Personality Assessment Instrument Paper
There are many different types of personality assessments available at this time. These assessments each hold both strengths and weaknesses in comparison to each other. Looking at the California Personality Inventory (CPI), the Rorscharch inkblot test and popular magazines can give one a generalization of the different types of personality assessments available and what they can find out through the various types. The California Personality Inventory or CPI is a test that is meant to provide a “complex yet highly accurate of an individual’s professional and personal syles.
” These tests have been used for many years in order to help provide the best personality match for different organizations and teams. They have also been used to develop strength training models and team work competencies. The tests are good at developing an overall picture of the various things that a person will excel at as well as what they will have problems with. This test utilizes four hundred and thirty four items and provides an overall claim to have an “unmatched validity and reliability as a dynamic and objective measure of personality and behavior.
” This test uses some gender specific questions and other combined norms that are used to identify various aspects of a person’s personality (CPI 1). The CPI is used to identify personality types as well as the Rorschach inkblot test. Another type of personality test is the Rorschach inkblot test. This test is used to identify the “personality characteristics and emotional functioning” of people. This test is currently used a lot in forensic application to identify underlying psychotic and non-psychotic thinking.
It is also used to identify underlying thought disorders that affect the personality. In this test there are ten official inkblots, these include five black and white inkblots, two red and white inkblots and three inkblots that are multicolored. These are shown in a particular order and the patient is asked to identify what they are in each one. After the quick run through where the patient gives his/her initial idea of what the inkblots are they are again given to the patient to study and the patient is asked to identify everything that he/she sees in the inkblots this time through.
This gives the individual a chance to rotate and move the inkblot and overall tell what parts of the inkblot are what they are seeing. The practitioner will write down everything that the client says and then evaluates what is said. The biggest misconception is that the profile is based on what is seen in the inkblots but this is only a small amount of what is actually evaluated (O’ Reiley 1-2). The CPI and the Rorschach inkblot tests are used to identify different personality factors as well as some more popular methods like popular culture magazines.
Some popular culture magazines offer “personality” tests from time to time. These “tests” of sorts can be found in all different types of magazines including publications like Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and People. These tests boasts that by answering some simple questions and adding up points for the questions or looking at the probability of answering a different percentage of certain types of answers that you can gather information about your personality and the type of personality that you have.
These personality tests are typically looked at as something that is fun and enjoyable and have been long looked at by professionals as having more entertainment than clinical values. When comparing and contrasting these various modes of personality assessment it is important to look at the validity of the assessments. The CPI’s validity comes in that it is a very long and lengthy test that looks into many different types of aspects of one’s personality. It also looks all a multifaceted approach to finding out information about the personality.
It is identified on a scoring scale based on the answers that are provided and is a good way to be able to organize personalities for projects and strengths and weaknesses based assessments or projects. It is a good test for the workplace and a good test for finding out how the employees or perspective employees will work together. As for the validity of the Rorschach inkblot test it too is a more valid form of personality assessment than some. It is administered by a psychologist and the professional then identifies personality problems or flaws based on what is seen.
Since professionals are doing the scoring and applying the situations, they are considered to be more valid than other forms of identification. As for the personality tests that are available in magazines, well the validity of such tests could easily be questioned as there are so many other areas where they are able to assume things and they are based on the person identifying things about themselves (CPI 1-2 and O’Reilly 1-3). Not only is the validity looked at for personality tests but also their comprehensibility. There are many different levels of comprehensiveness.
The CPI test is the most comprehensive of the three as it is looking through so many questions and variables in creating the personality profile of the individual. This means that there are more different aspects looked at in creating the personality type in this aspect than any others identified in this paper. The Rorschach inkblot test is somewhat comprehensive but there could be variability based on the practitioner and how he/she relates to the individual and what he/she gathers from the outward behaviors and things that the individual is saying.
So although this test offers some degree of comprehensibility it does not offer the overall comprehensiveness as a lot of variability is added to the overall test. As for the comprehensiveness of the tests that are available in the popular magazines, well these tests offer little in the way of being comprehensive as they are all based on self assessment and self evaluation. These tests typically do not offer a clear picture of the individual (CPI 1-2 and O’Reilly 1-3). Not only are the validity and comprehensibility important in personality profiles but also the applicability is important in assessing personality tests.
When assessing personality tests the applicability is important. For the CPI the applicability is very practical for everyday life. This test boasts that it is great for employers and employees as it can identify sources of future conflicts and help to find ways to prevent them before there is a problem. This test is applicable in a variety of ways for both personal and professional use. It can help to identify areas where relationships could have problems in both the person’s professional and personal life and can be used as part of a conflict resolution tactic.
The Rorschach personality profile is not as adaptable to everyday life as the CPI. This test is basically looking for flaws or problems in the personality and does little to identify strengths or overall characteristics. This test is not as adaptable in everyday life as the CPI but is probably more adaptable in forensic or criminal investigations. The personality tests in popular magazines can be adaptable in some aspects if used in the right way. These tests offer the individual the opportunity to look at things in his/her life that have caused problems and can help in self exploration and self evolvement.
These tests if used properly can be adaptable in regular everyday life settings in order to help the practitioner to be able to see what is going on and can help to identify areas where self help could be needed or can help to identify when someone needs to seek further mental health help (CPI 1-2 and O’Reilly 1-3). Not only is the applicability important with personality assessments but also the cultural utility. The cultural utility of a personality assessment is basically the usefulness of the personality assessment to the culture.
For the CPI this aspect can be looked at as the way that the test is given and the way that it will adapt based on the various cultures. It is also the overall ways that the results can be used based on the culture or environment for which they are in. This means that the test can help in a broad number of areas both personal and professional and that it can be used to assess personality aspects in both of these areas as well. This test can be helpful in it’s versatility and the overall components can help to identify the areas that need to be worked on.
With the Rorschach inkblot test the cultural utility is not as broad as the test is primarily utilized in particular areas of personality. This is meaning that the test is better in some areas than others. In the end the test is not as useful for different cultural issues and is more in relation to criminology aspects than the CPI. As for the tests that are available in popular magazines, well these tests can be more broad and can be applicable to all cultures however they too are based primarily on self evaluation and they are not as useful in being able to identify numerous areas of strengths or weaknesses or needs for improvement.
They are less rounded and more likely to simplify the answers in order for basic understanding and they are not as useful in the overall comprehension of personality (CPI 1-2 and O’Reilly 1-3). The many different aspects of personality profiles can answer what type of personality profile you need for your organization or your problem. There are many different types of personality assessments and each of them offer their own strengths and weaknesses in identifying personality types and problems or conflicts that can arise as well as how to solve these conflicts.
Knowing more information about the personality assessments as well as what they can provide to the individual is often what will help the individual to benefit the most through these assessments. For example the CPI or California Personality Inventory is very intense. The profile of one’s personality is created from a set of values assigned to a variety of questions. There are four hundred and thirty four questions in this profile and it does differentiate between genders for some of them in order to get the most accurate profiles.
This test overall is great for employers as it is able to identify the individual’s strengths and weaknesses and how the individual would react in conflict as well as identifying between various personality types conflicts that could arise. The overall answers for these tests are evaluated on a scale and can be done with basic training or by a professional. The Rorschach inkblot test is used primarily by those who are in forensics. It is always administered by a trained psychological professional.
This test has a lot of strengths and the main weakness is that the practitioners can interpret behaviors or things different and this can affect the personality or professionalism on these aspects. This test is good for identifying underlying personality disorders but does not do as well as identify different types of personalities or conflicts that they could have as well as future problems that there could be so it would not be as useful in one’s place of employment.
As for the self evaluation personality tests in magazines, their main purpose is for self exploration and entertainment. Being able to examine one’s self is often difficult and being honest with one’s self does not always happen. These personality tests that are available in popular magazines are basically meant for entertainment value and if the individual can learn something about him/herself then they can benefit in some way.
These tests however are not fact based and rely heavily on the individual who is taking them. This means that they are not as good for figuring out personalities as the other two methods could be. Bibliography “CPI 434” (2009). CPP. Retrieved on 29 March 2009 from http://cpp. com/products/cpi/index. aspx. O’ Reilly, GP (8 January 2007). “Rorschach Inkblot Test. ” Rorschach Inkblot Test. Retrieved on 29 March 2009 from http://rorschachinkblottest. com/inktest. php.
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