I. Introduction

      a. Personality Assessment

• “The process of gathering and organizing information about another person in expectation that this information will lead to a better understanding of the person.” (Lanyon and Goodstein)

II. Methods Used

     a. Observation of Behavior

• Unstructured (Naturalistic Observation): Observing people in real life settings.

• Nonparticipant: Unobstructed and non-manipulated observations that catch the person being observed in their most natural state. 
• Cons:  Costly and hard to find.

• Participant: Person observing interacts with the people being observed.
• Cons:  Costly, ruins natural setting of observation, and affects the subjects being studied.
• Structured Observation (Controlled):  People being observed are controlled by the researcher doing the observations.
• Cons:  Lack of real and natural responses due to control.

 III. Interviews and Questionnaires

      a. Face-To-Face Communicating

• Best method for data collection that can be used.
• Body language of person being interviewed can be observed and noted.
• Less structured, more natural response.

      b. Standardized Interviews

• Scheduled interview to collect equal information from many different individuals.
• Statistical analysis is allowed
• Could be invalid and lacking in flexibility

       c. Non-Standardized Interviews

• Not scheduled
• Participants answer freely
• No statistical analysis

       d. Inhibitors of Communication

• Ego, time restrictions, trauma

       e. Facilitators of Communication

• Altruistic Appeals, sympathetic understanding, fulfilling expectations.

IV. Problems of Reliability and Validity in Data Collection

     a.  Reliability: Repeatability or dependability of the instruments or measures used by the researcher.

     b. Validity: Truthfulness of measurement.

V.  Personality Tests

        a. Most commonly used in psychology.

         b. Used to measure an individual’s personality traits.

        Objective tests

• Structured
• Statistical Analysis
• Risk of dishonest and inaccurate answers
• Detecting Devices: Determines how much a participant is faking answers.
• Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory: The lie scale (L), The frequency scale (F), the correction scale (K), the cannot scale (?).

         Projective Tests

• Subjects reply spontaneously or unconsciously
• Not completely valid responses
• Techniques: Association, construction, completion, choice or ordering, expressive.
• Rorschach Test (Inkblot): No right or wrong answer, measures things like emotional control and ability to organize.
• Thematic Apperception Test: A test of the imagination to assess the participant’s personality and personal likes and dislikes.
• Lanyon & Goodstein About Murry: The characteristics of one’s environment represent significant aspects of the respondent’s environment.

VI.  Content Analysis of Life History

• Oral histories of non-literate people collected by anthropologists, case histories of mental patients analyzed by psychiatrists, biographies/autobiographies of famous people, and letters, diaries, and personal documents largely studied by psychologists and sociologists 

• Method usually consists of:

– Selection and definition of content categories relevant to the research objective 


     – Sampling of materials that represent the content categories       chosen 


-Quantification or determination of salient categories 


– And, analysis of the quantified or salient categories in relation to other variables 


VII.  Analysis of Folklore Materials

• Diverse Cultural Materials passed down: Folktale, Myth, Joke…
• Functions of Folklore:           

-Aiding in the education of the young 

• Promoting a group’s feeling of solidarity 
• Providing socially sanctioned ways for individuals to act superior to 
or        to censure other individuals 

• Serving as a vehicle for social protest 
• Fromm’s Psychoanalysis of Little Red Riding Hood: Danger of sex, a man’s role, and how sex is represented.
• Wright’s Study on Child Training Practices and Folktale Aggression: Correlation between the degree of severity in aggression training and the level of intensity in aggressive folktale acts.
• Benedict’s Study of Zuni Mythology: Zuni mind is unaware of suicide and violence, but can escape reality by writing stories.
• Analysis of Art and Music:

1. Hsu’s Analysis of Western and Chinese Arts

-“In Western art, the focus is on man or woman as an individual. In Chinese art, the important thing is the individual’s place in the external scheme of things. In addition, American art often reflects the inner tension of the individual; this concern is practically absent from the Chinese art.” 

2. Firth’s Analysis of Rock ‘n’ Roll
   • -Rock ‘n’ Roll was the folk music expression of the counterculture 
movement of the American youth in the 1960’