Essay Sample on History and the Development of the MMPI-2

Introduction

The initial Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI) was first published in the year 1940 whereas the second revised version of the MMPI-2 was later published in 1989 by the two test developers; McKinley and Hathaway (Ben-Porath and Tellegen, 2011). They used an experimental test construction which is a technique to develop the MMPI-2 involving basing the test scales, for instance, the hypochondrias scale on the initial test items. The test helped in identifying people with hypochondriasis from the normal ones. Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI-2) is regarded as the most widely psychometric test which is used to measure adult psychopathology globally. It's also used in medical and employment settings as well as mental health (Ben-Porath and Tellegen, 2011).

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The Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation

The Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory is generally administered in two forms, for instance, the MMPI-2 has five hundred and sixty-seven true or false questions whereas the current MMPI-2-RF, which was published in the year 2008, contains only three hundred and thirty-eight true or false items. Moreover, the newer MMPI-2-RF measures and consequently takes about fifty or fewer minutes to complete, the MMPI-2 is still regarded as the most widely used test since it exists in maximum research base and also familiarity amongst the psychologist (Butcher et al. 2015). The test is also regarded as a protected psychological instrument since it can only be interpreted and given by the psychologist who is trained to do so. The test takes an average of sixty to ninety minutes to complete. Hence it can be administered in groups as well as individually and also there is the availability of computerized versions. Both the MMPI-2-RF and MMPI-2 are majorly made for individuals who have attained the age of eighteen or older than that.

The Statement About the Reliability and Validity

The Minnesota multiphasic personality (MMPI-2) has been validated using normative samples of about 2600 adults as well as 1000 published papers which mainly use the MMPI-2. Also, a symptom validity scale (FBS) has recently been added to the inventory to assist in excluding symptoms exaggeration (Butcher et al. 2015).

The Ethical Issues Patient to the Test

Some questions have been raised regarding the RC scales as well as the release of MMPI-2-RF which has done away with the older clinical scales in favor of psychometrically appealing scales. However, the replacement of these two scales has not been met with the universal approval hence warranting much discussion to allow the special issue of the academic journal of the personality assessment which gives each side the opportunity to voice their opinions in relations to old and new measures (Butcher et al. 2015).

Evaluation of Test Validity

The Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory is low on content validity and face validity because the scores have importance statistically on the deviations from the norms and it's an essential source of information which frequently occurs to merit further investigations. The true meaning of low score has presented on the MMPI-2 was due to the examination for averagely female and male pairs in the MMPI-2 sample.

Pros and Cons of Having a Test With High Face Validity

The advantage of face validity is that it's the main form of validity for the measurement procedures since it's quick and easy to apply as opposed to investigating the underlying factors that state whether a measure is robust. Also, face validity is used as a supplemental form of validity since it encourages people to respond to surveys (Tarescavage et al. 2015). On the other hand, the disadvantage of face validity is that when it's used as a supplemental form of validity, it may be undesirable in cases you do not want the research participants to know the purpose of the measurement procedure as well as the discussion in the previous sections.

Types of Validity Scales and Their Assessment on the Validity

There are four main types of validity, i.e., content, construct, face, and criterion validity. Face validity majorly involves the decision if any case the logical relationship does exist between the proposed measure and the variable (Butcher et al. 2015). The content validity, on the other hand, involves two particular steps, i.e., determining the full range on the domain of a given substance of variable and also on deciding whether all the domains are adequately represented by the item used for measuring the device hence helps in assessing psychological principles of behavior. Another type of validity is a criterion which measures how well one predicts an outcome for a given measure. The validity majorly helps during the evaluation process for the job (Tarescavage et al. 2015). Lastly, construct validity points out if the scale or test measures the construct perfectly. For instance, construct validity measures of an individual brain such as emotional levels, intelligence, and ability

Conclusion

In summary, Minnesota multiphasic personality inventory (MMPI-2) is regarded as the most widely psychometric test which is used to measure adult psychopathology globally (Tarescavage et al. 2015). It's also used in medical and employment settings as well as mental health. The MMPI is administered in two forms, i.e., MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF which measures and consequently takes about fifty or fewer minutes to complete, the MMPI-2 is still regarded as the most widely used test since it exists in maximum research base and also familiarity amongst the psychologist (Tarescavage et al. 2015). Moreover, there are four main types of validity for example content, construct, face, and criterion validity and each has its pros and cons.

References

Ben-Porath, Y. S., & Tellegen, A. (2011). MMPI-2-RF, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form: Manual for administration, scoring, and interpretation. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Butcher, J. N., Hass, G. A., Greene, R. L., Nelson, L. D., & American Psychological Association, (2015). Using the MMPI-2 in forensic assessment.

Tarescavage, A. M., Alosco, M. L., Ben-Porath, Y. S., Wood, A., & Luna-Jones, L. (2015). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Scores Generated From the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF Test Booklets. (Assessment.