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intro.psych (Psyco 105) Discussion: Group 1 Discussion Group: Personality: Sites to Visit: Kiersey Temperament
By Connie Varnhagen (Admin) on Wednesday, September 2, 1998 - 11:40 am:
The Keirsey Temperament Sorter is a personality inventory which assesses "type". Is this a clinically based, a lab-based, or a psychometrically based measure (see page 565 of Gray)? What are the major differences among the three? If your scores counted for something that was important to you, how would you like to be tested? What are the benefits and limitations of the method of measurement you would choose?
I found this to be the best test that we have taken so far with respect to results, it was tough to answer some of the questions, because I was unsure sometimes, but when I got the results I was surprised. There were pretty straightforward, and there if you were not sure what was going on you could click on the word and see what it meant or what they meant by it. I was fairly impressed.
I liked this test as well and sent it to some of my friends to try. They found it to be fairly accurate.
Even if the lab was able to recreate real life experiences to a "t", the results and actions of the people in the lab would not be. If were in a lab and being observed and tested on something even if I told myself that I should act how I normally would, it's not going to happen. On some level my actions will be different. Especially if I know what the test is for or I want to impress someone etc. There is no way of getting absolutely accurate results in a lab. Even if I were to be taken in a room with a "mirror" in it, like I'm not going to know someone is watching me. It may be different for children because they may not be aware that someone is watching them, but for adults, even if the experimenter, tester is not present in the room with you, you know that you are being observed.
I didn't really like the test. I took it twice (in very different moods) and my results were quite different. I found myself responding to the questions so that I could get the result I wanted. I did like how they showed some examples of the personality, and the explainations were great.
I agree with Jep on one hand that a child might not know that someone was observing them, but only if they were quite young. I'm curious if anyone has any ideas about what kind of tests an experimenter would run in a lab-based test.
yes.
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By Jep on Thursday, October 29, 1998 - 01:28 pm:
By Ivanka on Thursday, October 29, 1998 - 06:29 pm:
This test is psychometrically based because it uses a questionaire to get results. This is a good way to get somewhat vague results in the privacy of your own home in your own time. However, if I wanted to be more serious about a personality evaluation I would probably want the Clinically-based approach used. This would be a more personal and long-term way of gathering data taking into consideration not just my views and best guesses at how I might behave in a situation, but also my long-term behavior, other circumstances, background etc. The problem someone might have with this type of testing though is that their imput might not be as honest because they could be trying to impress the psychologist or witholding information as a result of embarassment.
A lab-based experiment would be good in the way that the experimenter could control the situation in order to record behavior but it would also be very limiting in the way that these situations would not be spontaneous or real world experiences.
By Jep on Friday, October 30, 1998 - 01:15 pm:
By Mike on Monday, November 2, 1998 - 04:18 pm:
I also think that the clinical approach is probably the best test of personality. The problem with this is, if you want to know a subject well enough, you have to spend a lot of time with them. This limits the number of clients you can have. The lab-based approach is more practical but, like you have said, will probably not get accurate results.
By Ivanka on Monday, November 2, 1998 - 08:10 pm:
My turn to summarize?
By Jep on Tuesday, November 3, 1998 - 12:27 pm:
Well there are lab-based tests when there is suspision of illness, or developmental problems. There will be certain things "tasks" for a child to do individually or with a group. This is to help the experimenter find out some of the details of a certain learning disorder or developmental problem, and will help with either detecting it in other children or determinging exactly what they are through observation.
I also agree that clinically-based testing would be the most acurate, but not only would it take alot of time but it also costs money to take so much time. It seems as thought everything else that we learn is in generalities personality may as well be two.