ABSTRACT
In an objective personality test, a stimulus is presented to a respondent, who makes a closed-ended response, such as True/False or Likert ratings. An example of an objective personality test is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). There are three primary approaches to developing personality measures and other scales. One is the external approach, in which items are selected based on their association with an external criterion. A second approach is the deductive approach, in which items are deduced based on theory. A third approach is the inductive approach, in which items are selected based on the internal association between items that are intended to assess the same construct. Guidelines for measurement development are provided. Nevertheless, relying on self-report and self-assessment is prone to key weaknesses including response bias, ambiguity of items, lack of insight, and satisficing. There are ways to improve self-assessment, but it can also be helpful to supplement self-assessments with informants' ratings and with observational assessments.
