Maudsley`s

Personality
Inventory
 Cardinal traits 

 Central traits 

 Secondary traits 

Cattel`s Classification

He believed that there is a common structure in which people differ. This could be determined
empherically by a statistical technique. He then developed the Sixteen Personality
Factor Questionnaire (16PF), an assessment tool commonly utilized today. The 16 personality
traits include:

1. Warmth (A)
2. Reasoning (B)
3. Emotional Stability (C)
4. Dominance (E)
5. Liveliness (F)

6. Rule-consciousness (G)

7. Social Boldness (H)

8. Sensitivity (I)

9. Vigilance (L)

10. Abstractedness (M)

11. Privateness (N)

12. Apprehension/Apprehensiveness (O)

13. Openness to change (Q1)

14. Self-reliance (Q2)

15. Perfectionism (Q3)

16. Tension (Q4)

 Type Approach

It is based on grouping people on the basis of psychological traits. One of the first of these theories
proposed by Hippocrates grouped people on the basis of bodily fluids:

 Sanguine – Cheerful and confident

British psychologist Hans Eysenck developed a model of personality based upon just three
universal trails:

Unlike Allport and Cattell, theorist Hans Eysenck only included three general traits in his list. They
are:

1. Introversion- Extraversion
As in Carl Jung's personality type theory, Eysenck classified people as either introvert, those who directs
focus on inner world, or extravert, those who gives more attention to other people and hisenvironment.

2. Neuroticism-Emotional Stability
This category is synonymous to "moodiness versus even-temperedness", where in a neurotic personis
inclined to having changing emotions from time to time, while an emotionally stable person tends to
maintain a constant mood or emotion.
 3. Pyschoticism
This dimension refers to the finding it hard to deal with reality. A psychotic person may be
considered hostile, manipulative, anti-social and non-empathetic.

Methods of assessing personality

Personality assessment refers to the procedures used to evaluate people on the basis of certain
characteristics. The most commonly used methods for assessing personality are – psychometric
tests, self-report measures, projective techniques and behavioural analysis.

We are using self-report measures here, which are fairly structured, often based on a theory, that
requires subjects to give verbal responses using some kind of rating scale. The method requires
the subject to objectively report his/her own feelings with respect to various items. They are scored
in quantitative terms and are interpreted on the basis of norms developed for the test. Examples –
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory [MMPI], Eysenck Personality Questionnaire
[EPQ] and 16 Personality factor [PF]

 Advantages – Used for career guidance, vocational exploration, personal counselling and
personality development.

 Disadvantages – Social desirability is the tendency on the part of respondent to endorse items in
a socially desirable manner. Acquiescence is the tendency of the subject to agree with items
irrespective of their contents.

History and description

A questionnaire designed to measure two major dimensions of personality, namely extraversion and
neuroticism, according to the theory of personality of the German-born British psychologist H. J.
 Eysenck (1916–97), first propounded in his books Dimensions of Personality (1947) and The
Scientific Study of Personality (1952). Eysenck published the test initially in the journal Rivista
di Psicologia in 1956. Later versions of it were called the Eysenck Personality Inventory ( EPI)
and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire(EPQ) .

MPI abbrev. [Named after the Maudsley Hospital in Denmark Hill, south London, where Eysenck
worked, and which in turn is named after the English psychiatrist Henry Maudsley (1835–1918)
who founded it].
Each of these two traits are measured by means of 48 questions.

Neuroticism refers to general emotional stability of a person, his emotional over responsiveness and
his stability to neurotic breakdown under stress.

Extraversion as opposed to introversion refers to the out-going, uninhibited, sociable proclivities of

Preliminaries

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Qualification:

Place of conduction: Psychology Lab

Time:

Materials Required

MPI manual, response sheet, MPI questionnaire form, pen/pencil

Precautions
1. Optimal conditions for testing were ensured before the test begun
2. Time of start and finish were noted
3. The tester should ensure that the subject is not familiar with the test.
4. Subject should be told that there is no correct answer.
5. Subject should not skip any item and use “?” only when required. 5. Subject should be assured of
confidentiality of test results.

Rapport Formation

Rapport was established between the subject and the tester, prior to the test so that he/she could feel
comfortable and at ease. In such a state, she/he should answer the questions in a calm manner and
any doubts should be cleared before starting the test.

Instructions

The following instructions were given:

 “There are some questions regarding the way you feel, behave and react.”
 In each item there are three answers `yes`, `no` and `?`
 Don’t leave any question and try to complete as soon as possible.
 There are total of 48 items in this test.
 There are no right or wrong answers
 Give the first natural answer as it comes to you. When in doubt, give the best possible answer.

Administration

After the instructions were given, the subject was asked to fill in the necessary details. The tester
ensured that the instructions were clear and understood.

The MPI questionnaire was given to the subject and was completed in less than 10-15 minutes. The
raw score was obtained after the subject completes the test.

Introspective report

The test was quite insightful and fun to do. The tester made me feel at ease.

[You can write the introspective report given by your subject]

Scoring

The inventory is scored directly from the test forms. The raw scores were converted into Standard
Score through the Short Scale and Long Scale Forms which was added to give a total of
 for neuroticism and for extraversion respectively. All the items that are in
`YES` are weighed as 2 [except the ones where NO is allotted 2] and `No` is scored as 1. All the
`?` are scored 1.

Result table

Neuroticism Extraversion

Raw Score

Standard Score [Sten

Conclusion
Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems which
determine his/her unique and characteristic thought and behaviour. Trait is a relatively enduring
attribute or quality on which individuals differ from one another. Extroversion is the outgoing,
uninhibited and sociable proclivities of a person. The subject’ raw score for Extraversion = 42
[write your subject`s score here] and for Sten score for Extraversion=10 [write your subject`s score
here]. Since the Sten’s score was 10 [write your subject`s score here] for Extraversion, she was
seen as highly extraverted. She is highly sociable, friendly, outgoing and enjoys interacting with
other individuals. The subject’s score for raw score for “Neuroticism”=20 [write your subject`s
score here] and for Sten score= 5 [write your subject`s score here] .Since the Sten score was 5
[write your subject`s score here] for “Neuroticism”, she was seen to be neither extremely neurotic,
nor extremely emotionally stable, but was seen to be of average emotional stability.

Note: (IF subject gets sten scores of 1,2,3 on neuroticism subject is stable; if sten is 4,5,6,7, subject
is of average stability and 8,9,10 then subject is unstable so describe accordingly. For
extraversion 1,2,3, subject is an introvert; 4,5,6,7, ambivert and 8,9,10, subject is an extravert )

References

 MPI manual
 NCERT psychology textbook
 A Dictionary of Psychology
  Baron RAC (2001)

[To be attached on a blank page opposite to conclusion section]

Interpretation Table

To interpret the scores, your E score and your N score are plotted on a graph from which you can
read your personality characteristics. The nearer the outside of the circle you are, the more marked
are the personality traits.
 MPI

Scoring Table

Neuroticism Extraversion
Item no. Response Score Item no. Response Score
2 1
3 4
6 5
7 8
10 9
11 12
13 20
15 26
17 28
19 32
21 34
23 38
25 42
27 44
29 46
31 48
33 14
35 16
37 18
39 22
41 24
43 30
45 36
47 40
Total Total
 Raw Score Raw Score
Converted Converted
Score Score

Scoring:

Yes – 2

No – 0

?-1

 For items: 14, 16, 18, 22, 24, 30, 36 and 40 scoring will be Yes = 0, No = 2,? =

1OR USE THIS TABLE

Dimensions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Extraversion 0-3 4 5 6-7 8 9 10 11-12 - -

Sten scores

Norms for General population [combined] for long scale

Dimensions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Extraversion 0-15 16-18 19-21 22-24 25-28 29-31 32-34 35-37 38-40 41-48
Neuroticism 0-3 4-8 9-13 14-18 19-23 24-28 29-33 34-38 39-43 44-48
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Sten scores