Advancing Personality Assessment Terminology: Time to Retire "Objective" and "Projective" As Personality Test Descriptors

Unmasking Verbal Defensiveness: The Role of Psychological Threat in Sentence Completion Tests

Shedding light on the validity of sentence completion test (SCT) verbal defensiveness as an index of defensive behavior, the current two-part study examined the relationship between psychological threat and verbal defensiveness among military security and mission-critical team candidates using SCTs. Our study showed that as the threatening nature of SCT stems increased, defensive responses also increased, substantiating the link between psychological threat and defensive behavior. In addition, expert ratings of stem content revealed moderately strong relationships with defensive responses across two different SCTs, irrespective of their structural characteristics. In contrast to previous studies using total verbal defensiveness scores, we examined specific defensive response types and their associations with stem threat ratings, finding that omissions, denial, and comments about the test were linked to stem threat levels. Lastly, our study extends the application of the SCT verbal defensiveness index beyond specialized personnel selection, finding no significant differences in verbal defensiveness based on gender or military status. Overall, these findings contribute to a comprehensive understanding of defensive behavior and its contextual variations.

Only an inkblot? A literature review of the neural correlates of the Rorschach inkblot test

The Rorschach inkblot test allows access to psychological processes that usually do not emerge in self-report measures and it has been widely used in clinical psychological and psychiatric settings. Recordings of brain activity during the administration of the Rorschach inkblots test could provide information on neural correlates of the underlying perceptual-cognitive processing and potentially identify neuroimaging markers of psychopathology risk. The present paper offers a systematization of the available literature on the Rorschach inkblot test and neuroimaging research. The 13 selected studies had been conducted with healthy participants and using fMRI, EEG, and fNIRS to investigate the neural underpinnings of Rorschach inkblot test responses. The neural processes underlying the visual, social, and emotional processes described by the included papers are systematically summarized. Research on the neural correlates of the Rorschach inkblot test is promising and would further benefit from studies on clinical populations, broader samples, and younger age groups.

Excursions in Rorschachlandia: Surveying the scientific and philosophical landscape of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics

This article examines the milieu of Hermann Rorschach's Psychodiagnostics (1921/2021) under development between 1911 and his death in 1922 and explores new evidence about the direction Rorschach's test might have taken after publication of Psychodiagnostics. This includes direct and indirect influences from turn of the century continental philosophy and science and innovative colleagues in the Swiss psychiatric and psychoanalytic societies. The availability of newly translated scholarship, including the correspondence between Ludwig Binswanger and Hermann Rorschach following the 1921 publication of Psychodiagnostics, Binswanger's posthumous 1923 commentary in the International Journal of Psychoanalysis, and recent new translation of Psychodiagnostics, permits a fresh appraisal of the milieu and foundations of Rorschach's development. Understanding these sources and influences opens new vistas in reappraising the nature of Rorschach's "test theory" which Rorschach considered undeveloped at the time of his death. This paper presents new evidence that, under the influence of Rorschach's close colleague, Ludwig Binswanger, the Geisteswissenschaften and phenomenology might have figured prominently in future developments. The paper concludes that Rorschach, preoccupied with considerations of kinesthetic subjectivity in his innovative conceptualization of human movement responses, was a nascent phenomenologist whose untimely death cut short further developments in his theory of the test.

Attachment style dimensions are associated with neural activation during projection of mental states

The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between attachment dimensions and neural correlates in response to the Rorschach inkblots. Twenty-seven healthy volunteers were recruited for the electroencephalographic registration during a visual presentation of the Rorschach inkblots and polygonal shapes. The Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ) was administered to participants. Correlations between the ASQ scores and standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (sLORETA) intensities were performed. The Rorschach inkblots elicited several projective responses greater than the polygonal shapes (distortions, human and total movements, and embellishments). Only during the Rorschach inkblots presentation, discomfort with closeness and relationships as secondary subscales were negatively correlated with the activation of right hippocampus, parahippocampus, amygdala, and insula; need for approval subscale was negatively correlated with the activation of orbital and prefrontal cortex and left hippocampus. Moreover, the correlations between attachment dimensions and neural activation during the Rorschach inkblots were significantly higher compared to the same correlations in response to polygonal shapes. These findings suggest that attachment style can modulate brain activation during the projective activity of the Rorschach inkblots.

Legal Admissibility of the Rorschach and R-PAS: A Review of Research, Practice, and Case Law

The special issue editors selected us to form an "adversarial collaboration" because our publications and teaching encompass both supportive and critical attitudes toward the Rorschach and its recently developed system for use, the Rorschach Performance Assessment System (R-PAS). We reviewed the research literature and case law to determine if the Rorschach and specifically R-PAS meet legal standards for admissibility in court. We included evidence on norms, reliability, validity, utility, general acceptance, forensic evaluator use, and response style assessment, as well as United States and selected European case law addressing challenges to mental examination motions, admissibility, and weight. Compared to other psychological tests, the Rorschach is not challenged at unusually high rates. Although the recently introduced R-PAS is not widely referenced in case law, evidence suggests that information from it is likely to be ruled admissible when used by a competent evaluator and selected variables yield scores that are sufficiently reliable and valid to evaluate psychological processes that inform functional psycholegal capacities. We identify effective and ethical but also inappropriate uses (e.g., psychological profiling) of R-PAS in criminal, civil, juvenile, and family court. We recommend specific research to clarify important aspects of R-PAS and advance its utility in forensic mental health assessment.

A preliminary study: designing and validating projective images of Young's early maladaptive schema (EMS) domains

BACKGROUND

This study aims to design and validate ten projective images of Young's Early Maladaptive Schema (EMS) domains. For this purpose, two questions are to be addressed. (1) How is the factorial structure of the projective images of EMS domains? (2) Do the images designed in the domains of disconnection and rejection, impaired autonomy and performance, impaired limits, other-directedness, and over-vigilance and inhibition have sufficient validity?

METHODS

This is an applied mixed-methods exploratory study, in which the statistical population consisted of psychologists from Tehran Province in the qualitative section (n = 8) as well as other individuals aged between 18 and 65 years (mean age = 33) from Qazvin in the quantitative section (n = 102) in 2018. The research questions were analyzed through principal axis factoring with a varimax rotation, confirmatory factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Cronbach's alpha.

RESULTS

According to the results, ten images and five domains of Young's EMSs contribute to a simple structure. Accounting for 70.35% of the total variance of EMSs, the five dimensions include disconnection and rejection, impaired autonomy and performance, impaired limits, other-directedness, and over-vigilance and inhibition.

CONCLUSIONS

The results indicated that the designed projective images yielded acceptable construct validity.

Validity of the TAT in Brazil: Theoretical and Methodological Issues

Abstract Although the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is popular in Brazil, showing evidences of its validity remains a challenge. In the present article, we discuss such issue by analyzing the definition of the TAT as a projective method and a psychological test, its use by different theoretical traditions, relations between nomothetic and idiographic analysis levels, limitations of Classical Test Theory for evaluating the instrument’s properties, and challenges regarding research and practice with the instrument in Brazil. We advocate that overcoming a traditional view of projective techniques, using multidimensional methods and performing wider empirical studies on norms and validation evidences with multicenter databases may allow more secure and informed practices with the instrument among researchers and practitioners in the country.

Introduction to the Special Issue on the Role of Personality Assessment in Consulting to Organizations

This special issue aims to advance the integration of personality assessment across applied contexts. Personality assessment is an integral part of clinical and organizational case conceptualizations, intervention planning, and change efforts. Yet, as the present historical account will illustrate, the literatures in relation to personality assessment have developed rather independently. The articles in this special issue highlight the importance of organizational personality assessment as relates to how (a) academics vs. practitioners look at standards for test selection (Furnham), (b) the intended use of tests (selection vs. employee development) impacts the criteria used to establish assessment tool validity (Moyle & Hackston), (c) personality models developed in social and personality psychology can be applied in organizational contexts (Shorey & Chaffin), (d) assessments are modified to more accurately assess operational definitions of constructs (Belwalker & Tobacyk), (e) perception and knowledge about personality of others can be assessed as an ability (Mayer, Lortie, Panter & Caruso), and (f) performance-based techniques can be used in organizational personality assessment to curtail faking and socially desirable responding (Harms, Krasikova & Luthans). The present introduction highlights the important contributions of these articles, individually and as a body, in advancing the integration and application of personality assessment in organizational contexts.

Introducing the concept of neurobiological foundation of Rorschach responses using the example of Oral Dependent Language

We introduce the concept of "neurobiological foundation" of Rorschach interpretations as an extension of the concept of behavioral representation as a foundation for interpretation of R-PAS variables. Here, we propose that if there is a parallelism between the mental, verbal and perceptual behaviors occurring within the microcosm of the Rorschach task and those occurring in the external environment [behavioral foundation], then the same brain regions engaged by the test-taker when producing of a given code, should be engaged also when reproducing, in the external environment, the same psychological processes underlying that specific Rorschach code [neurobiological foundation]. To investigate this concept, we used archival, fMRI data and tested whether producing Oral Dependency Language (ODL) responses would associate with increased activation in brain regions associated with dependency-related, psychological processes. Results from a sample of 21 non-clinical volunteers partially confirmed our hypothesis, providing some support to the neurobiological foundation of the ODL code.

Association of Synthetic House-Tree-Person Drawing Test and Depression in Cancer Patients

Background

Evidence regarding the relationship between synthetic house-tree-person (S-HTP) drawing test and depression in cancer patients is limited. The aim of this study was to explore the applicability and validity of S-HTP drawing test in cancer patients suffering from depression.

Methods

As a population based cross-sectional study, 167 patients with cancer were enrolled in a hospital in China from December 2015 to December 2017. Self-edited general information questionnaire, self-rating depression scale (SDS), and the S-HTP drawing test were completed by all participants.

Results

The average age of 167 selected participants was 52.92 ± 10.43 years old, and about 58.7% (98/167) of them were male. On SDS, depression rate was found in 34.1% (27/167) cancer patients. The logistic regression equation was established by using the depression drawing characteristics as the independent variables and the evaluation results from SDS as the dependent variable and 9 drawing characteristics employed in the regression equation (χ2 = 68.657, P < 0.001. Nagelkerke R²= 0.466). Correlation analysis revealed a positive correlation between S-HTP drawing test and SDS for depression state of cancer patients (p < 0.01).

Conclusions

There are interrater reliability and test-retest reliability between S-HTP drawing test and SDS. The S-HTP drawing test could help in screening depression in cancer patients.

Convergence between Rorschach and self-report: A new look at some old questions

OBJECTIVE

This study presents an examination of the influence of response format on convergence between performance-based and self-report assessments of similar mental health constructs, to determine if such method variance might account for prior findings of lack of relationship.

METHODS

An online sample of 455 participants (57% male; average age, 35.5) completed a multiple-choice version of the Rorschach and two self-report instruments, the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) representation of the domain traits of the five-factor model (FFM).

RESULTS

Several significant interrelationships emerged between the Rorschach Amplified Multiple Choice Test and the PAI and IPIP five-factor scales.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that the Rorschach can correlate meaningfully with similar constructs assessed using self-report methodology when comparable response formats are utilized.

Chronic fatigue syndrome and the somatic expression of emotional distress: Applying the concept of illusory mental health to address the controversy

OBJECTIVE

The process of somatization in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) was investigated using the concept of illusory mental health (IMH). IMH involves self-reporting low emotional distress alongside performance-based assessment of distress.

METHOD

We studied IHM and physical symptoms in 175 women across four groups: (a) CFS plus depression; (b) CFS with no depression (CFS-ND); (c) depressive disorder without CFS; and (d) healthy controls (HC). IMH was assessed using a self-report measure plus the performance-based Early Memory Index (EMI).

RESULTS

CFS-NDs were no more likely to have IMH compared with HCs. Among the CFS-NDs, IMH was associated with more physical symptoms. For CFS-NDs, EMI added meaningfully beyond self-reported mental health in predicting physical symptoms.

CONCLUSION

Findings refute reducing CFS to somatization, but there is a subgroup of CFS whose lacking access to emotional distress is associated with heightened physical symptomatology.

Emotional Regulation in Women with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Depression: Internal Representations and Adaptive Defenses

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) presents challenges in differential diagnosis and treatment. Complicating diagnosis is that its symptoms overlap with those of depression. This study applies psychoanalytic concepts to understand emotional regulation (ER) in women with CFS and/or depression. One hundred eighty-six women were assigned to four groups and compared: (a) CFS plus high er depression (CFS-HD); (b) CFS plus lower depression (CFS-LD); (c) depressive disorder (DD); and (d) healthy controls (HC). ER was operationalized by measures of capacity to form internal representations and adaptive defenses. The study's premise was that difficulties metabolizing emotions psychologically would be associated with their greater somatic expression. Some support was found for the hypothesis that CFS participants would exhibit more impairment in representing emotions and in adaptive defenses compared to the DD and HC groups, but this held only for the CFS-HD group. Although CFS-LD participants were expected to be more purely somatizing than the CFS-HD group, they instead showed more sophisticated capacities for ER than that group and recalled less distressing early relationships, revealing more resilience. Still, however, we found support for somatization in some CFS sufferers: Within both the CFS-HD and the CFS-LD groups, weaknesses in representing emotions and in defensive functioning were associated with more severe physical symptoms. Clinically, the heterogeneity of CFS and those who suffer from it indicates the need for individual assessment and depression treatment.

Current Patterns of Training in Personality Assessment During Internship

OBJECTIVE

Training in broad-based objective and projective personality assessments has been a mainstay of applied psychology. Stedman (2007) and Piotrowski (2015) have documented a decline in projective training during internship. This study investigated internship directors' current expectations regarding graduate school training with objective and projective instruments, their ratings of the importance of that training, and current training patterns with objective and projective instruments during internship.

METHOD

Participants were 355 psychology internship programs, representing 46.1% of the Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers.

RESULTS

Results indicated the following current internship training patterns: Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (68% to 51%), Personality Assessment Inventory (59% to 25%), Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (51% to 34%), Rorschach (35 to 26%), story telling (41% to 19%), sentence completion (41% to 18%), and drawings (36% to 9%). Adult program directors reported higher percentages for objective tests; child program directors reported higher percentages for projective tests.

CONCLUSION

A decreased valuation of projective techniques is now typical of current internship training programs.

Assessing Narcissism Using Rorschach-Based Imagery and Behavior Validated by Clinician Reports: Studies With Adult Patients and Nonpatients

We evaluate 11 Rorschach variables with potential for assessing grandiosity and narcissism. Seven of these variables were drawn from previous literature: Omnipotence, Idealization, Reflection, Personal Knowledge Justification, Exhibitionism, Magic, and Elevated Mood States; four were developed for this research: Expanded Personal Reference, Narcissistic Devaluation, Narcissistic Deflation, and Narcissistic Denial. Using Rorschach protocols from American normative adults and Italian adult outpatients, the dimensional structure of these variables was evaluated by principal components analysis, and validity was tested by correlations with clinician ratings of narcissism on two scales from the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 that were made after at least five sessions with the primary clinician. A cohesive dimension was found in both data sets defined by Expanded Personal Reference, Personal Knowledge Justification, Omnipotence, and Idealization, and it was meaningfully correlated with the clinician ratings of narcissism ( M r = .41). Implications of the findings include the applicability of these variables in clinical practice and research for assessing narcissistic personality dynamics.

Exploring Children's Induced Defensiveness to the Tell Me a Story Test (TEMAS)

This study examined the effect of inducing a defensive attitude (fake good) in children on their responses to the Tell Me a Story test (TEMAS; Costantino, Malgady, & Rogler, 1988 ). Different story elicitation procedures were employed to explore their efficacy for inducing a defensive response style in children. Eighty-four Italian children aged 8 to 10 years old completed the TEMAS and the L scale of the Behavioral Assessment Scale for Children-2 (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004 ), which were used to detect the adoption of a defensive attitude. Children completed the tests under 1 of 3 conditions: (a) honest condition, (b) fake good with verbal instructions, and (c) fake good with verbal instructions and visual stimuli illustrating what was verbally explained. Using simultaneous verbal instructions and visual stimuli facilitated children's understanding of the researcher's instructions compared to using verbal stimuli alone. Results showed that children instructed to fake good used less time to tell stories and tended to modify the simpler and more face valid aspects of their stories. Still, 29 out of 47 children failed to fake good on the BASC-2 L scale. More complex TEMAS variables showed no significant difference between story elicitation conditions.

Functioning in the Real World: Using Storytelling to Improve Validity in the Assessment of Executive Functions

Real-world contexts differ in the clarity of expectations for desired responses, as do assessment procedures, ranging along a continuum from maximal conditions that provide well-defined expectations to typical conditions that provide ill-defined expectations. Executive functions guide effective social interactions, but relations between them have not been studied with measures that are matched in the clarity of response expectations. In predicting teacher-rated social competence (SC) from kindergarteners' performance on tasks of executive functions (EFs), we found better model-data fit indexes when both measures were similar in the clarity of response expectations for the child. The maximal EF measure, the Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment, presents well-defined response expectations, and the typical EF measure, 5 scales from the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), presents ill-defined response expectations (i.e., Abstraction, Perceptual Integration, Cognitive-Experiential Integration, and Associative Thinking). To assess SC under maximal and typical conditions, we used 2 teacher-rated questionnaires, with items, respectively, that emphasize well-defined and ill-defined expectations: the Behavior Rating Inventory: Behavioral Regulation Index and the Social Skills Improvement System: Social Competence Scale. Findings suggest that matching clarity of expectations improves generalization across measures and highlight the usefulness of the TAT to measure EF.

Personality Assessment in the Diagnostic Manuals: On Mindfulness, Multiple Methods, and Test Score Discontinuities

Recent controversies have illuminated the strengths and limitations of different frameworks for conceptualizing personality pathology (e.g., trait perspectives, categorical models), and stimulated debate regarding how best to diagnose personality disorders (PDs) in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.), and in other diagnostic systems (i.e., the International Classification of Diseases, the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual). In this article I argue that regardless of how PDs are conceptualized and which diagnostic system is employed, multimethod assessment must play a central role in PD diagnosis. By complementing self-reports with evidence from other domains (e.g., performance-based tests), a broader range of psychological processes are engaged in the patient, and the impact of self-perception and self-presentation biases can be better understood. By providing the assessor with evidence drawn from multiple modalities, some of which provide converging patterns and some of which yield divergent results, a multimethod assessment compels the assessor to engage this evidence more deeply. The mindful processing that ensues can help minimize the deleterious impact of naturally occurring information processing bias and distortion on the part of the clinician (e.g., heuristics, attribution errors), bringing greater clarity to the synthesis and integration of assessment data.

Relationship between the Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) in psychotic patients: a validity study

The aim of this study is to demonstrate the validity of the Rorschach Perceptual Thinking Index (PTI) in the assessment of reality testing in patients with psychosis. We evaluated the relationship between the PTI criteria and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores in 98 psychotic disorder affected patients. Thirty four were evaluated during the acute episode (AP) and 64 were chronically treated and stable (CP). The PANSS positive score resulted significantly higher in AP than in CP group, but no significant difference was found in the PTI score. The PTI positively correlated with the PANSS total score. The PTI1 and PTI2 criteria significantly correlated with the PANSS negative score, the PTI4 and PTI5 with the positive. The Rorschach variable X-% significantly correlated with the negative symptoms; the WSum6 with thought disorders; and the M- with delusions. PTI score, X-% and WSum6 predicted impaired judgment and insight. These results suggest that PTI is a valid instrument to assess impairment in reality testing, regardless of the patient׳s current psychiatric presentation. The presence of conceptual disorganization, delusions, lack of judgment and insight don׳t have effects on the PTI, supporting its strength as an assessment tool for psychotic disorders.

Higher Levels of Psychopathy Predict Poorer Motor Control: Implications for Understanding the Psychopathy Construct

A review of the literature suggests that higher levels of psychopathy may be linked to less effective behavioral control. However, several commentators have urged caution in making statements of this type in the absence of direct evidence. In two studies (total N = 142), moment-to-moment accuracy in a motor control task was examined as a function of dimensional variations in psychopathy in an undergraduate population. As hypothesized, motor control was distinctively worse at higher levels of psychopathy relative to lower levels, both as a function of primary and secondary psychopathy and particularly their shared variance. These novel findings provide support for the idea that motor control systematically varies by psychopathy, in a basic manner, consistent with views of psychopathy emphasizing lesser control.

Mitos e verdades no ensino de técnicas projetivas

O objetivo do presente estudo foi esclarecer mal entendidos comumente encontrados no ensino de técnicas projetivas. Foram desenvolvidos três temas: o mito da exclusividade da psicanálise sobre esses instrumentos, a reavaliação da nomenclatura das técnicas e o mito da ausência de validade. Encontrou-se que há publicações que dão suporte à utilização dessas técnicas por psicólogos de diversas abordagens, exemplificando com um teste desenvolvido pelo behaviorista Skinner. A possibilidade de uma nova terminologia, questionada por outros pesquisadores, foi apresentada. Além disso, a revisão concluiu que as técnicas demonstram cientificidade em diversos contextos da Psicologia.

Verbal expressive personality testing with older adults: 25+ years later

This review builds on those conducted over 25 years ago by Panek and Hayslip in examining the literature dealing with the use of verbal expressive techniques with older adults. Such findings based on the Rorschach Ink Blot Test, Holtzman Inkblot Technique, Hand Test, Sentence Completion methods, and the Thematic Apperception Test and kindred thematic apperceptive techniques are presented and evaluated regarding the evidence for age differences, differential diagnosis, extraneous individual differences in performance, and adequacy of normative data. Although available evidence appears to warrant the continued use of verbal expressive techniques with older adults, more adequately designed studies are necessary to fully support the potential of these assessment tools for decision making with this population: assisting in diagnosis, recommending the appropriateness of various living arrangements, facilitating supportive care choices, and aiding in treatment planning.

Imagining public engagement

Two separate studies look at how student samples conceptualize public engagement. The first study involves the quantitative analysis of an open-ended survey question and finds that participants have a range of ideas about what public decision-makers might do to consult the public but that most of these mechanisms involve very little opportunity for actual consultation. The second introduces a "draw a meeting test" and finds substantial homogeneity in how participants envisage this specific mechanism of public engagement. As with study 1, however, participants see little opportunity for citizens to have substantive opportunity for meaningful engagement with decision-makers. Overall, the research highlights the potential utility of broader research focused on how citizens envisage public meetings that includes testing the impact of public engagement perceptions on willingness to engage.

Risk factors for medically serious suicide attempts: evidence for a psychodynamic formulation of suicidal crisis

This study explored a psychodynamic model for suicide risk by examining risk factors for medically serious suicide attempts, including assessments of affect flooding, negative self-schema / fragmentation, and impaired reality testing, closely approximating Maltsberger's psycho-dynamic formulation of suicide crisis. Baseline risk factors including age, gender, psychiatric symptoms, high-risk behaviors, and the Implicit Risk for Suicide Index (IRSI) were used to detect medically serious suicide attempts monitored for up to a year after the assessment. Twenty-five psychiatric inpatients who made life-threatening suicide attempts after assessment were compared to 25 inpatients and 25 psychotherapy outpatients who made no suicide attempts during follow-up. Statistical analysis revealed that a history of at least one suicide attempt and elevated IRSI scores accounted for 60 percent of the variance in detecting medically serious suicide attempts. Elevated IRSI accurately identified suicide attempt status above and beyond past suicide attempts and other empirically validated risk factors. Results are discussed in light of psychodynamic formulations of suicide risk.

Depression and self-concept: personality traits or coping styles in reaction to school retention of Hispanic adolescents

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether depression and self-concept could be construed as personality characteristics and/or coping styles in reaction to school retention or being held back a grade. The participants in this study were 156 urban Hispanic adolescents, ages 12-18, and of these, 51 or 33% had been retained in school. Students who had been retained reported a lower self-concept score, higher GPA, and higher rates of depression, and they were more likely to be male than students who had not been retained. The findings of this study indicated that self-concept was a personality characteristic that, due to its malleability, is also a coping style in regards to retention with this Hispanic adolescent population.

Personality Assessment from the Nineteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century: Past Achievements and Contemporary Challenges

The historical basis of personality assessment that led to the development of today's approaches and applications is described. The modern era of personality assessment began in late nineteenth-century Europe. Early twentieth-century highlights included the development of projective techniques like the Rorschach and several early self-report inventories, culminating in the development of the most widely used measure, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). The most recent 30-year period showed expansions into personnel screening; clinical assessment, including wide use in forensic settings; and therapeutic assessment. However, contemporary controversies are apparent with two of the most widely used measures, the Rorschach and the MMPI instruments. These controversies are described, including concerns about the Exner Comprehensive System for the Rorschach and the last five years of changes to the MMPI-2, including the introduction of the Restructured Clinical (RC) Scales, the adoption of the Fake Bad Scale (FBS) into the instrument, and the release of the MMPI-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF). Current challenges facing psychologists in personality assessment are highlighted.

An examination of the construct validity of the Rorschach Mutuality of Autonomy (MOA) Scale

Using 100 clinical cases, we examined the construct validity of the Mutuality of Autonomy (MOA) Scale (Urist, 1977) using Westen and Rosenthal's (2003) r(contrast - construct validity (CV)) procedure for quantifying a pattern of convergent-discriminant relationships between a target measure and a set of criterion variables. Our 15 criterion variables included the Comprehensive System (CS; Exner, 2003) variables, a CS-based measure of ego strength (Resnick, 1994), and 3 subscales from the Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale (Westen, Lohr, Silk, Kerber, & Goodrich, 1990). We generated the r(contrast - CV) coefficients to test 2 competing hypotheses: that the MOA Scale primarily measures object relations (OR) quality or that it primarily measures psychopathology. Results suggest that the MOA Scale is an equally potent measure of OR and psychopathology regardless of the MOA Scale index used.

Rorschach variables and Big Five scales as predictors of military training completion: a replication study of the selection of candidates to the naval special forces in Norway

We tested 140 male candidates at the Naval Special Forces (NFS) of Norway on the Rorschach (Exner, 2003; Rorschach, 1921/1942) and the Norwegian version of the Big Five personality dimensions (Engvik & Føllesdal, 2005). Rorschach variables significantly correlated with training completion (effect sizes of r(e) = .14-.25), whereas none of the Big Five factors or facets did. The combination of Rorschach and Big Five variables framed in the illusory mental health concept provided strong predictive ability. Testing under stress produced slightly higher predictive validity coefficients between the Rorschach variables and pass-fail than under calm testing. The findings support the results of Hartmann, Sunde, Kristensen, and Martinussen (2003), indicating that Rorschach variables and indications of good mental health may be valid predictors of NFS training.

Examining the dynamics of the implicit and the explicit self-concept in social anxiety: changes in the Implicit Association Test-Anxiety and the Social Phobia Anxiety Inventory following treatment

In this study, we analyzed changes in the strength of self-anxiety associations--as measured by the Implicit Association Test-Anxiety (IAT-Anxiety; Egloff & Schmukle, 2002) and the Social Phobia Anxiety Inventory (SPAI; Turner, Beidel, Dancu, & Stanley, 1989)--following treatment of social anxiety. We assessed socially anxious participants (N = 24) prior to and following a group-based treatment; and we assessed healthy controls (N = 24) at matched time points. Results showed (a) higher implicit and explicit anxiety in socially anxious participants (as compared to controls) prior to treatment and (b) reductions in IAT-Anxiety and SPAI scores of socially anxious participants following treatment. We discuss implications of these results for clinical applications of the IAT.

A memory-systems approach to the classification of personality tests: comment on Meyer and Kurtz (2006)

In response to Meyer and Kurtz's (2006) recommended discontinuation of the terms "objective" and "projective" as descriptors of personality tests, a new classification system for personality measures is sketched out that is based on memory research. Adopting a widely used model of the organization of human memory systems (e.g., Squire, Knowlton, & Musen, 1993), a distinction between declarative and nondeclarative personality tests is proposed based on whether tests assess facets of personality represented in consciously accessible memory systems or in nonconscious memory systems whose operation is reflected in performance. The declarative/nondeclarative classification can be further refined by specifying separable memory systems within each domain of memory (e.g., episodic, semantic, priming, skill learning). It is proposed that such a new classification would be conceptually meaningful, because it links personality tests to highly refined accounts of human cognition, and heuristically fruitful, because it provides new insights into the properties and limits of existing tests and helps identify hitherto largely untapped sources for the assessment of personality.

Toward a Process-Based Framework for Classifying Personality Tests: Comment on Meyer and Kurtz (2006)

Meyer and Kurtz (2006) argued that the longstanding psychological test labels "objective" and "projective" have outlived their usefulness, and invited further work focusing on alternative terms for these measures. This Comment describes a framework for classifying personality tests based on the psychological processes that occur as people respond to test stimuli. Because an attribution process is involved in responding to both types of measures, those instruments formerly called "objective" tests are labeled self-attribution tests, and those formerly classified as "projective" tests are labeled stimulus-attribution tests. The possibility of extending the process-based framework beyond personality, to psychological tests in general, is also discussed. Clinical and empirical implications of a process-based framework are considered.