Editing Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (section)

=== MMPI ===

The original MMPI was developed on a scale-by-scale basis in the late 1930s and early 1940s.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Buchanan|first=Roderick D.|title=The development of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory|journal=Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences|date=May 1994|volume=30|issue=2|pages=148–61|doi=10.1002/1520-6696(199404)30:2<148::AID-JHBS2300300204>3.0.CO;2-9|pmid=8034964}}</ref> Hathaway and McKinley used an empirical [criterion] keying approach, with clinical scales  derived by selecting items that were endorsed by patients known to have been diagnosed with certain [[psychopathology|pathologies]].<ref>Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. (1940). A multiphasic personality schedule(Minnesota): I. Construction of the schedule. Journal of Psychology, 10, 249-254.</ref><ref>Hathaway, S. R., & McKinley, J. C. (1942). A multiphasic personality schedule (Minnesota): III. The measurement of symptomatic depression. Journal of Psychology, 14, 73-84.</ref><ref>McKinley, J. C, & Hathaway, S. R. (1940). A multiphasic personality schedule (Minnesota): II. A differential study of hypochondriasis. Journal of Psychology, 10,255-268.</ref><ref>McKinley, J. C, & Hathaway, S. R. (1942). A multiphasic personality schedule (Minnesota): IV. Psychasthenia. Journal of Applied Psychology, 26, 614-624.</ref><ref>McKinley, J. C, & Hathaway, S. R. (1944). A multiphasic personality schedule (Minnesota): V. Hysteria, Hypomania, and Psychopathic Deviate. Journal of Applied Psychology, 28, 153-174.</ref> The difference between this approach and other test development strategies used around that time was that it was in many ways atheoretical (not based on any particular theory) and thus the initial test was not aligned with the prevailing [[psychodynamics|psychodynamic]] theories. Theory in some ways affected the development process, if only because the candidate test items and patient groups on which scales were developed were affected by prevailing personality and psychopathological theories of the time.<ref name="Ben-Porath">{{cite book|author=Yossef S. Ben-Porath|title=Interpreting the MMPI-2-RF|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=utg5jCZRAqYC|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|isbn=978-1-4529-3290-3}}</ref> The approach to MMPI development ostensibly enabled the test to capture aspects of human psychopathology that were recognizable and meaningful, despite changes in clinical theories.
However, the MMPI had flaws of validity that were soon apparent and could not be overlooked indefinitely. The [[control group]] for its original testing consisted of a small number of individuals, mostly young, white, and married men and women from rural areas of the Midwest. (The racial makeup of the respondents reflected the ethnic makeup of that time and place.) The MMPI also faced problems as to its terminology and its irrelevance to the population that the test was intended to measure. It became necessary for the MMPI to measure a more diverse number of potential mental health problems, such as "suicidal tendencies, drug abuse, and treatment-related behaviors."<ref>{{cite book|last=Gregory|first=Robert|title=Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications|year=2007|publisher=Pearson|location=Boston|isbn=978-0-205-46882-9|pages=391–398}}</ref>