Doctors, researchers, and employers use personality assessments for a variety
of reasons:
- Clinical psychologists often use assessments as aids for diagnosing
psychological disorders.
Example: A psychologist might administer personality tests to a
patient with a varied set of symptoms to narrow down possible
diagnoses. In such a case, a psychologist would typically use a
battery of tests in addition to interviewing the
patient.
- Some mental health providers use tests to decide how best to counsel
people about normal problems of daily living.
Example: A counselor might administer a personality test in order to
help a person choose a career.
- Some organizations use assessments to select personnel to hire, although
this practice is decreasing in popularity.
Example: A consulting firm might assess job candidates in order to
decide which candidates would be likely to perform well under
pressure.
- Researchers frequently use tests in the course of studying personality
traits.
Example: A researcher studying the correlation between risk taking
and criminality might administer a personality test to a sample of
prison inmates.
Three important ways of assessing personality include objective tests,
projective tests, and assessment centers.
