Personality Assessment, Measurement & Design
Coincides with parts of Chapter 2 in Text

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Self-Report Data (S-Data)
Observer-Report Data (O-Data)
Test-Data (T-Data)
Life-Outcome Data (L-Data)

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S-data personality tests
 Unstructured items—open-ended
 Structured items—response options provided Please write down any significant memories or experiences you had during the following periods of your life: 1 – 5 years
5 – 10 years
11 – 15 years
16 – 20 years
Etc.
From: Multimodal Life History, Lazarus &
Lazarus, 1980

Check any of the following feelings that apply to you:
____angry

____fearful ____happy

____bored

____annoyed ____panicky ____conflicted
____optimistic
____sad
____shameful

____energetic
____relaxed

____depressed
____lonely

____envious ____regretful

____anxious ____guilty
____unhappy

____hopeless

____jealous
____excited
____contented
From:
Multimodal
Life History,
Lazarus &
____tense
Lazarus,
1980

Who Am I ????
A popular personality assessment for social psychologists is the Twenty (20)
Statement Test (TST), also known as “Who am I?” Below are 20 fill in the blank areas for you to answer the basic question “Who am I?” Simply type in an answer next to the numbered item and make each answer different.
I am a college student attending drexel
I am an introvert
I am a avid player of card games
I am Error
I am…………………………………………………..
I am…………………………………………………..
I am…………………………………………………..
I am…………………………………………………..
I am…………………………………………………..

Category 1: Positions you hold (for example, student, sister, friend, singer, son, grand-daughter, volunteer, etc.)
Category 2: Character traits (for example, fun-loving, sincere, honest, jealous, careful, trustworthy, talented, strong, agile, etc.)

 Looked

at statements from over
1,000 individuals age 7 to 24.
 Older respondents defined themselves more in terms of social group and category (age, sex, education)
 Females more in terms of sex and kinship than males
 Females less by race
 Married women more in terms of roles than single women

Limitations

of S-data

 People may not respond honestly
 People may lack accurate self-

knowledge (remember our experiment from the first class?) Information provided by someone else about another person  Key features of O-data
 Provide access to information not attainable through other sources
 Multiple observers can be used to assess a person
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Naturalistic vs. Artificial Observation
 Naturalistic observation: Observers witness

and record events that occur in the normal course of lives of the participants
 Artificial observation: Occurs in artificial

settings or situations (“analogues”)

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Information provided by standardized tests or testing situations 

Idea is to see if different people behave differently in identical situations

 Situation

designed to elicit behaviors
(response to test items) that serve as indicators of personality

 Responses