Editing Personality test (section)

{{Short description|Method of assessing human personality constructs}}
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|Name=Personality test
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|Caption=The four temperaments as illustrated by [[Johann Kaspar Lavater]]
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|MeshID=D010556
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A '''personality test''' is a method of assessing human [[personality]] [[construct (psychology)|constructs]]. Most personality assessment instruments (despite being loosely referred to as "personality tests") are in fact introspective (i.e., subjective) self-report [[questionnaire]] (Q-data, in terms of [[LOTS of data|LOTS data]]) measures or reports from life records (L-data) such as rating scales.<ref>Cattell R.B. (1973). ''Personality and Mood by Questionnaire''. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. {{ISBN|0-87589-181-0}}.</ref><ref>Cattell, R.B., & Kline, P. (1977). ''The Scientific Analysis of Personality and Motivation''. New York: Academic Press.</ref> Attempts to construct actual performance tests of personality have been very limited even though [[Raymond Cattell]] with his colleague Frank Warburton compiled a list of over 2000 separate objective tests that could be used in constructing objective personality tests.<ref>Cattell, R.B., & Warburton, F.W. (1967). ''Objective Personality and Motivation Tests: A Theoretical Introduction and Practical Compendium''. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.</ref> One exception, however, was the Objective-Analytic Test Battery, a performance test designed to quantitatively measure 10 factor-analytically discerned personality trait dimensions.<ref>Cattell, R.B., & Schuerger, J.M. (1978). ''Personality Theory in Action: Handbook for the O-A (Objective-Analytic) Test Kit''. Champaign, Illinois: Institute for Personality and Ability Testing. {{ISBN|0-918296-11-0}}.</ref><ref>Schuerger, J.M. (2008). The Objective-Analytic Test Battery. In G.J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D.H. Saklofske. (Eds.), ''The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment: Vol. 2 – Personality Measurement and Testing'' (pp. 529-546). Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishers. {{ISBN|9-781412-946520}}.</ref> A major problem with both L-data and Q-data methods is that because of item transparency, rating scales, and self-report questionnaires are highly susceptible to motivational and response distortion ranging from lack of adequate self-insight (or biased perceptions of others) to downright dissimulation (faking good/faking bad) depending on the reason/motivation for the assessment being undertaken.<ref>Boyle, G.J. (1985). Self-report measures of depression: Some psychometric considerations. ''British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 24'', 45-59.</ref><ref>Boyle, G.J., & Helmes, E. (2009). Methods of personality assessment. In P.J. Corr & G. Matthews (Eds.), ''The Cambridge Handbook of Personality Psychology'' (pp. 110-126). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-521-86218-9}}.</ref><ref>Boyle, G.J., Saklofske, D.H., & Matthews, G. (2015). (Eds.), ''Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Constructs''. Amsterdam: Elsevier/Academic Press. {{doi|10.1016/B978-0-12-386915-9.00001-2}}. {{ISBN|9-780123-869159}}.</ref>

The first personality assessment measures were developed in the 1920s<ref>{{cite book|last1=Saccuzzo|first1=Dennis P.|last2=Kaplan|first2=Robert M.|title=Psychological Testing: Principles, Applications, and Issues|date=2009|publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning|location=Belmont, CA|isbn=978-0495095552|edition=7th}}</ref> and were intended to ease the process of personnel selection, particularly in the armed forces. Since these early efforts, a wide variety of personality scales and questionnaires have been developed, including the [[Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory]] (MMPI), the [[Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire]] (16PF), the [[Comrey Personality Scales]] (CPS), among many others.<ref>Boyle, G.J., Matthews, G., & Saklofske, D.H. (2008). (Eds.), ''The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment: Vol. 1 - Personality Theories and Models''. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishers. {{ISBN|9-781412-946513}}</ref><ref>Boyle, G.J., Matthews, G., & Saklofske, D.H. (2008). (Eds.), ''The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment: Vol. 2 - Personality Measurement and Testing''. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishers. {{ISBN|9-781412-946520}}</ref> Although popular especially among personnel consultants, the [[Myers–Briggs Type Indicator]] (MBTI) has numerous psychometric deficiencies.<ref>Boyle, G.J. (1995). Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI): Some psychometric limitations. ''Australian Psychologist, 30'', 71-74.</ref> More recently, a number of instruments based on the [[Big Five personality traits|Five Factor Model]] of personality have been constructed such as the [[Revised NEO Personality Inventory]].<ref>Costa, P.T., & McCrae, R.R. (1985). ''The NEO Personality Inventory Manual''. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.</ref> However, the [[Big Five personality traits|Big Five]] and related [[Five Factor Model]] have been challenged for accounting for less than two-thirds of the known trait variance in the normal personality sphere alone.<ref>Boyle, G.J. (2008). Critique of Five-Factor Model (FFM). In G.J. Boyle, G. Matthews, & D.H. Saklofske. (Eds.), ''The SAGE Handbook of Personality Theory and Assessment: Vol. 1 - Personality Theories and Models''. Los Angeles, CA: Sage Publishers. {{ISBN|9-781412-946513}}</ref><ref>Cattell, R.B. (1995). The fallacy of five factors in the personality sphere. ''The Psychologist, 8'', 207-208.</ref><ref>Eysenck, H.J. (1992). Four ways five factors are not basic. ''Personality and Individual Differences, 13'', 667-673.</ref>

Estimates of how much the personality assessment industry in the US is worth range anywhere from $2 and $4 billion a year (as of 2013).<ref>{{cite news|title=Personality Testing at Work: Emotional Breakdown|url=https://www.economist.com/news/business/21575817-can-leaders-be-identified-psychometrics-emotional-breakdown|newspaper=[[The Economist]]}}</ref>  Personality assessment is used in wide a range of contexts, including individual and [[relationship counseling]], [[clinical psychology]], [[forensic psychology]], [[school psychology]], [[career counseling]], [[employment testing]], [[occupational health and safety]] and [[customer relationship management]].