PERSONALITY TEST

INTRODUCTION

The term personality is derived from the word persona or the mask which the roman and Greek Actors
uses to wear in ancient times, to indicate to the audience. Personality is the total quality of an
individual’s behavior as it is shown in his habit of thinking, in his attitude, interests, his manner of action
and his personal philosophy of life.

A personality test is a questionnaire or other standardized instrument designed to reveal aspects of an

individual's character or psychological makeup.

DEFINITION

1.According to taylor (1982):

The aggregate of physical and mental qualities of an individual which will interact and function in
characteristic fashion with the environment.

2.According to Dunn:

Personality means once inner and outer circumstances suitable with his environment.

Personality is the “mask” i.e. provides external circumstances for the individual character. “Persona”-
mask but personality is known asindividual behavior pattern with his/ her environment.

Personality = Inner + Outer circumstances

Environment
BASIC FACTORS OR VARIABLES OF PERSONALITY TEST

There are three basic factors or variables which have to be considered in describing and analyzing the
personality.

1.The internal aspect of the individual :- The basic drives, the physiological systems, gland and
inherently physical feature.

2.The social and material stimuli to the individual:- these modify and direct individual impulses and
needs. It include the influence of the family and other group.

3.The reaction or behavior or conduct which results from the interaction of the individual and the
stimuli.

PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT: 5 METHODS

1.Where one can see how one individual behave in actual life situation.

 Observation Technique
 Situation Method: Any Assignment

2.Where one can find out what an individual say about him.

 Subject – Autobiography
 Questionnaire / personality inventory
 Interview

3.technique by which one can find out what others say about the individual whose personality is under
assessment.

Objectives:

 Case history
 Biography
 Rating scale
 Sociometry

4.technique by which one can find how an individual reacts to an imaginative situation involving font
any e.g. projective.

5.technique by which one can determine same personality variables in terms of physiological responses
by measuring instruments e.g. lie detector.
1.OBSERVATION TECHNIQUE

It is not just watching people actually observation gather much information about one’s personality.

 It is most popular method

 Appearance, bearing, speech can be noticed
 To evaluate for employment and for education as well as for identifying personality trait.
 Body language to be observed i.e. posture, movement of hands, facial express.

2.AUTOBIOGRAPHY

An autobiography is a written account of the life of a person written by that person.

At some point in your education or your career you will be required to make a presentation about
yourself or to write an autobiography as an assignment. Some people will welcome the opportunity to
share their own personal experiences, while others will dread it.
Whether you love this assignment or you hate it, you should start with the knowledge that your story is
much more interesting than you probably realize. You may as well make the story enjoyable to your
audience! An interesting story will get a better response from your audience and a better grade from a
professor.

These tips are intended to help you determine (perhaps to your surprise) how interesting your story
really is!

Your autobiography should contain the basic framework that any essay should have, like an introductory
paragraph with a thesis statement, a body containing several paragraphs, and a conclusion. But the trick
is to make your life story an interesting narrative with a theme. So how do you determine your theme?

3.QUESTIONNAIRE

A questionnaire is an instrument consisting of a series of questions and other prompts for the purpose
of gathering information from respondents. Although they are often designed for statistical analysis of
the responses, this is not always the case. The questionnaire was invented bySir Francis Galton

 Written method of merged personality

 Very easily checked and scored

4.PERSONALITY INVENTORY

A questionnaire that is scored to yield a profile of the particular traits or characteristics that make up the
respondent's personality
.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is the most widely used and
researched standardized psychometric test of adult personality and psychopathology. Psychologists and
other mental health professionals use various versions of the MMPI to develop treatment plans; assist
with differential diagnosis; help answer legal questions (forensic psychology); screen job candidates
during the personnel selection process; or as part of a therapeutic assessment procedure.
The original MMPI, first published by the University of Minnesota Press in 1943, was replaced by an
updated version, the MMPI-2, in 1989. A version for adolescents, the MMPI-A, was published in 1992.
An alternative version of the test, the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF), published in 2008,
retains some aspects of the traditional MMPI assessment strategy, but adopts a different theoretical
approach to personality test development.
 In 1989, the MMPI became the MMPI-2 as a result of a major restandardization project that was
undertaken to develop an entirely new set of normative data representing current population
characteristics;
 In 2003, the Restructured Clinical Scales were added to the published MMPI-2, representing a
major psychometric reconstruction of the original Clinical Scales
 In 2008, the MMPI-2-RF (Restructured Form) was published after nearly two decades of
extensive efforts to psychometrically and theoretically fine tune the measure

5.INTERVIEW
An interview is a conversation between two or more people where questions are asked by the
interviewer to elicit facts or statements from the interviewee. Interviews are a standard part
of journalism and media reporting, but are also employed in many other situations,

6.CASE HISTORY

All the relevant information or material gathered about an individual, family, group, etc., and arranged s
o asto serve as an organized record and have analytic value for a social worker, student, or the like: used
especially in social work, sociology, psychiatry, and medicine.

7.BIOGRAPHY

A biography or simply bio is a detailed description or account of a person's life. It entails more than
basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death—a biography also portrays a subject's
experience of these events. Unlike a profile or curriculum vitae (résumé), a biography presents a
subject's life story, highlighting various aspects of his or her life, including intimate details of
experience, and may include an analysis of the subject's personality.
8.RATING SCALE

The rating scale is one of the oldest and most versatile of assessment techniques. Rating scales present
users with an item and ask them to select from a number of choices. The rating scale is similar in some
respects to a multiple choice test, but its options represent degrees of a particular characteristic.

9.SOCIOMETRY

The word sociometry comes from the Latin “socius,” meaning social and the Latin “metrum,” meaning
measure. As these roots imply, sociometry is a way of measuring the degree of relatedness among
people. Measurement of relatedness can be useful not only in the assessment of behavior within groups,
but also for interventions to bring about positive change and for determining the extent of change. For a
work group, sociometry can be a powerful tool for reducing conflict and improving communication
because it allows the group to see itself objectively and to analyze its own dynamics. It is also a
powerful tool for assessing dynamics and development in groups devoted to therapy or training.
10.PROJECTIVE TECHNIQUE

Projective techniques, originally developed for use in psychology, can be used in an evaluation to
provide a prompt for interviews. Photolanguage is a particular type of projective technique where
participants select one or two pictures from a set and use them to illustrate their comments about
something.

What is inside a person rather than what can be seen in a person’s behavior.

To find about more about a persons feeling, unconscious desire and inner thought.

Rorschach ink blot test was the first projective test and is still widely used.

A.RORSCHACH INK BLOT TEST

The Rorschach inkblot test is a type of projective psychological testcreated in 1921 by Hermann
Rorschach. Used to analyze personality and emotional functioning, it is the second most commonly used
forensic test after the MMPI. A 1995 survey 412 clinical psychologists in the American Psychological
Association revealed that 82% used the Rorschach inkblot test at least occasionally

The interpretation of people's responses to the Rorschach Inkblot Test was originally based on
psychoanalytical theory but investigators have used it in an empirical fashion. When this test is used
empirically, the quality of the responses is related to the measurements of personality.

Response are differ from person to person based on individual personnel experience.

Information

 Degree of intelligence control of subject on his action

 Emotional aspect
 Mental approach to give problems
 Creative and imaginative capacities
 Security and anxiety
 Personality growth and development
  Phobia, sex disturbances severe psychological disorder can be detected which serve as a guide
for treatment programme.

B.THEMATIC APPRECIATION TEST

The Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT, is a projective psychological test. Proponents of this
technique assert that a person's responses reveal underlying motives, concerns, and the way they see the
social world through the stories they make up about ambiguous pictures of people. Historically, it has
been among the most widely researched, taught, and used of such tests.

The TAT was developed during the 1930s by the American psychologist Henry A. Murray and lay
psychoanalyst Christiana D. Morgan at the Harvard Clinic at Harvard University.

The TAT is popularly known as the picture interpretation technique because it uses a series of
provocative yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject is asked to tell a story. The TAT manual
provides the administration instructions used by Murray, although these procedures are commonly
altered. The subject is asked to tell as dramatic a story as they can for each picture presented, including
the following:

 what has led up to the event shown

 what is happening at the moment

 what the characters are feeling and thinking

 what the outcome of the story was

Areas of TAT

 Family relationship
 Motivation
 Inner fantasies
 Level of aspiration
 Social relationship
 Feeling of sex urge
C.SENTENCE COMPLETION TEST

It is simple test to assess the subject regarding inner concept of object or environment .subject complete
the sentence own desired words. E.g.: I like - , what problem with me? My mother always?

ADVANTAGES

 Can apply in illiterate

 Identify that wishes, desire and inner concepts
 Able to express in own words.

D.WORD ASSOCIATION TEST

Word Association Test (WAT) is the Second test at Service Selection Boards in Psychologist series, by
this test psychologist reads the personality which a candidate possesses. In this test you will be shown a
word and you are required to form a meaningful sentence using that word. On seeing a word there might
be different ideas in your mind related to that word but you must write the first spontaneous reaction in
your answer sheet. The Time limit is restricted to 15 Seconds so that candidate is not confused with
subsequent thoughts and give his first thought only.

Your are required to complete 60 words, each word will be shown for 15 Seconds and within this 15
Seconds you have to record your thought in answer sheet provided to you.

11. LIE DETECTOR

A polygraph (popularly referred to as a lie detector) measures and records several physiological indices
such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a
series of questions. The belief underpinning the use of the polygraph is that deceptive answers will
produce physiological responses that can be differentiated from those associated with non-deceptive
answers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Basavanthappa B.T. “Nursing Education”, I edition 2003, Jaypee Brother’s
Medical Publishers. Pg -745
2. Sudha R. “Nursing Education ,principles and concept ’’I edition, 2013, Jaypee
Brothers medical publishers.pg-204-205
3. Nima Bhaskar “Text Book of Nursing Education” I Edition, 2013, EMMESS
Publication, Pg-295-296