Week 3 Discussion
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Week 3 Discussion
A test that I would be interested in is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). This test is very important when conducting personality trait tests, although the initial design of the test was not meant for clinical populations, it has been widely adopted in assessing clinical issues which have made it one of the commonly administered tests. According to Floyd and Gupta (2022), MMPI is one of the most common personality tests used in psychopathology, data obtained from this test is used in interpreting the individual’s psychological and psychopathy characteristics.
The test validity is measured using the X-Y graph where the scores are plotted, and the Y-axis in the test is used. The T-score of the test ranges from 0-120 and respondents between 30 and 70 are considered to be normal while those who report higher scores than 70 show characteristics of psychopathy. This test is designed to include ten major categories that are used by the researcher to assess the person’s attitudes. Various measures of validity play a significant role in the test. First, MMPI is regarded as an invalid measure of psychopathy if the respondent taking the test does so in a way that the researcher may deem to be dishonest. There are cases where respondents may decide to over-report, that is, they exaggerate their responses or underreport by withholding some crucial information. In this case, the test uses a four-validity scale which measures the attitude of the individual. The lie scale identifies participants who may deliberately try to avoid answering the test honestly. The second validity test is an F-scale detects if the respondent is answering the questions unusually. Other validity tests are the Back F-scale which measures similar issues as the F-scale and the K-scale which plays a vital role in identifying psychopathy in participants whose scale falls under the normal scale.
MMPI test is widely adopted in various sectors, it is used to assess the psychological stability of professionals such as workers in nuclear power, police, and pilots. Group differences in this test include gender differences, men are likely to score lower than women in anxiety and depression when using this scale, and similarly, older adults are also likely to score higher than young adults. Other differences that may impact the test include ethnic and cultural differences and clinical and non-clinical populations.
Lastly, Pona et al. (2023) found that measures such as clinical scales, anxiety scales, and depression scales in the test are likely to have convergent validity. These measures play a vital role in the test and a psychologist administering the test must pay close attention to them. However, there are also divergent validities such as respondents’ intellectual quotient (IQ) tests, measures of physical health and vocational interests are less likely to correlate when performing this test. Thus, these aspects play a vital role, and understanding them will help to accurately interpret the effective use of the test and how to can effectively determine individual’s psychopathy.
References
Floyd, A. E., & Gupta, V. (2022). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557525/
Pona, A. A., Marek, R. J., Panigrahi, E., & Ben-Porath, Y. S. (2023). Examination of the reliability and validity of the Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory-3 (MMPI-3) in a preoperative bariatric surgery sample. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 30(3), 673-686.
Week 3 Discussion
Student Name
Institution
Course Name
Instructor
Date
Week 3 Discussion
A test that I would be interested in is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). This test is very important when conducting personality trait assessments. Although the initial design of the test was not meant for clinical populations, it has been widely adopted in assessing clinical issues, making it one of the most commonly administered tests. According to Floyd and Gupta (2022), MMPI is one of the most common personality tests used in psychopathology. Data obtained from this test is used in interpreting an individual’s psychological and psychopathological characteristics.
The test’s validity is measured using an X-Y graph where the scores are plotted, with the Y-axis representing the T-score. The T-score ranges from 0-120; respondents scoring between 30 and 70 are considered normal, while those with scores above 70 show characteristics of psychopathology. The test includes ten major categories that researchers use to assess a person’s attitudes. Various measures of validity play a significant role in the test. First, MMPI is regarded as an invalid measure of psychopathology if the respondent takes the test in a manner deemed dishonest by the researcher. Respondents may over-report by exaggerating their responses or underreport by withholding crucial information. To address this, the test uses a four-validity scale to measure the individual’s attitude.
The lie scale identifies participants who may deliberately try to avoid answering honestly. The F-scale detects if the respondent is answering unusually. Other validity tests include the Back F-scale, which measures similar issues as the F-scale, and the K-scale, which identifies psychopathology in participants whose scores fall under the normal scale.
The MMPI test is widely adopted in various sectors. It is used to assess the psychological stability of professionals such as workers in nuclear power, police officers, and pilots. Group differences in this test include gender differences, where men are likely to score lower than women in anxiety and depression. Similarly, older adults are likely to score higher than young adults. Other differences that may impact the test include ethnic and cultural differences and clinical versus non-clinical populations.
Lastly, Pona et al. (2023) found that measures such as clinical scales, anxiety scales, and depression scales in the test are likely to have convergent validity. These measures are vital in the test, and psychologists administering the test must pay close attention to them. However, there are also divergent validities, such as respondents’ intellectual quotient (IQ) tests, measures of physical health, and vocational interests, which are less likely to correlate with the MMPI results. Understanding these aspects is crucial for accurately interpreting the test and effectively determining an individual’s psychopathology.
References
Floyd, A. E., & Gupta, V. (2022). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK557525/
Pona, A. A., Marek, R. J., Panigrahi, E., & Ben-Porath, Y. S. (2023). Examination of the reliability and validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) in a preoperative bariatric surgery sample. Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings, 30(3), 673-686.