blog 9

This chapter really brought some key aspects of personality home for me. When I was in college I was a Resident Assistant and, as a normally cheerful, happy-go-lucky person I approached my RA job no differently.  After a few months in the position I was approached and sat down before the head of student affairs and my respective Area Coordinator. I was unclear as to the purpose of the meeting but I was informed by the director of Student Affairs that it had come to his attention that my affect and passion for the position may not be genuine. I was so caught off guard because for the first time, that was the year I was 100% myself. I was no longer getting caught up in the college game of trying to be Joe cool. I was completely crushed by their assessment of my personality. The issue was later resolved after having a heart breaking conversation with my mother- who did not take their assessment kindly- and called the director to remind him that he did not know me well enough to be making judgments about my personality. I learned a very valuable thing that day- your personality is who you are and no one can take that from you- regardless of their perception of your genuineness.  Personality is a “stable set of characteristics and tendencies that determine those commonalities and differences in the psychological behavior (thoughts, feelings, actions) of people that have continuity in time.”

When it comes to personality assessments, I was really only familiar with the MMPI and the Myers Briggs personality tests. I think the different types of personality assessments are interesting because they vary from structured supported measures like the Myers Briggs to the Rorschach which is very subjective. I find it interesting that assessments like projective instruments, though they may not have adequate validity and reliability continue to be used as schools of thought for assessing personality. I think it is interesting that we as a culture try to measure something so subjective as personality. Like so many other things it is completely dependent on each persons’ characteristics and their genetic traits and predispositions.

I learned that the differences in structured and projective instruments is that structured only gives you a limited response pool while projective techniques utilize open-ended questions which the examiner will process through. 

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment procedures for counselors and helping professionals. (7th ed.).