Personality traits are required in different life aspects. Employees need to identify personality traits for their employees, doctors requires personality traits for their patients while researchers need to carry out personality traits assessment for study purposes. Personality assessment is very important in determining specific characteristics of a person in the aim of understanding them better. For instance, with full information on a person’s personality, one is able to develop good relationships with others. There are many personality assessment tools that are employed like Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) among others (Boyle, 2008). This paper discusses two personality assessment tools and a comparison of the two tools.
Description of Personality Test 1: Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
This assessment tool is commonly used by employers to identify the character traits of employees which are effective in allocating tasks in the organizations according to the departments. According to the developers of the assessment tool, its main role is to assist the users to understand the theories developed by C. Jung (Quenk, 2009). The tool groups people into various personality types which are based on observable personal traits. Employing this tool of assessment in organization is very important as it analyzes the social lifestyle of the individual as well as the personal characters of the employee before being accorded different tasks.
The tool identifies four main traits on a person. One is assessing whether the person is extrovert or introvert. People either fall in one of the traits; where the assessor is able to investigate the social relations of the individual with others. The other trait is whether the individual is sensing or intuition. Sensing individuals are better to work with compared intuition people. This is because they give room for consultation and research in order to provide the best output to the organization. The other trait is on thinking or feeling. The ability to evaluate on the pros and cons of everything despite the personal values. This is where the assessor identifies the drivers of the individual; some people are driven by their feelings to act or say anything while others have to think before acting (Quenk, 2009). Finally the other trait is on judging or perceiving. This trait identifies how an individual lives in the outside world. The ability of combining the outside world with personal institution. Some people are quick to judge on what they see while others are observant and they are able to distinguish before judging. This assessment tool is objective in nature. It does not give sides; the guiding traits are general and give an open channel for either positive or negative trait of the individual.
Description of Personality Test #2: The NEO-PI-R
This assessment tool is very crucial in personality evaluation that is used on adults. This assessment tool was developed by Costa and McCrae. The assessment is done to an individual on a one setting which can last for thirty to forty five minutes. The assessment tool investigates on the emotional effects to the individual, attitudes and the motivating factors in the life of the individual. It is Five Factor Model of personality that groups traits into five main divisions. The first division is on neuroticism which involves defining the state of the mind in different levels from mild to severe. The levels maybe identified to be in a state of anxiety, annoyed, hostile, depressed, self-controlled, reckless or vulnerable.
The other main division is on extraversion. Here the individual is evaluated on the relationship with other people as well as with different aspects in life. Some people fall under the positive aspect while others are reserved thus registering a negative trait. Organizations need to evaluate this trait before giving social relation tasks to employees who are reserved, instead they should offer them different tasks to avoid having communication difficulties in the organization. The other trait is on openness to experience. Some people are open to learn and acquire new skills on different aspects while others are reserved to their own skills and experiences. Organizations require an open minded individuals who are ready to learn new techniques and embrace change in the organization. The world today is changing there is need to exercise flexibility.
The other important trait to consider is agreeableness of the person. Some people are always arguing to prove their points write despite the differences in logistics. Individuals need to be rational in decision making and ensure that they agree to the beneficial decisions in the organization. Finally, the assessment involves evaluating on the consciousness of the individual in dealing with different aspects of life. It is important to understand the rationality of the individual in solving various problems in life. Some people are affected by emotions and feelings while making decisions in life which may lead to formation of unrealistic decisions. The NEO-PI-R method of personality assessment is projective in nature (Morey, 2015). The traits are designed to bring up a certain set of response whether positive or negative.
Major differences between Myers Briggs Type Indicator and NEO-PI-R methods of personality assessment
MBTI measures healthy traits between people. The traits tends to explain the competences, skills and psychological problems between individuals. In most cases they describe inborn preferences of people. The traits are grouped into categories that are bimodal which means that an individual has to be either in one of them. For instance, an individual can be either an introvert or an extravert. NEO-PR-R has a set of traits where an individual either portrays the traits or not. It does not offer an alternative. For instance, in assessing the trait of openness to an experience, an individual is either open to experience or not.
NEO-PR-R measures traits in comparison with other people. MBTI gives an assessment of people’s trait and not how much better some people are over others. In MBTI every individual is accorded his or her own character trait depending on the observable characters. NEO-PR-R gives responses that can be negative to an individual for instance, on assessing agreeableness of an individual to decisions, can identify an individual who does not agree to decisions easily.
MBTI is an objective test while NEO-PR-R is projective. Objective tests are those assessments where an individual’s trait is not affected by the examiner’s beliefs. The examiner is required to give results from the individual directly (Quenk, 2009). This is done to avoid bias. The examiner administers questions to them which are analyzed to acquire effective traits. Projective tests are influenced by the examiner’s beliefs in such a way that the examiner has some limitations on either yes or no. this makes the MBTI method to be more valid compared to the NEO-PR-R method of personality assessment. Projective tests have been disapproved for lack of reliability and validity and also lack of scientific evidence. They depend too much on the judgment of the examiner. MBTI is subjected to readiness and the capacity of the examiner to be honest and to self-analyze themselves in order to give a comprehensive report about the individual.
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is founded on Carl Jung’s theory of personality which groups traits into four bi-polar dimensions while the NEO-PR-R is based on the Five Factor Model that are modal in nature. The traits are analyzed depending on the observable characters from the individual and later analyzed to give a report.
Most preferred personality test
The most advisable method of personality assessment is Myers Briggs Type Indicator. This is because it is objective in nature compared to the NEO-PR-R method of personality assessment. The traits identified are not influenced by the examiner’s beliefs. For instance, after examining an individual, the results are incorporated in the expected responses like either introvert or extravert. The traits examine all the aspects of an individual like interaction with the world, how the individual make decisions and perception of information (Michael, 2003). This enables the examiner acquire effective information on the individual thus develop a comprehensive report. This method of assessment is crucial as it applied to organizations in the aim of examining employees’ characters before being placed into various positions within the organization. The method is also effective in understanding the differences that people have among themselves.
Conclusion
Conclusively, personality traits are assessed with different methods like Myers Briggs Type Indicator. The best method for personality assessment is determined by their validity and reliability in identified results. Objective tests are the most effective methods since the responses are not affected by the examiners’ beliefs.
References
Boyle, G. J. (2008). Critique of the five-factor model of personality. The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment, 1, 295-312.
Morey, L. C. (2015). Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Michael, J. (2003). Using the Myers-Briggs type indicator as a tool for leadership development? Apply with caution. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 10(1), 68-81.
Quenk, N. L. (2009). Essentials of Myers-Briggs type indicator assessment (Vol. 66). John Wiley & Sons.
In a paragraph discuss:
1. What the test attempts to measure
2. Whether it is a projective test or an objective test
3. Who the test is intended to be used with,
4. The basic principles and/or theories upon which the test is based, demographic characteristics, overall types of scores reported when using this instrument
Description of Personality Test #2
In a paragraph discuss:
1. What the test attempts to measure
2. Whether it is a projective test or an objective test
3. Who the test is intended to be used with,
4. The basic principles and/or theories upon which the test is based, demographic characteristics, overall types of scores reported when using this instrument
Three Major Differences Between Two Personality Tests
1. What are the 3 major differences between the two personality tests and why are the differences important?
2. When would one personality test be preferred over the other one?
Reference page
Where to find material on the test you choose to review:
ake use of What Tests to Use & Where to Find Them posted in the Announcement area. Please contact me if you have questions.
Write a 5-page test review paper comparing and contrasting two assessment instruments designed to measure personality. The following provides an outline of the Week 5 test review.
Outline and headings for Test Review Paper – Two Personality Assessments
The use of headings is essential!!!
Title Page
Description of Personality Test #1
In a paragraph discuss:
1. What the test attempts to measure
2. Whether it is a projective test or an objective test
3. Who the test is intended to be used with,
4. The basic principles and/or theories upon which the test is based, demographic characteristics, overall types of scores reported when using this instrument
Description of Personality Test #2
In a paragraph discuss:
1. What the test attempts to measure
2. Whether it is a projective test or an objective test
3. Who the test is intended to be used with,
4. The basic principles and/or theories upon which the test is based, demographic characteristics, overall types of scores reported when using this instrument
Three Major Differences Between Two Personality Tests
1. What are the 3 major differences between the two personality tests and why are the differences important?
2. When would one personality test be preferred over the other one?
Reference page
Where to find material on the test you choose to review:
1. Begin with the course textbook as it contains information on specific tests.
2. Next, use Google to search for the test publisher’s website (i.e., Google Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Publisher)
3. Article from peer-reviewed journal – There will be specific research studies in peer reviewed journals that researched the validity and reliability of the testing instrument your are reviewing. You want to make use of these research articles.
4. Avoid this common error – Do not use a research study that simply used the test as part of their study. For example do not use an article on treating depression that used the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Instead find an article about how the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was created or an article on the validity of the TAT.
5. Another error to avoid- Do not use a random test on the Internet. You must present a published psychological test that meets industry standards in the field of psychology. Again make use of the list I provided, What Tests to Use & Where to Find Them.