Personality Assessment Instrument or Critique Paper

Personality Assessment Instrument or Critique Paper

Throughout this paper I will discuss the (MMPI) or Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory test and how it was used to assess women who had been sexually abuses in their childhoods. This test was used to help identify women who had been victims of sexual assault but without their disclosure of any personal information about their past. Throughout this paper I will strive to examine any ethical situations that may be related to the MMPI or to the Gardner's theory of intelligence. I will also discuss the psychometric theories of the three studies that will be discussed in this paper and will then examine how the MMPI can be considered a good and effective measure in assessing past sexual abuse in women and I will analyze the ethical questions that may arise in using the MMPI in identifying childhood sexual abuse victims.

Starke R. Hathaway a psychologist and psychiatrist/ neurologist Jon C. McKinley were the creators of the MMPI test in the late 1930's. In order for this test to be scored effectively and accurately the individuals taking the test must answer all 566 true and false questions within the test. According to (Cohen & Swerdlik, pg. 14, 2010) this test was originally formulated to test individuals over the age of 14 for various psychiatric disorders. Having first been developed by reviewing and using various textbook information and other forms of psychiatric test and then broken down into 10 clinical scales and then each of those scales were categorized by terminology that was used in the 1930's. However like all things, as knowledge and understanding increased other versions were established and can now be used to study such psychiatric symptoms such as social maladjustment, personal maladjustment, treatment plans form medical patients, career counseling, and many other areas of human development and substance abuse.