Personality Assessment Via Questionnaires

ALOIS ANGLEITNER and JERRY S. WIGGINS The personality questionnaire has been with us for more than 60 years. It has been, and still is, the most popular method of personality assessment and it no doubt will continue to be so. The method has been sharply criticized since its inception (e. g. , Allport, 1921; Watson, 1933; Ellis, 1946; Janke, 1973), and this criticism is also likely to continue. The long-standing indifference of test con structors to criticisms of their craft is brought home by noting the similarities between objections raised many years ago and those that are offered today (Gynther & Green, 1982). Within this context, one might well ask why a book on personality questionnaires should appear at this time. Despite the centrality of the personality questionnaire to personality as sessment, there are, to our knowledge, no recent books on the general topic of personality questionnaires. There are of course books on specific instru ments (e. g. , Dahlstrom, Welsh & Dahlstrom, 1972, 1975), books on interpre tation of specific instruments (e. g. , Comrey, 1980), and books on specific is sues such as response styles (e. g. , Block, 1965). Although not specifically focused on personality questionnaires, Bass and Berg's (1959) Objective Ap proaches to Personality Assessment dealt with a number of issues that are cen tral to questionnaires.

"Character" has become a front-and-center topic in contemporary discourse, but this term does not have a fixed meaning. Character may be simply defined by what someone does not do, but a more active and thorough definition is necessary, one that addresses certain vital questions. Is character a singular characteristic of an individual, or is it composed of different aspects? Does character--however we define it--exist in degrees, or is it simply something one happens to have? How can character be developed? Can it be learned? Relatedly, can it be taught, and who might be the most effective teacher? What roles are played by family, schools, the media, religion, and the larger culture? This groundbreaking handbook of character strengths and virtues is the first progress report from a prestigious group of researchers who have undertaken the systematic classification and measurement of widely valued positive traits. They approach good character in terms of separate strengths-authenticity, persistence, kindness, gratitude, hope, humor, and so on-each of which exists in degrees. Character Strengths and Virtues classifies twenty-four specific strengths under six broad virtues that consistently emerge across history and culture: wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Each strength is thoroughly examined in its own chapter, with special attention to its meaning, explanation, measurement, causes, correlates, consequences, and development across the life span, as well as to strategies for its deliberate cultivation. This book demands the attention of anyone interested in psychology and what it can teach about the good life.

Argues that happiness can be a learned and cultivated behavior, explaining how every person possesses at least five of twenty-four profiled strengths that can be built on in order to improve life.

Personality Assessment provides an overview of the most popular self-report and performance-based personality assessment instruments. Designed with graduate-level clinical and counseling psychology programs in mind, the book serves as an instructional text for courses in objective or projective personality assessment. It provides coverage of eight of the most popular assessment instruments used in the United States—from authors key in creating, or developing the research base for these test instruments. The uniquely informed perspective of these leading researchers, as well as chapters on clinical interviewing, test feedback, and integrating test results into a comprehensive report, will offer students and clinicians a level of depth and complexity not available in other texts.

This comprehensive, balanced guide to personality assessment, written by two of the foremost experts in the field, is sure to become the gold standard of texts on this topic. The Handbook of Personality Assessment covers everything from the basics, including a historic overview and detailed discussion of the assessment process and its psychometric foundations, to valuable sections on conducting the assessment interview and the nature, interpretation, and applications of the most popular self-report (objective) and performance-based (projective) measures. A concluding section of special topics such as computerized assessment, ethical and legal issues, and report writing are unique to this text.

First published in 1990. The field of personality assessment continues to grow and expand at a rapid rate. The present volume is a continuation of the author's effort to bring together significant original papers representing diverse theoretical perspectives, critical methodological issues, and a variety of assessment techniques. Diversity of assessment approaches are also considered in the present volume. These vary from traditional assessment approaches, such as the Rorschach and the MMPI, to newer instruments such as Temperament Inventory. This will be of interest to mental health professionals, as it provides new insights and information about important directions in which the field of personality assessment is going.

This highly regarded book is a survey of concepts, methods, procedures, and materials concerning the assessment of personality. It emphasizes the means and methods of assessment, but theories, research, and issues concerning human personality that have influenced psychological assessment are also considered. The book is designed primarily for use in a one-semester course on personality assessment at the upper undergraduate or beginning graduate level. It is also appropriate to combine the book with lectures or readings on personality theories and research, or with material on cognitive assessment. Further-more, it can be used in courses on personality or in a comprehensive course on psychological testing and assessment.