Free Custom «Personality Assessment Instrument or Inventory Critique» Essay Paper

Psychological personality instrument refers to tools that are often used and recommended for assessing personalities. These tools help to bring understanding of: personal strengths and weaknesses, other team members’ strengths and weaknesses, team overall strengths and weaknesses and finally an organization’s overall strengths and weaknesses.

There are many psychological instruments used in daily life, but let us concentrate our emphasis on a tool called Enneagram. The term Enneagram is a combination of two Greek words, which are “ennea” which means nine and “gramma” which refers to something that is written or represented in a drawing. Enneagram is a personality tool based on nine types of personalities. Some top humanistic psychologists who among them are Gurdjieff, Ichazoand Naranjo develop it with a more strong historical and spiritual orientation than many other similar questionnaires. The types relate to the main roles that people seem to adopt and carryout in society. The initial form of Enneagram figure consists of a circle with nine points on its circumference (Hersen & Hilsenroth, 2004).The nine points are equidistant with one at the top of the circle and their numbering takes a clockwise trend.

The Enneagram figures most well known use is in indicating a dynamic model of nine different but interconnected psychological types that are usually referred to as personality types or a character types. However, there are no definitive Enneagram questionnaires; there are a number of free and commercial versions available. A personal test is aimed at assessing aspects of individual character that is always unchanging through many situations, known as their personality. Personality is simply understood to be a collection of emotional, thought, and behavioral patterns specific to a person that is consistent over time (Hersen & Thomas, 2003)

Personality test assesses characteristics that are common for bigger parts of the population. It strives to describe people with regard to a number of traits instead of describing every single detail of individual personality. A number of methods have been developed to assess personality differences and characteristics dependent on various approaches to type of personality. Although none is a complete description of human personality, several tests have proven to be meaningful in particular applications. Examples of applications include interviewing specific employees by focusing on qualities crucial to the situation at hand. Through this use, a good match can be found between a person and what they will be called upon to accomplish, this is advantageous to the individual and the duty they are performing.

Hippocrates who was a Greek philosopher recorded the earliest known personality basing his four kinds on the amount of body fluids and humors an individual exuded. A Greek physician later dwelled on Hippocrates theory based on four major body fluids that include blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. According to their average predominance in individuals, they would trigger warm pleasant temperaments. To simplify this article further; phlegmatic was slow moving, Apathetic, Melancholic was associated with depression and sadness. Lastly, Choleric was responsible for quick reaction and hot tempers (Lanyon & Goodstein, 1997).

Immanuel Kant a philosopher of Germany personality made these ideas popular besetting the constructs along two axes of feelings and activity. The field of psychology led to more formal categories and tests with an example being Wilhelm Wundt who proposed that the four temperaments declined along the axes of ability to change and emotionality. As the field of psychology went through a many developments, the theories of personality were also developed and various methods to asses personality differences. The first personality test was that of the wood worth personal Data sheet that was put into use in the year 1919. This test was developed to assist the army of the United States to screen out recruits who were susceptible to shell shock. Various tests assess personality. The first one is the projective test, in which the person is told to respond to ambiguous stimuli in order to show hidden emotions and internal conflicts. This test is different from an objective test whose responses are analyzed on a universal standard, for instance a multiple-choice questionnaire. Secondly, the Rorschach inkblot tests. This test is named after its inventor Herman Rorschach, was introduced in 1921 as a way to determine an individual’s personality by their understanding of abstract inkblots (Hersen & Hilsenroth, 2004).

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) that was commissioned by the office of strategic services (O.S.S.). This was during the1930s, to note personalities that may be vulnerable to being turned by the intelligence a foe. Psychologists of America Henry Murray and Christiana Morgan were the architects of this test. They looked into the underlying dynamics of personality, for example, internal feuds, motives and serious drives and interests. The Thematic Apperception Test particularly assesses motives including the desire for achievement, power, intimacy and ability to solve problems (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2003).

The Thematic Apperception Test uses thirty-one offensive yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject must narrate a story. A subject is served questions such as what conversation must be carried out between two people. Moreover, how the story may continue after the picture shown? The Thematic Apperception Test is also referred to as “picture interpretation technique”. Every single story created by a subject is keenly analyzed to unmask the needs behind it including the patterns of reaction. Those studied can respond by a word of mouth or through writing and there are particular subsets of pictures for boys, girls and grownups that comprise men and women. The Thematic Apperception Test is a projective because its assessment of an individual is based on what one projects to the ambiguous images (Hersen & Hilsenroth, 2004).

The TAT was used in the period after the secondly world war widely by Psychoanalysis sand clinicians to gauge emotionally disturbed victims. Afterwards in the 1970’s, the human potential movement motivated Psychologists to use the Thematic Apperception Test to assist those seeking their services to understand themselves better and expedite personal growth. TAT is presently used as an instrument for research in areas of psychology like dreams, fantasies, and selection of mates and what encourages people to choose their profession. Occasionally, it is used in a psychiatric context to assess disturbed thinking. It is used in forensic examinations to evaluate suspects of crime or in assessing contenders for high-stress occupations.

The Thematic perception test has had a good share of critics for many reasons. First, it is not administered in a standard way and it is challenging to understand stories it produces. The 31 standard pictures have been criticized to be negative in tone and therefore limiting the array of personality characteristics that the TAT test can look into. According to research factors that include race, gender and social class of examiners and individuals influence the stories told and their interpretation. The Minnesota Multphasic personality inventory (MMPI) is a way that assisted in assessing Psychopathology in a clinical environment. This is the mostly used personality test in the mental field. This assessment was developed to help in identifying personal, social and problems associated with behavior in psychiatric patients. The outcomes from this test provide useful information that aids in problem identification, diagnosis, and planning treatment for patients. Additionally, the test has been used for job screening and other non-clinical assessments, which is perceived to be controversial, and in other cases unlawful (Hersen & Hilsenroth, 2004).

The Minnesota Multphasic has been used in very many assessments that include; criminal justice and correction, Evaluation of disorders like disorders that come long after a trauma, identification of right candidates for public positions of high risks like nuclear power Company’s workers, police personnel, airline pilots, students training medicine, students of Psychology, fire fighters and lastly seminary students. MMPI is also used in assessing medical patients and in designing of effective treatment strategies, which takes into account many aspects like management of chronic pain. The Minnesota Multiphase Personality inventory is very significant in evaluating those participating in substance abuse programs, in offering support for college and career, marriage and family counseling (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2003).

The support that can be offered to an individual by their siblings or relative is the most treasured thing to them. Keeping in mind that a disorder is one way of feeling in control of one’s life. At times, it is important to communicate that you can help, but it is not advisable to keep watch on their behavior. It is evident that an eating disorder is an effective device to handle pain. Somebody that uses food as a coping mechanism requires understanding and love. The reality of bulimia might shock, but it calls for separating the individual from one’s binge-purge behavior. Bulimia is threat to life and disabling.

According to Enneagram, do not allow the disorder by looking a different way or assuming that that the problem is not serious, bulimia is not a reason to treat relatives and those close poorly. Parents of bulimics have to be aware of their limitations in offering help to their children. According to Enneagram the parents’ relationship to children is too close for objective evaluation. The parent should let her daughter say her all, and if she not progressing embrace and encourage professional therapy. It is also advisable for parents to look for professional advice or support group for assistance with their personal frustrations and helplessness.

Parents play a crucial part in the development of their child’s behavior. On many instances, parents may face issues and act at their own will. This is because parents may have contributed to the eating disorders in one way or another hence the need to acknowledge that. Parents may need to take stock of their values, ways of communicating, family regulations and rules about food, ways of handling feelings, parenting responsibilities and the process of making decisions that affect the family. These measures might be very hard but family therapy has proven to be one of the most a successful mechanism of overcoming eating disorders. However, increased better communications, increased self-knowledge and genuine acceptance of what has happened previously, parents and their children can focus on the crucial task of recovery in the present (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2003).

Psychological properties of Enneagramm on the bulimics are a comparison between self-discrepancy and negative emotions. An idiographic questionnaire takes to measuring real self, ideal self and lastly ought self with bipolar personal constructs. Ideal self describes you the way you would like to be in your own eyes. While ought self to portrays you how you would like to be in other people’s eyes, finally the real self is how you see yourself in your own eyes. These psychometric properties are determined on an ideal discrepancy, which is scored by calculating the absolute difference in real self and ideal self-ratings over a number of characteristics. The relationship of Enneagram and the theory of intelligence dictates that the head, the heart and the gut. These three parts are the basic functions of the Enneagram. It is believed that they correspond to three sections of the brain that represent the evolutionary stages, which include stages like the reptilian, the early mammalian and the recent mammalian. The centers Comprise of action processes (performing, activeness and power). The center of the heart is constituted of relational processes that include caring, having love, accepting or rejecting decisions. The head center embeds mental processes whose examples are; functions of feeling, detecting, thinking and sensing. It should be clear that no center works singly, but they work in the place of other functions. This bestows given authority to each to each center (Weiner, 2010).

In the Enneagram personality types, ego awareness has taken a particular center as the way a person should be to the damage of the functioning of other processes. This leads to an imbalance in the functioning of a human being. The three centers work together with each other used for it’s own functioning in any situation. The result is accepting one’s whole human nature. No single center predominates by substituting its functioning at regular intervals in the functioning of one or both other centers. Choosing one center as a means of expressing ones personality interferes with the inner peace of energy, reduces down the experience of being a human and finally creating an imbalance (Strack & Millon, 2005).

People use the ego awareness to identify with one center and make its functioning surpass the other centers instead of their functioning as a team. This happens because it is hard to develop more than one center at a time. Proper decisions must be made when consciousnesses developed in a child. Each one among all the centers has three Enneagram types connected with it. To start with, the gut center is connected with Enneatypes 8, 9, 1 while the heart center is associated with Enneatypes 2, 3, 4. The head center is associated with Enneatypes 5, 6, 7. This gives details on the relationship between Enneagram tool and the theory of intelligence.

The tool Enneagram is of much credibility because it ably differentiates between the target population and the general population. In the case of bulimics the instrument explains how our relationship affects them and on how our support is meaningful to them and their personality.

The tool vanishes into telling us how the bulimics are not justified to bother us or inconvenience us. The instrument ethically advises on how parents can build a healthy relationship with their children and how they should cope up with the reality on their children being with disorders like bulimia. The Enneagram is fair but not perfect in its credibility to offer substantial answers (Weiner, 2010)