Posted by bookgurl99 on February 1, 2003, at 9:24:26
In reply to Personality testing, posted by Dinah on January 4, 2003, at 9:57:06
I took the MMPI, and found it to be _very_ culturally biased, with almost 50's-era expectations about how people 'should' be.
For example, the 'gender' questions assume that deviation from standard masculinity or femininity are symptoms of 'illness.' This despite the abolition of Gender Identity Disorder and Homosexuality as mental illnesses by the APA.
And the method to determine this deviation is strange. The test asks things like "I am interested in participating in unusual sexual practices." Well, to me 'unusual' would be -- sex with someone who is not consenting, sex with a child, sex with non-human entities (i.e., a pumpkin, a goat, etc.). To someone else, and apparently the test writers, anything but 2-minutes missionary position heterosexual sex may be strange.
Also, for example, life experiences will affect the way you answer. I have a friend who has advanced Multiple Sclerosis. She is unable to work. The test rates her high for Somatic disorders including "hypochondriasis" because she answers yes to questions like "I feel that I am not as healthy as other people my age." Well, duh, that's her reality! That's not a mental illness!
Interestingly, my gf is about to take the MMP2 for a job as a police officer.
poster:bookgurl99
thread:2103
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20021230/msgs/2417.html