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Normalizing the MMPI
Author(s) -
Kunce Joseph T.,
Anderson Wayne P.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/1097-4679(197610)32:4<776::aid-jclp2270320406>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - minnesota multiphasic personality inventory , psychology , personality , perspective (graphical) , strengths and weaknesses , scale (ratio) , personality assessment inventory , clinical psychology , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , artificial intelligence , computer science , physics , quantum mechanics
Effective psychological services require recognition of a client's strengths as well as weaknesses. Personality tests such as the MMPI, however, focus attention upon the abnormal and deviant attributes of personality. Therefore, a psychologist should have an understanding of various adaptive behaviors that may be indicated by moderately elevated MMPI scale scores. Because most of the literature deals with the pathological ramifications of scale elevations, the authors developed a conceptual perspective of counterpart descriptors for each MMPI clinical scale. These descriptors are presented so that apparently contradictory sets of behaviors for elevated scores on any given scale can be viewed on a continuum from adaptive to maladaptive behavior. An armamentarium of MMPI personality traits should include positive as well as negative considerations to provide a fully comprehensive basis for the formulation of realistic assessments of human potentialities.