Comparing the Rorschach and MMPI-2 personality assessments

¶ … Rorschach and the MMPI-2

There are various approaches that have been used over the years to assess personality by different institutions and two of the most widely used methods are the Rorschach and the MMPI-2. These two methods have become widely accepted due to the accuracy and wide applicability of these methods in varied personality studies.

The Rorschach test also known as the ink blot test is a renowned method of psychological evaluation that psychologists employ in an attempt to understand and comprehend the emotional function of the patients they are handling, as well as their personality. It is a method that is preferred more than the MMPI-2 when handling thought disorder in patients as well as when the psychologist wants to differentiate psychotic from the non-psychotic thinking particularly in situations where the patient is not willing to open up that he is suffering the psychotic thinking.

The procedure of the Rorschach test takes the form of multiple choice where the patient is shown a set of images, often ten images, and asked to memorize those images. In the next page, the patient is asked to pick from a given list, the description that best applies to the images they just saw and memorized in the previous page. The responses are them compiled and analyzed and the results used to show the emotional function of the patient (Harrower-Erickson, M. (1945). The Inkblot test not only provides the psychology of the person taking it, but also provides understanding of the individual's past and future behaviors (Psych Central, 2015).

The MMPI-2

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) is said to be the most employed as well as researched standardized psychometric evaluation or testing of the psychopathology and personality of an adult. Unlike the inkblot test that looks more into the emotional disposition of the patient and the thought disorder, the MMPI-2 is geared towards finding out if the patient has a mental health or clinical issues.

The administering of the MMPI-2 test is such that the patient is given forms that have 567 true/false questions that the patient is expected to handle in about an hour or an hour and half. Since the MMPI-2 is considered a protected instrument, it is only the psychologist who is trained to interpret its results that is allowed to do so. This test is not found online and in the case were it has to be administered by computer, there must be a clinical interview conducted by the psychologist who is doing the testing. Once the test is done, the psychologist takes his time to write up the report that interprets the test results within the context of the history of the individual and also gives the current psychological concerns that he may be having. This test looks into the abnormal behavior of the individual as well as the attitude of the person towards taking the test (Society of Occupational Medicine, 2009). Many psychologists prefer using the MMPI-2 since apart from being more comprehensive that the Inkblot test, it is also hard for the respondents to fake answers, give wrong impression and deny problems. It is also preferred since it is empirically applied and not relying on the assumptions of the clinician about the answers given by the respondent.