resources and time in assessment has waned in psychological training programs over the last few decades. In this article, we describe 3 conceptual models that can assist teaching and learning psychological assessments. The transtheoretical model of personality provides a personality systems-based framework for understanding how multimethod assessment data relate to major personality systems and can be combined to describe and explain complex human behavior. The quantitative psychopathology—personality trait model is an empirical model based on the hierarchical organization of individual differences. Application of this model can help students understand diagnostic comorbidity and symptom heterogeneity, focus on more meaningful high-order domains, and identify the most effective assessment tools for addressing a given question. The interpersonal situation model is rooted in interpersonal theory and can help students connect test data to here-and-now interactions with patients. We conclude by demonstrating the utility of these models using a case example.     

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

Summary: This study compared the MMPI profiles of two groups of child molesters, those with no prior arrests versus those with one or more prior arrests, in order to assess certain clinically derived inferences about these offenders. The sample consisted of 33 persons convicted of child molestation. The group with prior arrests showed more psychopathology than the group with no previous arrests.