MEASUREMENT OF PERSONALITY

MEASUREMENT OF PERSONALITY

QUESTIONNAIRE

The word questionnaire refers to a device for securing answers to questions by using a form which the respondent fills in himself.  It is a flexible tool for gathering qualitative and quantitative information.  It is a form consisting of a series of printed questions.  The subject responds to these questions in the space provided. The answers are then examined and the results used for personality measurement.

According to Barr and others, the term questionnaire generally refers to systematic compilation of questions that are submitted to a sample of population about which information is desired.

OBSERVATION

Observation is a popular method to study the behaviour pattern of an individual in an actual life situation. It is a process in which one or more persons observes what is being occurring in a real-life situations, and classify and record the happenings according to some planned scheme. It is used to evaluate the overt behaviour of individuals in controlled and uncontrolled situations.           

The observer decides what personality traits or characteristics needs to be observed and observes the relevant activities in real life situation.

There are two types of observations such as Participant observations and Non-participant observation.

In participant observation,  the observer  become a more or less part of the group or individual under observation. In non-participant observation the observer takes a position where his presence is least disturbing to the subject and observes every detail of the behaviour of the individual.  

INTERVIEW                          

Interview is a process of communication or interaction in which the subject or interviewee gives the needed information verbally in a face-to-face situation. It is a technique of eliciting information directly from the subject about his personality.

Interview may be broadly classified according to the purpose, design, structure, etc. Here we are discussed about Clinical and Psychoanalytical interviews.

Clinical Interview:  In clinical work, social workers and psychiatrists use interview to secure information about an individuals problems, his past history, job or  family adjustments. Here the major purpose  of interview are diagnosis and treatment. This is called Clinical interview.         

INVENTORIES

A personality inventory is essentially a standard set of questions for self-appraisal or self reporting. It consist of statements or questions about personal characteristics, feelings, worries, fears, etc. It is just like a questionnaire in many aspects such as administration, scoring, interpretation, etc.

While it resembles the questionnaire it is different in two ways. Firstly, a personality inventory is specifically designed to seek answers about the person and his personality, while a questionnaire is used for collecting all kinds of information not connected specifically with personality traits or behaviour of the individual. Secondly, the questions set in the questionnaire are generally worded in the second person. While in the personality inventory, they may be worded in the first person. For example:

Questionnaire: Do you often feel lonely?       Yes/No.

Inventory:       I often feel lonely                    Yes/No.

Major Personality Inventories

Personal Data Sheet   

R.S Woodworth was the first psychologist who designed the first personality inventory in 1919 which he called as the Personal Data Sheet.  It consisted of 116 questions that required the subject to answer Yes or No. The questions involved in this are related to feelings, worries, fear and symptoms of mental disorder.

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

This is the best known personality inventory developed by J. C. McKinley and S. R. Hathaway. It was developed in the 1930s at Minnesota University as a serious and comprehensive personality test that can be used to detect psychiatric problems. It has ten clinical scales to indicate different psychiatric conditions. The questions included in this inventory are to indicate certain specific personality traits. It consists of 550  items. Each item is printed on a separate card. The subject reads the questions and according to his response put it down as Yes, No or Doubtful in the space provided.  With the help of these responses, assessment in terms of the important personality traits can be obtained.

Eysenck's personality inventory  

This personality inventory was developed  by a British psychologist H.J Eysenck. It is mainly used to assess neurotic tendencies. This inventory has been developed on the assumption that there are only two dimensions of personality, introversion-extraversion and stability-instability.

16  PERSONALITY FACTOR

This inventory was developed by Raymond B. Cattell and his colleagues.  The  16PF (16 Personality Factor) model is probably the most-widely used system for categorizing and defining personality.   It is a multiple-choice personality questionnaire specifically designed to discover and measure the fundamental traits of human personality.

The 16 personality factors are warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change, self- reliance, perfectionism and tension.

A-S REACTION STUDY

The Ascendance-Submission Reaction Study  of G.W Allport was one of the first tool used to measure personality traits. It has been designed to test extroversion-Introversion, sociability-solitariness and ascendance-submission traits of personality.

PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUES

Projective methods are devices by which the subject is prompted to reveal his unconscious behaviour through imaginative productions. To evaluate personality without taking into consideration, the unconscious mind will give only a one-side picture of personality.

These techniques are based on the psychological phenomenon of Projection. In this technique unstructured stimuli are provided to the testee who is asked to structure them in any way he likes. Here he unconsciously projects his own desires, hopes, fears, repressed wishes. etc. These expressions give an understanding of the personality of that individual.

RORSCHACH INK-BLOT TEST

A Swiss psychologist Hermann Rorschach devised this test in 1921. The material used in this test consist of 10 cards on which there are ink-blots. Five of them are black and whit and five are multi-coloured. Each card contains a bilaterally symmetrical ink-blot. These ink-blots are completely unstructured and have any specific meaning.

The cards are presented one after another  in a specific order. When the subject gets seated, the examiner gives him the first card with necessary instructions and ask him “What does it look like and what could this be?”. The subject is allowed as much time as he wants and is permitted to produce as many records as he wishes. He also allowed to turn the card around from any angle he wants.

Here the examiner notes the time taken for each response, total time for each card, the position in which the cards are being held and the emotional expression of the subject during the test, etc. After all an expert will interpret these responses and give suitable suggestions to the subject.

THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST  (TAT)

This test was developed by Henry Murray and C.D Morgan in 1935. The test consist of 30 pictures which portray human beings in a variety of actual life situations. 10 of these cards are for men and 10 for women and 10 for both sexes. The maximum number of cards used in a test is 20.

The pictures used in this test are vague and indefinite and it is presented one after another to the subject. The subject is told clearly that this is a test of creative imagination and that there is no right or wrong response. He has to make a story for each of the cards presented to him within a fixed period of time. While responding to the picture he has to take care of the following aspects:

1. What is going on the picture.        2. What has led to this scene.  3. What would likely happen in such a situation.

In making up the stories the subject unconsciously projects several characteristics of his own personality and sometimes the  narration became an autobiography. As there is no time to think, the  stories expresses his own natural life’s desires, likes and dislikes, emotions, sentiments, etc.

The story is recorded and later interpreted by experts. From this interpretation a competent examiner can learn a lot about the personality of his subject. The test is more useful in knowing the general nature of one’s personality rather than diagnostic aspects.

CHILDREN APPERCEPTION TEST (CAT)

The CAT was developed by Leopold Bellak to assess the personality of children between 3-10 years of age. This test consist of 10 cards consisted of pictures of animals instead of human beings. The pictures designed to evoke fantasies relating to child’s own experiences, reactions and feelings. The child is asked to tell a story based on the picture and whatever story he makes, he projects his own personality.  As per the quality reflected in description, by way of aspects like the theme, nature of anxieties, language used and the time taken for the completion of the test, etc. the child’s personality is assessed.

WORD ASSOCIATION TEST (WAT)

This test was developed by C.G Jung for diagnosing behaviour disorders. It consisted of a number of selected words related to personality and the subject is asked to write or say associated words with it.  Some responses come promptly and others with delay. The examiner records the reply to each word, the reaction time and any unusual behaviour manifestation to the given response. On the basis of this test C.G Jung has divided personality into introvert, extrovert and ambivert.

SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

This test consists of a list of incomplete sentences, generally open ended, which require completion by the subject in one or more words. The subject is asked to go through the list and answer as quickly as possible without giving a second thought to his answers. For example:

My hope is………………., My hero is………………., I wish to become a…………….