Who do you think you are?
For centuries, personality tests have been used to determine the temperament of the individual. But the reliability of these tests, and the history behind them, is still in question.
Third-year graduate student Seth Courrege led a discussion titled Who Do You Think You Are? A Brief Look at Personality Tests in the Veterans Memorial Library Thursday night.
The talk detailed the evolution and usage of personality tests.
Courrege works with Dr. Nathan Weed on researching the Minnesoda Multiphasic Personality Inventory, which was published by Hathaway and McKinley in 1943 at the University of Minnesota.
This remains the most-widely used personality test, and has been updated in 1999 and 2008. It is a true-false self-reflection test that measures several scales that correlate with mental health.
The latter of those updates, the MMPI 2 RF, has reduced the number of items from 567 to 338.
"The smaller number of items reflects a reduction in commonalities between scales," Courrege said. "I find it easier to interpret those sources."
The MMPI 2 RF may be more efficient, but there has been discussion to alter the test further.
"There are always improvements to be made," Courrege said.
The MMPI 2 RF does not account for the personality inventory of those who have experienced trauma.
Courrege also took students through the history of personality inventory, which began with Hippocrates' four humors in 400 BC. The long history is by the advent of phrenology, a pseudoscience which used imperfections and marks on the cranium to measure temperament.
The transition from pseudoscience to measured personality testing occurred in the 20th century, with the MMPI emerging as the largest form of personality inventory.
Jiebing Wang, graduate assistant to experimental psychology program director Kyunghee Han, brought a different perspective to the discussion.
"My research is focused on cross-cultural translation of the MMPI," Wang said. Wang recently competed her thesis, which focused on the translation of the American test into Korean.
Wang also advocated the use of personality tests for students.
"Some don't know which major to choose, and personality tests can help with that," Wang said. "It would also be better because we can communicate with different people more effectively."
The discussion was sponsored by the College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Veterans Memorial Library and the Carls Center.
