Practical – 5

Maudsley Personality Inventory

Author: H.J. Eysenck (1959)
Aim: To assess personality of the subject using Maudsley Personality Inventory developed
by H.J. Eysenck

BASIC CONCEPT
Personality refers to our characteristic and enduring ways of responding to individuals and
situations. Personality refers to unique and relatively stable qualities that characterize an
individual’s behaviour across different situations over a period of time. Personality has both
physical and psychological components. Its expression in terms of behaviour is fairly unique
in a given individual. It is dynamic in the sense that some of its features may change due to
internal or external situational demands

Theories of Personality
A number of approaches and theories have been developed to understand and explain
behavioural differences and consistencies among individuals. Following are the different
approaches to understand personality:

Type approach
The type approaches attempts to comprehend human personality by examining certain broad
patterns in the observed behavioural characteristics of an individual. These are discussed as
under:

a. Personality Types given by Hippocrates, based on four humours (fluids) in an

individual’s body: Sanguine (Red Blood), Phlegmatic (White Phlegm from lungs).
Melancholic (Black bile from kidneys, Choleric ( yellow bile from liver).
Dominance, balance and imbalance of these fluids influences the personality of the
person.
b. Personality based on Tridoshas, (three humoural elements) given by Charak Samhita,
from Indian Ayurveda. The dominance, balance and imbalance of three doshas: Vata,
Pitta, Kapha, influence the personality of an individual.
c. Personality based on Trigunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas All the three gunas are
present in each and every person in different degrees. The dominance of one or the
other guna may lead to a particular type of behaviour.
d. Personality based on body shape was given by Sheldon: He gave three personality
types, based on the body structure.
 Endomorphic (fat, rounded body type ) , Mesomorphic ( strong musculature,
rectangular body built) and Ectomorphic (thin, long, fragile body structure)
e. Extroverts and Introverts Personality types, given by Jung
f. Type A and Type B Personality given by Friedman and Rosenman
g. Type C Type D personality types, given by Morris

Trait Approach
These theories are mainly concerned with the description or characterization of basic
components of personality. Trait is considered as a relatively enduring attribute or quality on
which one individual differs from other.
a. Allport’s trait Theory: It classifies traits of an individual as Cardinal, Central and
Secondary Traits.
b. Cattell’s personality factors: He identified 16 personality factors. Combination of
these factors define personality of an individual.
c. Eyesenck’s theory: He classified personality on a continuum of three dimensions:
Extraversion-Introversion, Neuroticism verses emotional stability and
Psychoticism versus Sociability

Psychodynamic approach: These approaches view personality as a projection of our

conflicts during different stages of development that may be repressed in our unconscious.
Exploration of our behaviour and defence mechanisms helps provides an insight into our
personality. There are certain shortcomings of psychodynamic approaches like these being
case study based, less scientific in nature, lack evidence etc.

Carl Jung gave the theory of Analytical Psychology and claimed that there was a collective
unconscious consisting of archetypes or primordial images which are not acquired, but are
inherited. He said that individuals are driven by aims and aspirations. According to him, for
achieving unity and wholeness, a person must become increasingly aware of the wisdom
available in one’s personal and collective unconscious, and must learn to live in harmony
with it.
Karen Horney claimed that psychological disorders were caused by disturbed
interpersonal relationship during childhood, causing deep anxiety.

Adler’s theory is known as individual psychology. His basic assumption is that the human
behaviour is purposeful and goal directed. Each one of us has the capacity to choose and
create. Our personal goals are the sources of our motivation.
Eric Fromm holds that personality develops from our experiences with other individuals.
He viewed human beings as basically social beings who could be understood in terms of
their relationship with others. According to him psychological qualities such as growth and
realisation of potentials resulted from a desire for freedom, and striving for
justice and truth.
Eric Erickson’s theory emphasises rational, conscious ego processes in personality
development. He views development as a lifelong process, and ego identity is granted a
central place in this process. His concept of identity crisis of adolescent age has drawn
considerable attention.

Personality assessments:
Personality assessment refers to the procedures used to evaluate or differentiate people on the
basis of certain characteristics. The most commonly used methods for assessing personality
are- psychometric tests, self-report measures, projective techniques and behavioural analysis.

Self-report measures are fairly structured measures that require subjects to give responses
by themselves, using some kind of rating scale. The method requires the subject to
objectively report his/her own feelings with respect to various items. They are scored in
quantitative terms and are interpreted on the basis of norms developed for the test. E.g.
Maudsley Personality Inventory, Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Eysenck
Personality Questionnaire, Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire. The self-report
measures can be used for career guidance, vocational exploration, personal counselling or
personality development.
Projective Techniques provide an unstructured and ambiguous stimulus, and assumes that
the ambiguity of the stimulus helps reveal the inner conflict through the responses of the
person. To the same stimulus, different people will have different responses, under different
contexts. Eg. Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Behaviour analysis views behaviour in an association of stimulus and response. All kinds of
behaviour, covert (internal) and Overt (external) are triggered and maintained by certain
stimuli which may be present internally in the person or externally in the environment. The
differential analysis of behaviour helps in understanding and analysing behaviour of the
person.

Limitations-
Social desirability: It is the tendency on the part of respondent to endorse items in a socially
desirable manner.
Acquiescence- It is the tendency of the subject to agree with items irrespective of their
contents.

METHOD:

Preliminary Information –
Name Class
Date of Birth Date of conduction
Age Place of conduction
Sex

Description of the Test- Maudsley Personality Inventory was developed by H.J. Eysenck
while practising in Maudsley Hospital. It is the result of many years of developmental work.
It was designed to give a measure of two important personality dimensions: Neuroticism vs.
emotional stability and Introversion vs. extroversion. Each of these two traits is measured by
means of 48 questions, carefully selected after lengthy item analysis. There are two scales in
it. A short scale which comprises of 12 questions and a long scale that comprises of 48
questions. For the present assessment, long scale with 48 questions has been used.

Testing Material- MPI Manual, MPI answer sheet, MPI scoring key, pencil, and eraser.

Reliability
Both split half and Kuder Richardson reliability coefficients have been calculated on many
samples. For the neuroticism scale, these values nearly all lie between 0.85 and 0.90; for the
extraversion scale, they lie between .75 and .85 with the majority above .80.
Retest reliabilities are available only on about 100 cases; they are .83 and .81 respectively.
The correlation between the long and the short M.P.I. scales are .86 and .87 respectively for
Neuroticism and Extraversion.
Correlation with other scales: The Cattell’s neuroticism and introversion scales correlate
0.34 and .53 (forms A and B) and .65 and .67 (forms C and D) with the corresponding M.P.I.
scales.
Validity:
This scale shows high construct validity as reported in ‘The dynamics of anxiety and
hysteria’. In a study conducted on dysthymic neurotics, hysterics and psychopaths,
Dysthymic neurotics scored high on neuroticism. Psychopaths & hysterics were found
significantly higher on extraversion scale. High validity of this scale has been reported.

Rapport formation
The subject was called to the psychology lab and was made to sit comfortably. A friendly
conversation was held by asking her/his interests in general. When the subject felt at ease, she
was asked if she was ready for the test to begin. After an affirmative answer from him/her,
he/she was given the following instructions.

Instructions given to the subject:

“Here are some questions regarding the way you feel and act.
There are no right or wrong answers because different people react in different manners for
the same kind of experience.
Therefore, what you feel right is the most appropriate answer for you. For example;
Do you like to indulge in gossip? ‘Yes,’ ‘?’, ‘ No’
As you can see that every question has three possible answer; “yes”, “?”, “No”.
You have to decide whether “yes” or “ No” represents your usual way of acting or feeling,
then put a (X) mark in the box next to “yes” or “no”. if you find it impossible to decide, put a
(X) mark in the box next to “?”. But do not use this answer very frequently.
Work quietly and do not spend too much time over any question.
Give the first natural answer as it comes to you. Of course the questions are too short to give
you all the particulars you would sometime like to have, even then, give the best possible
answer.
Be sure not to skip anything and answer every question. You should finish the entire
questionnaire in not more than fifteen minutes. Therefore work quickly and remember to
answer every question.”

Precautions:
1. The room should be well lit and well ventilated.
2. There should not be any noise in the room.
3. The seating arrangement should be comfortable.
4. There is no time limit.
5. Instructions should be made clear to the subject.
6. No item should be left unanswered.
7. Proper rapport should be established before starting the practical.
8. It should be made sure that only one answer has been marked for each question.
9. It should be made clear to the subject that their answers must be marked inside the boxes.
10. Make sure that the key and questionnaire which is being scored are properly aligned; the
number in front of the questions on the inventory should correspond with the number of the
key.

Test Administration
The subject was made to sit comfortably in the psychology lab, and a rapport was established.
The test sheet was given to the subject and demonstration was given to perform the test.
Instructions were given clearly &queries were answered.
After ensuring that subject grasped the way to answer the problems and record the answers,
the subject was given answer sheet and pencil, and was told to proceed with rest of the
problems on her own.
After she completed the test, she was asked to submit her answer sheet for scoring.
Time at the beginning and end of the test was noted.
The answer sheet was seen by the supervisor to check if all the problems were attempted and
answers were recorded. After an introspective, verbal feedback, the subject was thanked for
her participation.
Introspective/verbal Report: (As shared by the subject)
Behavioural observation: (your observation about the subject will be written here)
Scoring

The inventory is scored directly from the test forms using the scoring key provided with the
test. It is a translucent sheet with answer key.
 (It needs to be placed by matching the position of two stars. These stars look like this → ‘*’)
Calculate the raw score obtained in each dimension.
There are two raw scores (N and E) to be obtained from each side, left and right (i.e. front
and back pages). The answers seen through the boxes count either 2 or 1, as indicated by the
number adjacent to the boxes.
After calculating the raw scores, convert them in Sten Scores as given in Table 4, in the
manual.

Interpretation of the scores:

As per the manual, standard score of 50 is equal to average. A difference of 10 standard
scores (+,- sigma from the average) is not significant. A standard score of 70 or 30 needs
attention. A standard score above 70 or below 30 indicates considerable deviation from the
average. (Statistically, a standard score of 50 corresponds to a Sten score of 5 + 0.5, 10
standard scores below, that is 40, corresponds to Sten score of 3+ 0.5 and 10 standard scores
above, that is 60 corresponds to Sten score of 7+0.5)
Therefore, as per the norms and interpretation given in the manual, it can be understood that
on Extraversion scale, Sten scores of 1, 2 shows considerable deviation from the average
indicating high introversion, Sten score of 3 indicates the need for attention 4, 5, 6 indicate
average stable disposition or ambivert traits, Sten score of 7 indicates the need for attention,
Sten scores of 8,9,10 shows considerable deviation from the average and indicate high
Extraversion or extrovert traits.
Similarly, on Neuroticism scale, Sten scores of 1, 2 shows considerable deviation from the
average and indicates highly calm, stable and undisturbed emotional state, Sten score of 3
indicates the need for attention 4, 5, 6 indicate average stability of emotions, Sten score of 7
indicates the need for attention, Sten scores of 8,9,10 shows considerable deviation from the
average and indicate high Neuroticism.

Findings:

Dimension Raw Score Sten Score Interpretation

Neuroticism

Extraversion

Analysis and Interpretation:

The subject’s Sten score on Neuroticism ___, indicating ______________ (Write some
characteristics of identified personality dimension)
He/she scored ____ on Extraversion dimension. This indicate _______________ (Write some
characteristics of identified personality dimension)

Conclusion:
The subject was found to be ___________ and __________ as per the scores obtained.
(Very specific)

References:
Eysenck, H. J. (1959). Manual of the Maudsley Personality Inventory. University of London
Press, London. (Reprint in India, 1993)
NCERT, (2020). Psychology Textbook for class XII, Publication Division of NCERT, New
Delhi, India.