Editing Personality psychology (section)

==Personality tests==

There are two major types of [[Personality test|personality tests]], projective and objective.

''[[Projective test|Projective tests]]'' assume personality is primarily unconscious and assess individuals by how they respond to an ambiguous stimulus, such as an ink blot.<ref name=":1" /> Projective tests have been in use for about 60 years and continue to be used today. Examples of such tests include the [[Rorschach test]] and the [[Thematic Apperception Test]].

The Rorschach Test involves showing an individual a series of note cards with ambiguous ink blots on them. The individual being tested is asked to provide interpretations of the blots on the cards by stating everything that the ink blot may resemble based on their personal interpretation. The therapist then analyzes their responses. Rules for scoring the test have been covered in manuals that cover a wide variety of characteristics such as content, originality of response, location of "perceived images" and several other factors. Using these specific scoring methods, the therapist will then attempt to relate test responses to attributes of the individual's personality and their unique characteristics.<ref>Exner, J.E. (1993). ''The Rorschach: A comprehensive system, Vol. 1: Basic foundations'' (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley</ref> The idea is that unconscious needs will come out in the person's response, e.g. an aggressive person may see images of destruction.<ref name=":1" />

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) involves presenting individuals with vague pictures/scenes and asking them to tell a story based on what they see.<ref name=":1" /> Common examples of these "scenes" include images that may suggest family relationships or specific situations, such as a father and son or a man and a woman in a bedroom.<ref>Bellak, L., & Abrams, D.M. (1997). ''The Thematic Apperception Test, the Children's Apperception Test, and the Senior Apperception Technique in clinical use'' (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.</ref> Responses are analyzed for common themes. Responses unique to an individual are theoretically meant to indicate underlying thoughts, processes, and potentially conflicts present within the individual.<ref name=":0" /> Responses are believed to be directly linked to unconscious motives. There is very little empirical evidence available to support these methods.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Watkins | first1 = C.E. | last2 = Campbell | first2 = V.L. | last3 = Nieberding | first3 = R. | last4 = Hallmark | first4 = R. | year = 1995 | title = Contemporary practice of psychological assessment by clinical psychologists | journal = [[Professional Psychology: Research and Practice]] | volume = 26 | pages = 54–60 | doi=10.1037/0735-7028.26.1.54}}</ref>

''Objective tests'' assume personality is consciously accessible and that it can be measured by self-report questionnaires.<ref name=":1" /> Research on psychological assessment has generally found objective tests to be more valid and reliable than projective tests. Critics have pointed to the [[Forer effect]] to suggest some of these appear to be more accurate and discriminating than they really are. Issues with these tests include false reporting because there is no way to tell if an individual is answering a question honestly or accurately.<ref name=":1" />

The [[Myers–Briggs Type Indicator|Myers-Briggs Type Indicator]] (also known as the MBTI) is self-reporting questionnaire based on [[Carl Jung]]'s [[Psychological Types]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/home.htm?bhcp=1|title=The Myers & Briggs Foundation - MBTI® Basics|website=www.myersbriggs.org|language=en|access-date=2018-02-10}}</ref><ref name="Stein2019" /> However, the MBTI modified Jung's theory into their own by disregarding certain processes held in the unconscious mind and the impact these have on personality.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pittenger|first=David J.|date=December 1993|title=The Utility of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator|journal=Review of Educational Research|volume=63|issue=4|pages=467–488|doi=10.3102/00346543063004467|s2cid=145472043|issn=0034-6543}}</ref>

===Personality theory assessment criteria===

* Verifiability – the theory should be formulated in such a way that the concepts, suggestions and hypotheses involved in it are defined clearly and unambiguously, and logically related to each other.
* Heuristic value – to what extent the theory stimulates scientists to conduct further research.
* Internal consistency – the theory should be free from internal contradictions.
* Economy – the fewer concepts and assumptions required by the theory to explain any phenomenon, the better it is {{cite book |last= Hjelle |first= Larry |date= 1992|title= Personality Theories: Basic Assumptions, Research, and Applications}}

Psychology has traditionally defined personality through its behavioral patterns, and more recently with neuroscientific studies of the brain.  In recent years, some psychologists have turned to the study of inner experiences for insight into personality as well as individuality. Inner experiences are the thoughts and feelings to an immediate phenomenon. Another term used to define inner experiences is [[qualia]]. Being able to understand inner experiences assists in understanding how humans behave, act, and respond. Defining personality using inner experiences has been expanding due to the fact that solely relying on behavioral principles to explain one's character may seem incomplete. Behavioral methods allow the subject to be observed by an observer, whereas with inner experiences the subject is its own observer.<ref name=Price>{{cite book|last=Price|first=Donald D.|title=Inner experience and neuroscience : merging both perspectives|publisher=MIT Press|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=9780262017657|author2=Barrell, James J.|year=2012}}</ref><ref name=Mihelic>{{cite web|last=Mihelic|first=Janell|title=Exploring the phenomena of inner experience with descriptive experience sampling|url=http://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1862&context=thesesdissertations|work=UNLV Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones}}</ref>

===Methods measuring inner experience===
'''Descriptive experience sampling (DES)''': Developed by psychologist Russel Hurlburt. This is an [[idiographic]] method that is used to help examine inner experiences. This method relies on an introspective technique that allows an individual's inner experiences and characteristics to be described and measured. A beep notifies the subject to record their experience at that exact moment and 24 hours later an interview is given based on all the experiences recorded. DES has been used in subjects that have been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression. It has also been crucial to studying the inner experiences of those who have been diagnosed with common psychiatric diseases.<ref name="Mihelic"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/health/22prof.html|title=Taking Mental Snapshots to Plumb Our Inner Selves|author=Hoffman, Jascha|date= December 21, 2009|newspaper=New York Times|access-date=3 April 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Hurlburt|first=Russell|title=Iteratively Apprehending Pristine Experience|journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies|year=2009|volume=16|pages=156–188|url=http://faculty.unlv.edu/hurlburt/hurlburt-2009c.pdf}}</ref>

'''Articulated thoughts in stimulated situations (ATSS)''': ATSS is a [[paradigm]] which was created as an alternative to the TA (think aloud) method. This method assumes that people have continuous internal dialogues that can be naturally attended to. ATSS also assesses a person's inner thoughts as they verbalize their cognitions. In this procedure, subjects listen to a scenario via a video or audio player and are asked to imagine that they are in that specific situation. Later, they are asked to articulate their thoughts as they occur in reaction to the playing scenario. This method is useful in studying emotional experience given that the scenarios used can influence specific emotions. Most importantly, the method has contributed to the study of personality. In a study conducted by Rayburn and Davison (2002), subjects' thoughts and empathy toward anti-gay hate crimes were evaluated. The researchers found that participants showed more aggressive intentions towards the offender in scenarios which mimicked hate crimes.<ref name=Mihelic />

'''Experimental method''': This method is an experimental paradigm used to study human experiences involved in the studies of sensation and perception, learning and memory, motivation, and biological psychology. The experimental psychologist usually deals with intact organisms although studies are often conducted with organisms modified by surgery, radiation, drug treatment, or long-standing deprivations of various kinds or with organisms that naturally present organic abnormalities or emotional disorders. Economists and psychologists have developed a variety of experimental methodologies to elicit and assess individual attitudes where each emotion differs for each individual. The results are then gathered and quantified to conclude if specific experiences have any common factors. This method is used to seek clarity of the experience and remove any biases to help understand the meaning behind the experience to see if it can be generalized.<ref name="Price" /> The experimental method does have some complications though. If researchers are manipulating a variable, it's possible this change will affect a different variable, which in turn will change the measured result (not the original manipulated condition), introducing uncertainty. This method, in personality research, often requires deception, so the ethics of experiments are also brought into question.