Mpi 2
Mpi 2
Mpi 2
(MPI)
AIM: To assess the traits of neuroticism and extraversion of the subject using Maudsley’s Personality
Inventory (MPI).
BASIC CONCEPT:
Personality has been derived from a Latin word Persona, meaning mask. According to G.W Allport,
“Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that
determine his characteristic, behavior and thought.” Each person’s pattern of thinking, feeling and
behaving makes him/her distinctive. Thus, each one of us wears a mask that is different from those
worn by others. The notion of an individual’s personality is consistent. We are not completely
consistent from one situation to another. It also suggests that individuals display levels of personality
characteristics that are relatively stable across time. Personality is characterized by the following
features:
4. It is dynamic in the sense that some of its features may change due to internal or external
situational demands. Thus, personality is adaptive to situations.
TRAIT APPROACHES:
When you are asked to describe a friend or a relative, you probably need a number of words,
expressions of traits such as shy, friendly, etc. in your description. Trait is a term that describes
tendencies to respond in a particular way that accounts for differences. In other words, a trait is
considered as a relatively enduring attribute or quality on which one individual differs from another.
Some people exhibit high levels of human trait and others exhibit low levels of the same trait which
are distributed according to the normal distribution curve. Traits include a range of possible
behaviors that are activated according to the demands of the situation. Thus,
3. Their strengths and combinations vary across individuals leading to individual differences in
personality.
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Psychologist Gordon Allport (1897-1967) set out to compose a list of traits which he describes as
building blocks to personality. To do this he observed the everyday language because it seems likely
that he would encode into our language the most important individual differences in human
transactions as single terms. Based on this, Allport characterized traits into cardinal, central and
secondary.
1. Cardinal Traits: They are highly generalized dispositions. They indicate the goal around which a
person’s entire life seems to revolve.
2. Central Traits: They are less pervasive in effect, but still quite generalized dispositions. These
traits are often used in writing a testimonial or job recommendation for a person.
Allport held that the way a person reacts to given situations depends on his/her traits, although
people sharing the same traits might express them in different ways. Any variation in traits would
elicit a different response to the same situation.
Raymond Cattell Factor of Personality: For sometime personality psychologists have been
searching for a table of key personality traits. Cattell (1990) decided that he would identify and
measure the most important traits. Cattell’s approach was to administer a wide variety of
personality measures to many people and use results to help one to identify key personality traits.
Cattell’s Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) provides an assessment of the levels of an
individual’s source traits. He applied a statistical technique, called Factor Analysis. This test is widely
used by psychologists for the assessment of personality. He found 16 primary or source traits. The
Source Traits are stable and are considered as the building blocks of personality. There are also a
number of Surface Traits that result from the interaction of source traits.
Hans Eysenck: Psychologist Eysenck was also very interested in how traits are organized. He
concluded that one way to deal with a large number of traits is to first organize them into narrowly
defined categories which are in turn placed into broader categories. At the broadest level of
abstraction Eysenck said, “he can describe personality as consisting of three basic traits that are
extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism. Neuroticism or emotional instability consists of traits
such as anxiety, guilt feeling, low self-esteem and shyness. Psychoticism consists of traits such as
aggressiveness, impulsivity and a lack of empathy. Extroversion can be represented as a continuum
from extreme extrovert to extreme introvert. People we label as extroverts are more outgoing than
introverts who are oriented towards internal stimuli such as their own thoughts and moods & are
passive, quiet, cautious and reserved, however many people have scores that would put them in the
middle of distribution.
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MAJOR TRAIT DESCRIPTION OF PERSONALITY
One of the most promising empirical approaches to the study of personality is put forward by Paul
Costa & Robert McCrae who have examined all possible personality traits. The findings indicate a set
of five factors. They are often called Big Five Factors. These factors include:
1. Openness to experience: those who score high on this factor are imaginative, curious, open to
new ideas and interested in cultural pursuits. Those who score low are rigid.
2. Extraversion: It characterizes people who are socially active, assertive, outgoing, talkative and
fun loving. On the opposite side are people who are shy.
3. Agreeableness: this factor characterizes people who are helpful, co-operative, friendly, caring
and nurturing. On the opposite are people who are hostile and self-centered.
4. Neuroticism: People who score high on this factor are emotionally unstable, anxious, worried,
fearful, distressed, irritable and hypertensive. On the opposite are people who are well adjusted.
5. Conscientiousness: Those who score high on this factor are achievement-oriented, dependable,
responsible, prudent, hard working and self-controlled. On the opposite are people who are
impulsive.
MPI is the result of many years of developmental work. It was designed to give a rough and ready
measure of two important personality dimensions: neuroticism or emotionality and extroversion.
Each of these two traits is measured by means of 48 questions carefully selected after lengthy item
and factor analysis. Neuroticism refers to the general emotional stability of a person, his emotional
over responsiveness and his neurotic stability to break down under stress. Extroversion as opposed
to introversion, refers to the outgoing inhibited sociable proclimities of a person. They are too
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convinced of being quite independent thus, all the theoretically possible combinations of scores may
in fact be observed.
The MPI is much shorter than most other questionnaires; nevertheless for certain purposes even 48
questions may be too many to ask consequently a short form of the MPI has been prepared. This
consists of two scales of 6 items each. Taken from the long form of scales on the printed form of the
questionnaires, these 12 questions making up the short form of the MPI have been given on the first
page immediately after instructions. Thus, if only the short form is to be given, only the first page is to
be filled in by the subject. If the full scale is to be administered both sides of the sheet will have to be
filled in by the subject.
METHODOLOGY:
PRELIMINARIES:
Name:
Gender:
Age:
MATERIALS REQUIRED:
PRECAUTIONS:
1. The room should provide adequate lighting, ventilation & seating facilities for the test takers.
RAPPORT FORMATION:
“ Good morning, my name is……relax, feel comfortable. Let me assure you that there is nothing for
you to feel nervous or anxious about. This is a very simple test. That will help you to gain insight into
your own behavior i.e. the way you feel and act in various circumstances. Your test results will be
kept strictly confidential and be made available to a third person only after your knowledge and
consent.”
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INSTRUCTIONS:
“Here are some questions regarding the way you feel and act. There are no right or wrong answers
because different people react in different ways for the same kind of experience. Therefore, what
you feel is the most appropriate answer for you. As you can see, every question has three possible
answers; “Yes”, “?”, “No”. You have to decide whether “Yes” or “No” represents your usual way of
acting or feeling, then put a (X) mark in the box right next to ‘Yes” or “No”. If you find it absolutely
impossible to decide, put a (X) mark in the box next to “?”. But do not use this answer very frequently.
Work quietly and do not spend too much time over any question. Give the first natural answer as it
comes to you. Of course, the questions are too short to give you all the particulars you would
sometimes like to have, even then give the best possible answer. Be sure not to skip anything and
answer every question. Try to finish the entire questionnaire in 15 minutes. Therefore, work quickly
and remember to answer every question. I repeat the first natural answer as it comes to you. In case
you have any doubt feel free to ask me, I will be rather glad to help.”
CONDUCTION:
The subject was brought to the laboratory and rapport was established. The MPI form was given and
the subject was asked to answer the questions with three available choices; “Yes'', “No”, “?”. The
inventory was scored from the form. The subject was told to put a cross mark in one box of all the
available options distinctly. The test scores were checked to make sure that all answers had been
marked. The inventory is scored directly from the test forms. It was clarified with the subject that
their answer should be scored to ascertain that only one answer has been marked per question. The
scoring stencil was placed along the anchoring points made on the test forms. The raw scores were
checked and added to give a total of neuroticism and extraversion scores. All the answers in category
“Yes'' are assigned a weightage of 2 score (except for the item numbers 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28,
30, 36) which belong to the extroversion dimensions and reassigning two scores only when
answered in category “No”. All the “?” responses are assigned with scores when the subject marks
them in the middle category. The raw scores are then converted to standard scores to convert the
Neuroticism (N) and Extroversion (E) with norms.
SCORING:
The inventory is scored directly from the test form. It should be made clear to the subject that their
answer must be marked inside the box; if it is marked outside the box proper correction should be
made before scoring. The test form must be scanned to ascertain that only the answer is marked for
each question. The scoring stencil should be placed along the anchoring points made on the test
forms. The raw scores may be added to give the total of N and E scores respectively. It may be noted
that all the items answerable in category “Yes” are assigned with a weightage of two scores except
for (items 14, 16, 18, 22, 24, 30, 36 and 40 which belong to extroversion group). All the “?” mark
responses are assigned with one score, when the subject marks them in the middle category. The raw
scores are then converted into sten scores.
INTROSPECTIVE REPORT:
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DATA TABLE: showing raw scores and equivalent standard scores obtained by the subject on the
dimensions of neuroticism and extraversion.
Raw Scores
Standard Score
RESULT:
The raw scores of the subject are… for neuroticism and …. For extroversion and the standard scores
are … and …. respectively.
INTERPRETATION:
According to G. Allport, “Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those
psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic, behavior and thought.” In 1967, H.J.
Eysenck classified personality into:
Psychotics
This approach to personality is used commonly in diagnosing psychological disorders. “Trait can be
defined as a unique organization of relatively enduring psychological characteristics, possessed by an
individual and revealed by his interaction.”
On the basis of the test conducted it was found that the subject has a raw score of…. in neuroticism
and ….in extroversion. On the basis of the raw score the subject’s standard score were…for
neuroticism and….for extroversion. The subject had a high score in ………as compared to ……
CONCLUSION:
Using the MPI it has been observed that the subject is an ………
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The following table describes the traits that are associated with the three dimensions in Eysenck's
model of personality:
Manipulative Tense
Dogmatic Risk-taking