Chapter 16 - Objective Personality Assessment

Abstract

This chapter discusses the objective personality assessment. In the past personality has been considered synonymous with character. Primitive methods to assess personality have by and large given way to more empirically based techniques in the 20th century; some colorful methods still persist. The widespread use of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) provides a good example of how, as human beings, our natural interest in understanding and exploring personality stretches across language, geographical, and cultural boundaries. Presently, there are over 150 MMPI translations and 25 translations of the MMPI-2 in 45 countries. The successful adaptation and wide-spread use of this instrument across the world is a strong testimony to its utility, validity, and generalizability. If past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior, then it is likely that the desire for understanding personality will continue to produce advances in this field. Undoubtedly, there have been new psychological instruments and there will be modifications of existing ones in the future, sparked by computer-technological advances. As the unique features of electronic computers continue to find favor among professionals in their effort to understand personality, computer based assessment are likely to be expanded even further.