How to evaluate personality

When we undergo a personnel selection process, normally, he A human resources expert asks us a series of questions that have a common objective: to evaluate our personality. Thanks to this, it will determine whether or not we are suitable for the job offered.

These types of interviews are not only applied in the workplace, but are also applied in other areas. For example, in the clinic to make a diagnosis and determine if someone suffers from a personality disorder. In the military or legal field to evaluate people involved in judicial processes.

In the same way, Interviews are only one of the many methods that exist to evaluate personality. There are many more, such as questionnaires or objective tests. Below we will delve into all of them.

Evaluator requirements

To carry out a rigorous personality assessment it is necessary to have adequate theoretical training and tutored experience. Furthermore, the theoretical models behind these evaluations support professional assessments, so knowledge of them is essential.

Regarding interpretation, assessment tests give us a personality profile, but In no case is there a linear relationship between this profile and a specific behavioral pattern.. That is, all people who obtain high scores in extroversion do not have to act the same. In the same way, the same profile can suggest different personality types. Therefore, it is essential to exercise caution.

personality questionnaires

In personality questionnaires, a series of questions or statements are asked that the subjects have to answer. Thus, through their answers we try to extract the main personality and character traits of these subjects. That is, there are no right or wrong answers, but simply They reflect what the candidate is like, what is their way of behaving, their way of thinking or facing different situations..

The elements contained in a questionnaire do not have to be ordered or graded, but rather each item can be interpreted individually. There are 2 types:

General: They try to define the characteristics of people outside the clinical setting. That is, they are designed to understand personality profiles. They can be applied in numerous fields.Clinical: They are aimed at determining pathological characteristics of people in the clinical setting. They are designed to identify the factors that cause someone to be at levels higher or lower than what is considered normal and, therefore, make them maladjusted.

Objective tests

Objective tests are usually the most used tools to assess personality, along with projective tests. They allow different aspects to be evaluated: knowledge, abilities, attitudes, intelligence, etc. They usually do not have a time limit for their completion and in them questions are asked or different situations are explained to the person so that they can answer what they would do in a personal and sincere way. In this type of test there are no right and wrong answers either.

Objective tests are widely used for diagnostic evaluation and are frequently applied in the school environment. There are also 2 types:

Inventories: They are sheets that contain numerous questions that measure personality variables. They show the agreement or disagreement of the subjects with the statements. They can be administered to a large number of people. Some of the most representative are the MMPI, 16-PF, NEO-PI-R.Other tests, such as personality indicators. They are usually complementary to inventories. They are, for example, measures of expressive behavior (walking, speaking, writing…), physiological variables (heart rate, reaction times…) or performance tests (problem solving, adding numbers, definitions…).

The advantages of using these tests are avoid a response tendency (always answer “B”) or social desirability (answer what is considered socially acceptable). They are also resistant to counterfeiting.

Projective tests

These types of tests have to be supervised by the therapist, because they require a lot of training and learning. Typically, they are used for knowing how the interviewee sees, focuses and handles reality. As their name indicates, they are those tests that help the person project personality traits. Therefore, they go according to what each person has inside.

They are open evaluation tests, unstructured and very reliable. They consist of providing few and brief instructions to the person, from which they must freely act. Thus, almost without being conscious, she shows her traits. Her responses are manifestations of her internal personality structure and dynamics.

Types of subjective tests

Complete started sentences: The person must finish sentences presented to them. In this way, it provides information about his temperament in a specific situation.Describe ink stains: The best known is the one developed by Hermann Rorschach. There are 10 sheets, 5 black ink and 5 color. The interpretation made by the professional is based on the idea that the organization of the patient’s perceptual structure manifests a projection of his personality structure.

Drawing tasks: The person is asked to draw something freely. The way to evaluate personality is based on the formal characteristics of the drawing, such as the inclination of the paper, intensity of the stroke, size, structure, color, position. The best known is the Buck format (tree, person and house test). Elizabeth Koppiz’s human figure test is usually used with children.Preparation of stories: It consists of writing or narrating a free story. One of the most used has been Murray’s TAT ​​(Thematic Apperception Test), 31 sheets through which the person must tell a story.

As we see, there are multiple ways to evaluate personality with its different factors, traits and variables. Professionals must know which is the most appropriate technique in each case and take into account the individual differences of each subject.

Final reflection: constantly changing

Despite the multiple tools to evaluate personality, we must keep in mind that we are not static. The result of a questionnaire does not indicate that we are in a unique and immutable way. If at 20 we were shy, at 30 we have been able to stop being so. What yesterday gave one result, today can give another.

Many people have the belief that their way of being is and will remain the same throughout their lives. However, reality shows that this is not the case. For this reason, when they undergo a psychological evaluation, they cling to the result and attach one label or another. This is why it is important to point out that The result of evaluating personality is something specific and subject to change over time.

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