The 4 types of personality tests

Psychometry's main objectives are to measure the variables that determine behavior and to compare different individuals in these dimensions. In the context of personality psychology, these objectives are manifested fundamentally in the quantification of personality traits in order to predict behavior in a way probabilistic.

Since the beginning of the 20th century, a large number of assessment tests designed to assess personality have appeared. In this article we will describe the 5 main types of personality tests, which are applied above all in academic and work contexts and, in the case of those that measure psychopathological characteristics, in that of clinical psychology.

• Related article: "Types of psychological tests: their functions and characteristics"

Types of personality tests

The instruments used to assess personality are classified as a general rule based on the methodological criteria that have determined its construction. In any case, most of these tests are based on the numerical measurement of personality constructs and on the comparison of the individual evaluated with others.

In this way we find the rational personality tests, nowadays practically in disuse, the empirical ones (which are based on external criteria), factorial, in which the items are grouped into traits, and those that combine more than one of the criteria previous; In this sense, the tests created by Millon and Cloninger are particularly noteworthy.

1. Rational or deductive

Rational or deductive tests are constructed from elements theoretically related to the variables to be measured. For this, the test authors are based on hypothetical criteria and it is assumed that there is a correlation between these and the test items.

In 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I, the American psychologist Robert Sessions Woodworth created the first personality assessment test. The “Woodsworth Personal Data Sheet” (PDS) was a psychopathological screening test which had the objective of detecting the predisposition to neurosis in soldiers.

The PDS consisted of 116 items, which consisted of dichotomous response questions ("Yes / No") such as "Do thoughts cross your mind that won't let you sleep?" and "Do you have a strong desire to commit suicide? It was a test very susceptible to falsification by men who wanted to avoid military service.

Rational personality tests are the least common of all the types, since immediately were replaced by others based on empirical and factorial criteria, which lead to more reliable and valid assessment instruments. However, and as we will see later, some authors combine rational criteria with other different ones.

• You may be interested: "Differential Psychology: history, objectives and methods"

2. Empirical (based on external criteria)

Instruments in this class focus on assessing the correlation between the subject's responses to the assessment items and an external criterion determined; thus, the elements of the test should be useful to predict the relevant dimension.

In these cases, a group of subjects who show certain characteristics (such as a disorder psychological) and the items are analyzed in order to choose the most representative of the variable criterion. From these, the definitive test is constructed, which is applied to other subjects in order to assess the same construct.

The best known empirical personality test is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), developed by Starke R. Hathaway and Charnley McKinley in 1942. The MMPI is mainly used to assess the presence of personality traits relevant to psychopathology, such as paranoia, depression or social introversion.

3. Factorials or traits test

Factor tests of personality are the most successful. These tests evaluate various factors, that is, sets of items that correlate between them; For example, the "Cordiality" factor would be composed of elements that evaluate aspects such as frankness, modesty, altruism or sensitivity to the needs of others.

The Raymond B. Cattell, better known as "16 PF", has been one of the most used personality tests for a long time. This test assesses 16 first-order (or basic) factors that are grouped into 4 broader ones: Rebellion, Self-sufficiency, Self-control and Tension.

However, at present the hegemonic personality test is the Costa and McCrae NEO-PI-R Inventory, which is also based on factorial criteria. This test It is framed in the model of the five great personality factors, built on research data and with input from many different experts.

4. Mixed (with combined criteria)

Certain personality tests cannot be considered strictly rational, empirical or factorial, but have been constructed from a combination of criteria. One of the tests that best exemplifies this type of methodology is Theodore Millon's Multiaxial Clinical Inventory (MCMI), from which different tests have been derived.

The MCMI was constructed using the three criteria of which we have spoken. In the first place, this author relied on his own theory to choose a large number of items (rational strategy), then he selected a small part of these comparing them with external criteria (empirical) and finally identified the correlations between elements (factorial).