The nature of the instrument, with true and false answers and patterns that are readily identifiable, has prompted the development of books to supply interpretations of the results. The interpretations are given in the form of descriptive statements that tend to be true of clients whose scores yield certain profiles. When used by a skilled and experienced psychologist, the MMPI is a powerful instrument. The psychologist administering and interpreting the MMPI must pay attention to all relevant factors, including age, sex, education, social class, religious background, place of residence, and other historical data (Karp and Karp, 2009). The criterion groups for this test were selected from patients at the University of Minnesota hospitals (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, n.d.).
The MMPI has ten clinical scales and three validity scales in addition to many supplementary scales. It has been found to be difficult to consistently bias the MMPI because of the complexity and lack of transparency in the instrument. Researchers have found though, that it is common for people to score high on more than one scale at the same time and that interpretation using two or more scales tend to be more accurate and, more useful. The MMPI is open to faking because of the transparency of some of the items. That is why it contains three validity scales that are designed to help the psychologist identify abnormal response sets that might suggest faking good or faking bad (Karp and Karp, 2009).
The validity of the MMPI seems to vary with the population that is being examined. The inventory has...
Psychological Testing Psychological tests are an important aspect of clinical psychology. Psychological tests are normally administered by professional psychologists as a way of learning fact on how people function or in predicting their future. The paper will look at the definition of the term test, give a description of the major categories of tests while identifying the major uses and users of these tests. There will also be comparing and contrasting
Psychotherapeutic Case Formulation Salomon has clearly evidenced educational and emotional problems at least since the 6th grade; however, this 9th grader has apparently neither been thoroughly physically and psychiatrically evaluated, nor received an Individual Education Plan, evincing a stunning level of neglect by his educators, the school psychologist and his Nurse-mother, all of whom theoretically know better. The system for identification, triage, referral and management of care will be followed. His
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