Purpose, Basis, and Administration of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Psychological test: Technical Assessment Test
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Introduction
Psychological tests are written, or verbal tests designed to evaluate an individual’s behavior. Most psychological tests play a crucial role in understanding the various dynamics of human beings. One example of psychological test is the personality assessment test called the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). MMPI was first developed in 1937 by Starke R. hatchway (clinical psychologists) and Charnley McKinley (neuropsychiatrist) at the university of Minnesota. It was first published in 1943 with 504 true or false questions and has since undergone several revisions with the latest version being the MMPI-3 of 2020.
Purpose of MMPI
MMPI was original developed for internal use at the department of psychology at the university of Minnesota. Objectively, MMPI was designed to help assess different psychiatric conditions and severity. It has since become a vital tool in screening both psychological disorders and personality in adults and adolescents. The personality test is self-reporting inventory and evaluates where an individual falls on 10 scales related to differet types of mental disorders (Barbian‐Shimberg, 2020). The MMPI-2 version is vital legal field especially in custody disputes and criminal defense. Over the years, the test has been adopted as a screening instrument in the professional world including screening recruits for high risk jobs. In the health aspect, MMPI is used to understand the effectiveness of treatment programs such as the substance abuse programs.
Theoretical basis of MMPI
Dynamic theory of Freud is the basis of MMPI. According to Freud, humans’ personality is considered a product of struggles between the pursuit of pleasure and destructive impulses.as such, people’s construction of personality is solely a product of underlying causes. Fred reiterates further that, one’s personality determines how one acts socially and how they will manage their internal and external conflicts (Perrotta, 2020).
Brief History of MMPI
MMPI was first developed in 1937 by Starke R. Hathaway and J. Charnley McKinley, both staff at the university of Minnesota. The designers of this test felt that most personality assessment tests were transparent as respondents could easily guess the goal of these tests and could potentially manipulate the results. Over the years several versions have been introduced with each version perceived to help reduce inadequacies such as test bias, racist questions, among others. The major revision was in 1980s when key questions were removed, and others added. In the newest versions, vali...