I
found this week’s chapter on personality tests to be very interesting. These types of tests are quite
different from what we have learned about before. I did some reflecting as I
read and connected the information to myself. From my own perspective of my personality, I am very rarely
one or the other; I tend to have a balance of different traits, depending on
the situation. My zodiac sign is
Libra, which is represented by scales.
I have found that this balance has been a common theme in my life, which
can be a strength (i.e. I am flexible and easily able to adapt) but sometimes
can be a weakness (I sometimes have a difficult time making decisions or have
difficulty determining what to believe about something).
Traits are said to be stable over
time, but there are some in myself that have changed. While I would have
previously described myself as passive, I have become much more assertive out
of necessity from my career.
Still, it is often my inclination to be passive or shy, but I have to
push myself to be assertive or outgoing. It seems like traits are innate but can change if we
choose to work on changing them.
Thinking about my personality type based on some of the descriptions of
these assessments, I believe I can go both ways with some of them. For example, on the Myers-Briggs, in
many ways I would lean toward introversion, although I do have characteristics
of an extrovert. I enjoy helping
people and being with people, but I think that is something I have had to work
at being comfortable with throughout my life. Some of my preferences would be situational, for example,
the thinking vs. feeling. I think
I would naturally lean more toward feeling, but I have worked on being more of
the “thinking” type, especially since working on my “anxiety” since my first
semester of Theory and Practice. I
used to react on emotion, but I have learned to use my “thinking brain” to
analyze a situation rationally before letting my emotions get in the way.
When reading about both the structured
and projective tests I questioned their validity and reliability. For example, most personality
inventories are self-reported. As
we discussed during my presentation last week, some people lack accurate
self-awareness, which affects their ability to accurately self-report. Therefore, how valid and reliable are
they? I wondered if these tests
have something like the Positive Impression Scale like the BarOn EQ has. I learned that most of them do,
although some do lack this component.
If a test lacks such a component, or lacks reporting of others who know
the individual, how valid can it be? Many of the projective instruments and techniques are
those that we learned about in Theory and Practice. They seemed at the time more informal ways of assessing clients.
It is interesting that there are more formal ways of doing this. I wondered while reading, how one can
standardize something that is so open-ended? Reading the section entitled, “Issues with Structured and
Projective Instruments” (Drummond & Jones, 2010) confirmed my doubts. Low reliability and validity has caused
a decline of their use. I think in
some ways such measures could be helpful, such as in an informal counseling
setting, where the client can explain the components of their pictures, sentences,
stories, etc. I do not
believe that one could have a child draw a picture of a person and, with great
certainty, determine facets of their personality solely based on a picture. So many other factors would have to be
considered when interpreting such a task, such as any motor skill deficits, or
perhaps a child’s color preference.
There
are two types of personality tests that I hoped would be included in this
chapter. The first is the “Type A”
vs. “Type B” personality. I had
taken a test like this a couple years ago in one of my classes, and found out
that I was somewhere in between.
These personality “types” are ones that people often refer to so I found
it interesting that it was not mentioned in the chapter. Another personality test that, to no
surprise, was not in the chapter is the geometric shape test. This was a “test”
that was very informally done by a presenter at one of my district’s
in-services a couple years ago.
The presenter simply told us to choose our favorite shape: square,
circle, triangle, or squiggle. I
chose a circle, and the description for me was quite accurate. Even more accurate was that of my
co-worker, Charlene, who chose a squiggle. It was so spot on that we still call her “Squiggs” to this
day. I found a link to something
that, from what I can remember, is almost exactly what the presenter explained
that day: http://www.whywelovetops.com/why2010/frankiCA/geoperson.pdf
Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K.
(2010). Assessment procedures for counselors
and
helping professionals. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
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