COMPARISON OF COMPUTER-DERIVED PERSONALITY PROFILE AND PROJECTIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST FINDINGS.

Abstract

A computer program of MMPI interpretations originally developed for general practitioners working in a clinic setting was modified to some extent for use with a psychiatric inpatient population. This particular program, designed for a 1401 computer, is composed of 60 statements referring to specific MMPI scales, and a number of "modifier" statements combining information from two or more scales in configural fashion. Each of the statements referring to one particular scale reflects a low, normal, mild, moderate or marked "degree of elevation" of that scale. The computer program prints the MMPI profile as well as the interpretive statements. The computer interpretive statements were contrasted with findings from batteries of projective tests administered to the same patients. The psychologists administering and interpreting the projective instruments rated each of the computer statements appearing in a patient's MMPI record on a 6-point agreement-disagreement continuum. The psychologists judged the computer interpretations to be consistent with their projective test findings a far greater number of times than would be expected by chance. The highest agreement was with computer interpretations derived from the L and Hy scales, while the lowest occurred in reference to the Pd and Pt scales. The library of computer statements was noted to be most compatible with impressions from projective tests when describing the meaning of more elevated MMPI scores. Disagreement was most prevalent in the interpretive categories attempting to cover the low and normal degrees of elevation of MMPI scale scores. Diagnosis did not appear to enter into the amount of agreement obtained. Within the group of 5 psychologist-raters participating in the study, the least experienced tended to agree most with the computer statements. In general these results indicate that computer interpretations of MMPI records yield meaningful psychological information about psychiatric patients, with an economy of professional time, and a sharp reduction in cost.