Nowadays it is very important to study a personality and its main characteristics. Since a psychological factor plays an extremely important role practically in all spheres of our life we have to pay much more attention to individual inclinations and personal abilities or aptitudes. We live in the epoch of great technological progress, our environment changes so rapidly, and the society itself evaluate so fast that it is very difficult for an individual to get used to new circumstances. Such changing environment made our life much more stressful than it had ever been. The rhythm of our life forces people to absorb new ideas, new trends and even a new way of life as fast as possible. Certainly, in such a situation a person undergoes the process of socialization not so easy as it was in the past even in the last century, or in last few decades. Consequently, the behavior of an individual becomes to be hard to foresee or predict and a psychology plays a key role in social life of a person and his or her mental and even physical health. As a result in order to prevent antisocial behavior and protect a moral and mental health of the society at large and each individual in particular we must have a lot of information about individuals' psychology, personality and even traits of character. Such knowledge of psychology is impossible without a strong scientific basis for a psychological analysis that can really help to reveal an inner side of a personality as well as his or her personal inclinations and such knowledge means a high possibility of prevention of antisocial behavior such as crime, physical abuse within a family, etc. and fast and effective individual psychological or more serious help if necessary.
One of such scientific basis and, probably the most widely spread one is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It is a test that traditionally serves to gather information on a personality, his or her attitudes and define a mental health of a person. Initially, this test was worked out for people of adult age, then of age 16 or older but now, in certain conditions that will be mentioned later, even children of 11-12 may pass this test. As I have already said the main aim of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is gathering information on personality, attitudes and define mental health, but it is also often used in court cases, particularly when the information provided by the test may help in wider understanding of the case or when "psychological adjustment factors are pertinent to resolution of the case" (Walsh and Betz 1990, p. 127). This test is widely characterized as very effective, valid and objective measure of personality. A lot of specialists believe that it is quite reliable because it is well researched and at the same time it is quite simple. It also provides "clear, valid descriptions of people's problems, symptoms, and characteristics in broadly accepted clinical language" (Walsh and Betz 1990, p. 134). Consequently, such characteristics make the test quite popular means of personality analysis. However, recently more and more specialists have begun to speak about insufficiency of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. They also say that it is not effective as it could be and at large it is not a perfect test at all. To find out who is right and who is wrong we need to analyze critically the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the first and necessary thing to start with is the background information concerning the test.
So, the test was worked out in the late 30s of the 20th century by a psychologist and a psychiatrist of the University of Minnesota, namely they were Starke Hathaway and J. Charnley McKinley. As I have already mentioned it was initially intended for people of adult age but gradually it was evaluated and even teenagers of about 15-16 could pass this test. One of the disadvantages of this test was its age and ability limitations because for this test a person had to have "at least a sixth grade reading level" (Knoff 1986, p. 172), and consequently, "it was definitely inapplicable for average children below the age of about 13 and for retarded persons" (Knoff 1986, p. 174). However, there were cases when the test was given to children of younger age, of about 11-12, who were remarkably bright and clever but the researcher had analyze and interpret the results of such test in this age group very carefully and cautiously. It is also noteworthy that the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory was later completely revised (1989) and another test appeared, named Minnesota Multiphasic Personal Inventory II which, however, was based on the former one.
Custom Essays
Essays in 24 hours
Buy custom essays