Quote:
Originally Posted by gayleggg
If you decide to take the tests just try to take it as objectively as possible. I think we all go in with preconceived ideas all we need to do is answer one question at a time. If you feel like manipulating the test then that is your choice but may lead to skewed results causing a waste of time and money.
I would take the test and try to answer as best that I could and see what it shows. Who knows you might be surprised.
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gayleggg - just for fun, pick a number 1 through 567 and I'll give you the test question on the MMPI. This example would be a bit more powerful if you were in front of me and watched me not look it up.
It's not that I have preconceived ideas about what the test will be like - I know exactly what the test is like - every question and how every answer is interpreted on every one of the 130 subscales. I don't know how to answer the questions now, at home, with no one watching. I don't understand a majority of the questions that seem so simple and straight-forward to others that they can't believe that I don't understand them even when I try to explain it to them.
The confusion these questions leave me with is multi-faceted. For instance, question twelve is, "My sex life is satisfactory." I don't have sex. But satisfactory means 'meeting needs' and I don't 'need' sex, so it is satisfactory. So what do I put? My best guess at an honest response would be 'true'. On the other hand, this question is paired with question fifty-six. The way that I answer that question truthfully (along with the answer to question twelve) indicates to the administrator of the test that I am 'demonstrating an unsophisticated attempt to deceive'. Since the truth is that I am not trying to deceive anyone - is it more truthful to answer in a manner that indicates I am not trying to deceive - or the way the answer first struck me?
Another good example, from another test, is, "People tend to lie to me often." What do they mean by 'lie'? Do they mean that the person is trying to deceive me - then my answer is, 'no, I don't believe that people try to deceive me.' Or, do they mean that people tend to say things to me that aren't true? Because my answer to that question is, 'yes, people do that all the time.'
That might seem like the same question to you but to me they are opposites. That's the way I think, and if they are trying to measure the way I think differently than most people, they can't give me questions that are meaningless to me.
So frustrated at the prospect...and so grateful you've chosen to respond.
