Personality Tests Are Assessment Tools That Require

¶ … personality tests are assessment tools that require the individual to choose answers from a restricted set of response options as well as validity scales that are intended to determine the truthfulness of the answers of participants. In other words the tests offer options for answering that are intended to be unpredictable to the individual answering the questions, i.e.

there are no right or wrong answers and the answer options do not usually offer indications to the participant that indicate the purpose of the question (Arendasy, Sommer, Herle, Schutzhofer, & Inwanschitz, 2011, pgs. 210-218). OPTs tests are utilized frequently in mapping personality, an objective set of traits that can help determine the manner in which the individual might respond to a given scenario in a real life setting.

One example of an objective personality test would be the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which is often also used in psychological or clinical diagnosis assistance as well as in business and/or academic setting to aide in individual decision making and/or recruit and identify potential candidates for employment that might be compatible with the organizational needs or to group individuals into effective team and/or group task activities (Khorramdel, & Frebort, 2011, pgs. 103-110).

Objective personality tests are often challenged by researchers and others as to how effective they really are at determining personality of an individual, in validity, application, timing, long-term and short-term prediction of real life responses and other issues but have become widely used in many settings, some legitimate and others questioned (Khorramdel, & Frebort, 2011, pgs. 103-110). This type of questioning is essential to determining validity and effectiveness of OPTs in general and better understanding both how to ethically and effectively administer them and interpret and utilize results.

Each subsequent research challenge to an OPT is a useful tool for better understanding their use and purpose. The availability of such tests to lay people, i.e. people who are not trained to provide, interpret or apply psychological testing assessments is a challenge to OPTs in general as well as to the psychological assessment field.