Neo-R Personality Assessment

"Tests that are not so categorized will tend to be viewed less positively, regardless of psychometric data, because they are, after all, not objective" (Meyer & Kurtz, 2006, p. 223). Because of the past, there is too much negativity surrounding the term, projective. The terminology both, "objective" and "projective" are not necessarily what they seem. "The term "objective" is a smokescreen for measures that can be just as subjective as anything else and the term "projective" is derived from untenable theoretical concepts that have continued to create confusion in the field for a long time" (Schultheiss, 2007, p. 197). Some other substantial problem is when the effects of a test cannot be duplicated by the same test more than one time. "If assessment psychologists did not derive overarching frameworks and terminologies for classifying psychological tests, those who use, study, or critique these tests would do it anyway. In this respect, it is better that an organizing framework be made explicit (and the logic underlying the framework spelled out in detail) than that multiple contrasting framework and labels emerge in isolation among different segments of the psychological community" (Bornstein, 2007, p. 205). The volume of the dilemmas above have all been a culmination of psychologists and psychiatrists in this community and

The NEO- PI-R is a self -administered questionnaire based on the Five Factor Model. The NEO PI-R is considered to be a concise measure of the five factor domains of personality (Costa & McCrae, 19921). It contains six traits or facets in each of the five domains. The domains are Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness (Costa & McCrae, 19921). These domains help to provide an assessment of a normal adult personality. The test consists of 240 items and three validity items (Costa & McCrae, 19921). The test requires at least a sixth grade reading level. Included in the NEO PI-R test manual is the NEO Five Factor Inventory. This inventory was validated in the four studies conducted by Holden, Wasylkiw, Starzyk, Book and Edwards (2006) in their article about the construct validity of the big four personality clusters.

Personality is defined as the unique way in which each individual thinks, acts, and feels throughout life (Ciccarelli, 2014). Numerous individuals are curious in regards to their actions and how their mind works, thus leading companies to create personality tests, in order to provide individuals with some perspective on their personality. While individuals can take personality tests for leisure, personality tests are often utilized in situations such as job interviews, diagnosing mental disorders, and educational purposes. Two popular personality tests are the Keirsey Temperament Sorter and the Big Five Personality test. After taking both tests, I analyzed them using my knowledge of general psychology and of my own actions. I found the

In order for me to complete this career assessment paper, I initially took an Interest Inventory survey. Upon completing this process, it revealed that my personality profile score was (I, C, A). These three letters represented my strengths and interests in determining which career field would best suit me.

The use of assessment tools is an intricate part of the counseling process. Instruments are not only used by clinical counselors, but they can also be utilized by career counselors and school counselors for a variety of reasons. Counselors employ assessment testing to determine factors such aptitude, achievement, stress level, personality domain, and to assess a client’s issue or level or functioning. Assessment instruments within counseling can also be used to provide the necessary treatment plans or academic help that is needed by the individuals who are being tested. For the purposes of this paper the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-3) will be examined. The NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-3) is a personality inventory that has been used to test the big five factors of personality which include the areas of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Other factors such as the NEO-PI-3 test description, reliability, and ease of administration will also be discussed.

The career path of vocational rehabilitation counselor has come to me later in my professional career and it is not a path I would have anticipated taking. I do not recall taking interest assessments in high school, but if I had I would have probably fallen into the category of conventional personality type on John Holland’s personality scale. My early educational pursuits leaned toward administrative and business type positions. Most of my career I have worked in positions that were structured, predictable and very routine. Even though I worked in positions such as these I was often called upon to teach, train and instruct new employees. I found the most satisfaction in my job when I would work with individuals helping them to learn new tasks and obtain new skills.

Self-report data may be obtained from a test or an interview format of a self-report study. The format of self-report study that will be used to discuss limitations of self-report data will be a test and a personality disorder test will be used as an example. For specific example answers for the test I completed the results all rated “low” for all personality disorders. Limitations arise from decreased reliability and validity and issues with credibility of responses due to response bias. Content validity, construct validity and criterion-related validity as well as test-retest reliability will be presented. The forms of response biases that will be discussed are social desirability,

For many people, finding a career that is both fulfilling and practical is a strenuous task. Fortunately, there is a plethora of different interventions, techniques, assessments, and inventories designed to aid those individuals in making the wisest career choices possible. But are any of those routes inherently better than the others? Or are all the differing options separate but equally effective? Donald Super’s Life Span Theory and John Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice are just two of the many theories used for career counseling. Both methods are distinct in the way they approach career issues, yet despite their differences, there are some resemblances between the two theories as well. Comparing and contrasting these two theories will make it easier to see if one theory is better than the other for career counseling or if they are both equally effective.

My preference of personality assessment method would be objective tests, such as the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) or the NEO Personality-Inventory Revised. My reasoning for choosing objective tests are that they can be assessed in a standardized manner, have various validity scales, and the criticisms of objective tests can be relatively easy to avoid. The criticisms of objective tests, deliberate deception, diagnostic difficulties, and cultural bias, can be avoided because it would only take a little extra awareness of the making of the test to not be deliberately deceptive or culturally bias. Due to the diagnostic difficulties of objective tests I would not use this type of test to make diagnoses. I would not use interviews

The NEO PIR is a test to identify important personality traits and assess normal adult personality. The test is centered on a five factor model or the big five, of personality. The five factor model or the five personality domains are the main test categories (Costa & McCrae, 2015). The test is widely used in clinical psychology, behavioral medicine, psychiatric, vocation counseling and professional settings to assess personality. The test consists of 240 questions and takes approximately 35 minutes to complete and requires a sixth grade reading level (Costa & McCrae, 2015). The NEO PIR has undergone many updates since the original publication in the 1970’s. The NEO PIR is primarily used to assed adult personality not intended to assess mental health issues. The NEO PIR is an internationally recognized and reputable standard for personality assessment.

Psychological tests or psychological assessments are an important asset in the field of psychology. These tests are designed to measure people’s characteristics which pertain to behavior. There are a variety of different types of tests that can be used to assess different types of behaviors. According to the specific behavior or behaviors being assessed, tests are

“No step in life, unless it may be the choice of a husband of wife, is more important than the choice of a vocation”.1(p3) A bold and debatable statement but nonetheless the importance of career choice cannot be denied. Choice as a career issue is not only noteworthy in itself but also in its relation to other issues such as success and satisfaction (though these can be relative and subjective). One notable aspect regarding career choice pertains to individuals’ personality and traits, and how these ‘fit’ with potential careers. It has often been said (and shown) that individuals in vocations well aligned to their personalities and unique traits bring job performance, success and satisfaction2. Two prominent career theorists who have lead the discussion about career choice and personality/trait fit are Frank Parsons and John Holland, with Parsons’ Trait and Factor Theory paving the way for Holland’s Theory of Vocational Choice. Through examining these theories in conjunction with how they prevail in the real world, the importance of personality and trait matching in career choice, including the use of career inventories can be better explored.

In addition to this, throughout the reliability evaluation, it had been noted that in many cases, the reliability of the dependent variable in this evaluation tool, a clinician based diagnosis, along with self-report, is not established (Achenbach, 1992). This diagnosis may not be systematic and therefore is prone to bias, alluding to an overall construct bias, determined upon outlying sources, (interpersonal problems, undiagnosed psychopathology deficits, false reports, etc.) (Wright, 2009).

The term personality is used to describe a representative of a person’s patterns in behavior, ways of thinking and feeling, and social traits. The American Psychology Association states that the study of personality is to understand the individual differences in personality characteristics as well as understanding the different parts of one’s personality that contribute to their whole self (Kazdin, 2000). One form of personality assessment is categorized as structured, also known as objective assessment. Objective assessment is a standardized self- report measure that typically comes in a forced- answer format (Hays, p. 256). This type of personality assessments helps clinicians gather data that reveals a person’s specific personality traits

When it comes to objective tests, it is implied that they are accurate, precise, and resistant to biased influences. Scoring errors are another potential concern. In reviewing the projective test, it is determined by Meyer and Kurtz (2006) that one‘s personality will not shine through with force and clarity regardless of the medium, the presence of the client’s responses confuses the efforts to interpret the test scores, and that is what the psychologists are most interested in interpreting (Meyer & Kurtz, 2006)