Megatrends in Personality Assessment: Toward a Human Science Professional Psychology

Abstract

Societal megatrends have assessment counterparts--superempiricism, biopsychosocial perspective, person-centering, population-specificity, self-assessment--which are used to examine the contemporary status of professional psychology. A human science approach to research, training, and practice can exemplify a profession that acknowledges these megatrends. The nurture of competent professional psychologists requires a reinvestment in Boulder Model ideology, a human science that is shared with consumers on the basis of values which communicate caring and understanding.

Self-prediction: Exploring the parameters of accuracy.

“…Fueled by some of these continuing sources of dissatisfaction with assessment, several theorists, in taking stock of the field's current status, have shown a striking convergence in their recommendations for the future (Burisch, 1984; Dana, 1984; Korchin & Schuldberg, 1981; Lanyon, 1984; Mischel, 1977; Rorer & Widiger, 1983). All suggest, albeit in varying degrees, that greater attention to people's own self-assessments or predictions could provide greater validity than do more traditional means of predicting behavior.…”

“…Dana (1984) identified this movement toward self-assessment as a “megatrend” in personality research and Lanyon (1984) called it “overdue.” What all of these views seem to suggest is a return to Gordon Allport's (1942) often cited dictum: “If we want to know how people feel: what they experience and what they remember, what their emotions and motives are like, and the reasons for acting as they do—why not ask them” (p. 37).…”

Training for professional psychology: Science, practice, and identity.

“…The divisional structure of the American Psychological Association (APA) illustrates extreme differences in values. Normative and humanistic systems of elaborating reality have human counterparts in so-called Alpha or Beta persons (Dana, 1984): Alpha persons adhere to objective reality, a normative ideology, and social responsibility ethics; Beta persons perceive reality subjectively and intuitively, endorse a humanistic ideology, and live by personal conscience ethics. Socialization experiences tend to increase positive affect for Beta persons (Tomkins, 1975), and responsibility for maintaining human relationships is responded to by distress and shame, as opposed to anger and disgust for Alpha persons, the consequences being to keep communication open and relationships close.…”

“…A human science alternative involves the use of eclectic method (Unger, 1983), especially phenomenological method (Rogers, 1985), with recognition that theory and method are separate (Rychlak, 1981) and that idiographic method may be used independently or coupled with nomothetic theory, or nomothetic theory may be used independently or coupled with idiographic method (Shontz & Rosenak, 1985). A person-centered reality with reciprocal interactive relationships (Unger, 1983) renders human beings active and equal collaborators in research and provides for examination of bias on the part of all research participants (Dana, 1984). The use of creative speculation within a format of disciplined personal commitment (Rogers, 1985) is an attitude that is concomitant with diversification and enrichment of method.…”

Rorschachbound: A 50-Year Memoir

“…We might adopt the more sophisticated single case method suggested by Ellett and Bersoff (1976), which combines projectives, observations, and structured interviewing. More recently, Dana (1984) proposed assessment megatrends and described a "human science model" that integrates objective and experimental sources of information with intuitive and social data. Of course, other strategies may be explored.…”