Clinical Personality Assessment in the Employment Context

Abstract

Clinical personality assessment is not widely used in industrial/organizational psychology for employment selection. The assessment of personality and mental health problems in employment settings is primarily used in evaluating applicants for law enforcement, fire department, nuclear power plant, and airline pilot positions, in which high emotional stability, successful stress skills, and high responsibility are considered important to the performance of a high-risk job. The clinical personality assessment is characteristically conducted post hire and seen as analogous to the pre-employment medical examination. The most widely used psychological test in this application is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) which has a substantial research base (more than 600 studies) supporting its use. This article provides interpretive guidelines for the MMPI-2 in personnel screening and suggests an effective strategy (retest method) for dealing with defensive applicants.

Coaching psychology and positive psychology in work and organizational psychology.

“…In a general way, the tools provided by positive psychology may well be applied in the early stages of coaching psychology process. As other counselors, coaches, and HR professionals and academics have stressed (see Butcher, Gucker, & Hellervick, 2009), it seems absolutely necessary to make an accurate psychological diagnosis (i.e., clinical and organizational assessment) of the coachee before beginning the coaching process during the first stages of the working alliance building-this step stands out as one of the distinctive features of psychological coaching.…”

Implications of Machine-Learning, Internet-Tests to Save Lives and Money: "7-Point Violence Profile:" Review of 212 Studies, 320,051 Persons, Over 95 Years, With a Cross-Validation Among 136 Homicidal, Overdosing- Substance-Abusing, Sex-Offending,

“…Over 19,000 empirical studies and 250 appellate court cases attest to the usefulness of this assessment, which originated in the 1930s. The QT, MMPI, SP and the other tests in this study, assess employees in airlines, military, nonprofits/religious organizations, power generation industries, police and fire public safety, trucking and ports, veterans, worker compensation and personal injury insurance clients, and also prisoners (Butcher and Pancheri, 1976;Butcher, Dahlstrom, Graham, Tellegen, and Kaemmer, 1989;Butcher, 1996;Pope, Butcher, and Seelen, 2004;Butcher, Gucher, and Hellervik, 2009). The MMPI-RF was not included.…”

Assessing psychopathology in high-risk occupations.

“…A procedure for using special instructions for administering the MMPI-2 to applicants who invalidated the test (for example, if the L scale is over T = 65 or greater, or if the K scale is over T = 70) on an initial administration was developed and validated. The test-retest method lowers test defensiveness and obtains a higher percentage of valid protocols (and a larger percentage of scales in the clinical range) in personnel screening (Butcher, Gucker, & Hellervik, 2009;Butcher, Morfitt, Rouse, & Holden, 1997;Cigrang, & Staal, 2001;Walfish, 2007Walfish, , 2010. Butcher et al (2009), using test results of candidates for the U.S. Department of Energy's security assessment program, found that applicants tended to respond more openly on the second administration using the retest procedure.…”

“…The test-retest method lowers test defensiveness and obtains a higher percentage of valid protocols (and a larger percentage of scales in the clinical range) in personnel screening (Butcher, Gucker, & Hellervik, 2009;Butcher, Morfitt, Rouse, & Holden, 1997;Cigrang, & Staal, 2001;Walfish, 2007Walfish, , 2010. Butcher et al (2009), using test results of candidates for the U.S. Department of Energy's security assessment program, found that applicants tended to respond more openly on the second administration using the retest procedure. On initial administration, 21% presented as defensive/invalid, and 79% produced valid profiles.…”

“…The MMPI-2 can provide a useful perspective on the personality of an airline pilot applicant when viewed in the context of the person's background and past work performance. The MMPI and MMPI-2 have an extensive research base in support of their use in pilot screening (Butcher, 2016(Butcher, , 1979(Butcher, , 1994Butcher & Han, 1995;Butcher et al, 1997Butcher et al, , 2009Butcher, Ones, & Cullen, 2006;Caldwell, O'Hara, Caldwell, Stephens, & Krueger, 1993;Dolgin & Gibb, 1989;Flynn et al, 1993;Ganellen, 1994;Geist & Boyd, 1980;Gordon, 1949;Houston, 1988;O'Gorman & Kunkle, 1947;Reinhardt, 1970;Rhodes, 1995;Sells, 1955): ■ ■ Detection of uncooperative responding to personality questionnaires can provide useful information for personnel decisions. Applicants with an overly defensive approach to the testing may present themselves in unrealistically perfectionistic ways; they tend to be defensive in the way they deal with life circumstances.…”