AP31195

Prompt: Personality Assessments

Personality assessments are used widely in psychology for different reasons, such as the Minnesota Mulitphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) (Wood, 368) which is used to help identify psychiatric disorders. They can also be used in job applications and interviews, or by counselors. The Big Five Personality Assessment made use of the five-factor model (Wood, 361) which measures five dimensions of the personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness (Wood, 361). Within each of these categories are specific traits or “characteristics that are stable across situations and are used to describe or explain personality” (Wood, 359). The MMDI, which is similar to the MMPI, uses a series of letters to describe personality. My closest personality type, according to the MMDI, was ISTP, in which each letter represents a specific trait. “I” refers to the preference towards ideas and information, “S” refers to facts and tangible outcomes, “T” refers to logic, and “P” refers to being flexible in situations (Myers). After completing both of the assessments, I believe that the Big Five Personality Test was more valid in my case, however the MMDI did provide much more detail on my specific personality traits. I think that the Big Five Personality Assessment is also more reliable, or consistent, over time. The reason for this is the explanations for the scores are very broad, which allows the results to fit more people without considering individual differences.

References: Buchanan, Tom. "Five Factor Personality Test." //Personality Test//. University of Westminster, n.d. Web. 25 July 2014. .

Myers, Steve. "MMDI Online Report." //MMDI Online Report//. Team Technology, 1995. Web. 22 July 2014. .

Wood, Samuel E., Ellen Wood, and Denise Boyd. //Mastering the World of Psychology //. 2nd ed. Massachusetts : Pearson Education, 2011. Print.

Only graders edit below this line!

Grader #1: 1406345252] Grader #2: 1406388474 Grader #3: 1406414093] Grader #4: [sign here]sb14-1532 Grader #5: 1407112994] =Grading Form= media type="custom" key="25032734"