PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT

An individual’s personality is revealed by characteristic patterns of behavior, thought, or emotional experience that are relatively consistent across time and situations (Allport, 1937). These patterns include motives, intentions, goals, strategies, and subjective representations (the ways in which people perceive and construct their worlds; see Chapter 14). They indicate the degree to which a person desires one goal over another, or thinks the world is changeable as opposed to fixed, or is generally happy, or is optimistic as opposed to pessimistic, or is sexually attracted to members of the same or the opposite sex. All of these variables and many others are relatively stable attributes of individuals. In that sense, they are all personality traits, and any attempt to measure them necessarily entails personality assessment. As a result, assessment is relevant to a broad range of research, including nearly every topic in personality, developmental, and social psychology.