Diagnost myself: can we trust psychological tests

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Few things can be more interesting than to examine himself — perhaps that is why so popular psychological tests. Hundreds of websites and books filled questionnaires with different levels of complexity, where curious users get all explaining diagnoses, both for themselves and for others — a few clicks can ensure their own introversion or suddenly discover in themselves a sociopath. But how useful such self-diagnosis, what tests you can really trust and whether they themselves psychotherapists or psychiatrists? As I wrote about How to evaluate the quality of a test? For most users this is obvious — if the result matches the reality, so in the questionnaire at least have something. But can we objectively describe ourselves? In 1948, the American psychologist Bertram Forer conducted an experiment by giving students a psychological test, the results of which he allegedly was going to analyze their personalities, he asked them as detailed as possible to fill it. Then, under the results, he gave everyone the same text taken from a horoscope, and asked to estimate the reliability characteristics.

The average rating given by the students was 4.26 out of 5. Subsequently, the experiment was repeated hundreds of times, and the average now stands at 4.2 points. The effect discovered in the course of the experiment, is called the effect of forera (and later also of the Barnum effect — after the American showman, known for a talent for psychological manipulation). And people familiar with this cognitive distortion, evaluate the results of psychological tests and their credibility a little more critical.

To get to the bottom

However, the tests that are trusted by experts in the field of psychiatry and psychotherapy, there are. However, their preparation requires quite a lot of resources and effort.

When developing the test team first determines its target audience, vocabulary and level of difficulty must match it. One of the main difficulties is to maximize every feature of the individual using the minimum number of questions. The word "minimum" should not be understood literally — of rare serious test has less than a hundred points. As a rule, in addition to issues "in fact" in the questionnaire is added to the so-called "scale of lies" — questions that help to determine whether the respondents are honest and attentive. These include repetitions of the same question with some frequency, the reformulation of a single question, questions, traps and more. To obtain honest answers also helps a distorted description of the test — hoping that it check on one thing, about the other respondents can write more honest.

After the wording of test questions are compiled by the user and specified time frame. Finally, test is the reliability test (two answers from one person should be ideally identical) and validity, the extent to which a test reflects the present state of things, — it is possible to check, for example, by comparing the results of make test, and other, already proven.

As a result of all this preparatory work, the output is a tool with which you can evaluate certain features of the clients or patients. It is not surprising that the really "serious" psychological tests, not so much. Will tell you about some of them.

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I-structural test of Ammon (ISTA) According to the theory of a German psychiatrist günther Ammon, and from the interaction of various personality traits among themselves and with the environment and grows the inner identity of a person. The fundamental traits that make up the Foundation of this design, is not sufficiently understood but underlie everything we say, do and feel. They, among other things, can be constructive, destructive and deficit. Constructive aggression, for example — the siege of Hama, shouting in the subway. And destructive — to yell five subordinates after such a case, does not the siege of Hama. The individual with the deficit aggression won't do neither the first nor the second will only go away in their own thoughts about the cruelty of the world around. To determine the constructiveness, destructiveness, and deficits can, in the opinion of Ammon, for the six major personality traits — these include aggression, anxiety/fear, external delimitation of the "I" (that is, the ability to set your boundaries in communication), internal delimitation of "I" (that is, the understanding of their inner world), narcissism, and sexuality. For each of them in the test of Ammon has its own scale. The meaning of psychiatry in Ammon is to fill the deficits and the removal of distortions in the core of self. And this, predictably, both of them must be found. That's what and used in this test.

Standardized multifactorial method of studying personality (MMPI) Structural test of Ammon contains 220 questions and those who believe that a lot, not heard anything about MMPI. 567 his questions assess the person meets the 10 scales. It reveals, for example, about the tendency to sociopathy, depression, hypochondria, according to the role of men or women and much more. In addition to the ten major scales there are also four estimates, three of which it is possible to determine the degree of accuracy of filling of the test, the truthfulness of answers and the level of difficulty in the responses, and the fourth helps to smooth out distortions in the results.

MMPI today can be called the most researched, studied and popular method of testing — created in the 1930-ies the scientists of the University of Minnesota, he repeatedly refined and adjusted. That, on the one hand, allows you to learn about testing (such as myself) a lot of valuable information, and on the other is forcing anyone to read seriously huge instructions and explanations of the results.

16pf Cattell personality questionnaire (16-PF) IN the 1930-ies of XX century, two American psychologist came to the conclusion that any significant individual trait sooner or later acquire the name in the language. This conclusion is called "lexical hypothesis". The team of two psychologists did not stop — they were discharged from the two most respected English dictionaries 4500 (that is, all that are found) adjectives describing personality. Their contemporary, Raymond biographical profile, evaluating the list, decided that all the adjectives you can structure relate to one or the other more General personality characteristics. And at the end of the experiments broke all of them on 12 factors. Then added four more, which, in his opinion, was supposed to appear. Despite some questionable methodology, this allocation 16 personality factors formed the basis of the test, which today is considered one of the most credible and frequently used in personnel management, marketing, research and other areas.

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Are "test pictures"?

In addition to psychological tests, providing for filling the questionnaires, there are others which are responsible do not need to think about yourself and your qualities: the unconscious and projective thinking has to do everything for them. The best known of these tests Luscher and Rorschach.

Luscher's colour test

The Swiss psychotherapist Max lüscher believed that color people's perceptions objectively — that is, each of the colors all mean the same thing (purple, say — is unrealistic and fascination, and yellow — eccentricity, proactivity and inspiration). But the preference of a particular color is subjective — each person believes this or that shade of a pleasant or unpleasant based on its internal state. Therefore, by showing him a color card and looking at its relationship to colors, you can determine the traits of his personality and General condition.

Since 1948, when the test appeared, in his address expressed criticism and admiration. Today in a professional environment to him rather wary. Partly because the hypothesis of objective colour perception still has no serious scientific basis (although Lusero and were able to confirm it empirically using quantitative studies, still, no one can guarantee that the yellow color is associated with inspiration of 100% of the population). And partly because the test results almost coincide with the classical tests, for example, MMPI.

Rorschach Test

Meaning, concept and purpose of the Rorschach test a little more than full. "Doctor, where did you get these pictures?". Rorschach test — a projective technique in which the subject is invited to describe what, in his opinion, like ink stains offered by the therapist, on the basis of which the latter describes certain features of his personality. A small oddity is that there is more than one version of interpretation of test results. In one of the schools results interpretiruya from the standpoint of classical psychoanalysis (i.e. thinking about the instinctive drives of the client and their expression), within the other — from the standpoint of psychology "I", and here psychologists talk about thinking style and emotional regulation of the client's life. In short, even if you have detailed instructions for passing to the formulas for calculating the individual criteria in these spots you can still see something of their own.

Source: theoryandpractice.ru