The Revised NEO Personality Inventory: Clinical and Research Applications PDF
Preview The Revised NEO Personality Inventory: Clinical and Research Applications
THE REVISED NEO PERSONALITY INVENTORY CLINICAL AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS THE PLENUM SERIES IN SOCIAL/CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY Series Editor: C. R. Snyder University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas Current Volumes in the Series: ADVANCED PERSONALITY Edited by David F. Barone, Michel Hersen, and Vincent B. Van Hasselt AGGRESSION Biological, Developmental, and Social Perspectives Edited by Seymour Feshbach and Jolanta Zagrodzka AVERSIVE INTERPERSONAL BEHAVIORS Edited by Robin M. Kowalski COERCION AND AGGRESSIVE COMMUNITY TREATMENT A New Frontier in Mental Health Law Edited by Deborah L. Dennis and John Monahan THE IMPORTANCE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS A Cross-Cultural Study John E. Williams, Robert C. Satterwhite, and Jose L. Saiz PERSONAL CONTROL IN ACTION Cognitive and Motivational Mechanisms Edited by Miroslaw Kofta, Gifford Weary, and Grzegorz Sedek THE PSYCHOLOGY OF VANDALISM Arnold P. Goldstein THE REVISED NEO PERSONALITY INVENTORY Clinical and Research Applications Ralph L. Piedmont SOCIAL COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY History and Current Domains David F. Barone, James E. Maddux, and C. R. Snyder SOURCEBOOK OF SOCIAL SUPPORT AND PERSONALITY Edited by Gregory R. Pierce, Brian Lakey, Irwin G. Sarason, and Barbara R. Sarason A Continuation Order Plan is available for this series. A continuation order will bring delivery of each new volume immediately upon publication. Volumes are billed only upon actual shipment. For further information please contact the publisher. THE REVISED NEO PERSONALITY INVENTORY CLINICAL AND RESEARCH APPLICATIONS RALPH L. PIEDMONT Loyola College in Maryland Baltimore, Maryland SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, LLC Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Piedmont, Ralph, L., [DATE] The revised NEO Personality Inventory: clinical and research applications / Ralph L. Piedmont. p. cm.—(The Plenum series in social/clinical psychology) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. NEO Personality Inventory. 2. NEO Five-Factor Inventory. I. Title. II. Series. BF698.8.N46P54 1998 98-42281 155.2'83—dc21 CIP Figures 3.1-3.4, 4.1-4.7, 5.1-5.7, and the appendices on pages 111 and 157 are reproduced by special permission of the Publisher, Psychological Assessment Resources, Inc., 16204 North Florida Avenue, Lutz, Florida 33549, from the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised, by Paul Costa, and Robert McCrae, Copyright 1978, 1985, 1989, 1992 by PAR, Inc. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission of PAR, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4899-3590-8 ISBN 978-1-4899-3588-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-3588-5 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 1998 Originally published by Plenum Press, New York in 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1988 http: / / www.plenum.com All rights reserved 1098765432 No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher To Rose P., Joanna P., and Dominic P., Three of the most endearing NEO PI-R profiles I have ever come across FOREWORD The assessment of individual differences has a long history. As early as 2200 B.C. the Chinese were employing methods to select candidates for civil service positions. Over the ensuing centuries philosophers, theologians, and the nobility all noticed and debated the role of "character" in shaping the destiny and quality of individual lives. This interest spawned widely different methods of evaluating the timbre of temperament-bumps on the head, lines on the hand, shape of the body-all of which were em ployed in attempts to gain insight into basic human motives. The emer gence of the scientific method and its application to this endeavor reinvigorated society's efforts in this direction, and an abundant variety of assessment instruments consequently became available. The outbreak of World War I created a need for the efficient assess ment of individual differences in large groups. Such instruments as the Woodworth Personal Data Sheet and the Army Alpha Test resulted in gen uine breakthroughs in assessment technology. These tests provided stan dardized sets of items that permitted quantitative comparisons among people. Over the years, numerous scales have been developed which have been based on widely differing levels of psychometric sophistication. Today, personality scales, clinical assessment devices, and batteries of cog nitive tests are established and accepted in society. It is surprising how many people know their "type" or have taken an MMPI or CPI at some point in their lives. Just about everyone in America today has taken at least some form of aptitude test (e.g., SAT, GRE). Assessment appears to be here to stay, at least for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, the sheer number of such instruments has created new problems for the field of assessment, not the least of which is the problem of establishing a meaningful taxonomy for classifying the different vii viii FOREWORD measures. The diverse collection of currently available instruments and scales reflects the variety of theoretical perspectives on personality and temperament held by professionals. New scales and instruments are being developed to fill identifiable gaps between assessment theory and assess ment practice. Other scales are being developed in an attempt to keep pace with the new adaptive styles that have emerged in response to the rapid changes created by postindustrial society. In addition, the very number of these scales, together with their potpourri of underlying constructs, is likely to baffle and bewilder even the most sophisticated assessment pro fessional. Fortunately, an important paradigm shift in the field has occurred during the past ten years with the emergence of the five-factor model of personality (FFM). The FFM is a robust taxonomic model that has orga nized the myriad of existing scales just described with respect to five superordinate dimensions: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agree ableness, and Conscientiousness. These broadband dimensions of person ality provide a useful and succinct summary of the various qualities that personologists have found to be important, relevant, and predictive of life events. The FFM also provides an organizing framework for understand ing and interpreting ongoing discussions about personality. This volume focuses on a single instrument, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), which is currently the only commercially available instru ment explicitly designed to measure the dimensions of the FFM. However, the model underlying the NEO PI-R is part of the much broader history of personality assessment. The first chapter details a review of the FFM and outlines what this model can and cannot do. This treatment provides an empirical and theo retical context for understanding the constructs embodied in this instru ment. It is important to realize that this book is not merely a cookbook" of II NEO PI-R interpretations. Instead, the author makes every effort to pro vide the reader with a context and a foundation for understanding how and why the instrument was developed, and how and when it should be applied. The wide-ranging coverage of the research literature in ensuing chapters illuminates the versatility of the NEO PI-R in differing contexts that emphasize clinical, applied, cross-cultural, and psychometric consid erations. I believe that this book really hits its mark and that it will prove to be an effective resource for anyone who wishes to develop a deeper un derstanding of the area of personality assessment. The book is delightfully reader-oriented and user-friendly. Dr. Piedmont has a flair for presenting technical issues in clear, readable prose that should be both accessible and engaging to a wide audience of both students and professionals. FOREWORD ix The chapter on profile analysis provides insight into addressing the multidimensionality of personality represented in the NEO PI-R. The challenge in this case is to learn how to integrate the wide personological spectrum covered by 35 scales into cohesive, interpretively useful, and predictively salient "chunks." Again, Dr. Piedmont provides a practical and understandable framework for making these kinds of interpretations that are so imperative for sound assessment practice. The chapter on using observer ratings opens still another door to as sessment. Although the availability of a validated rater form is a rarity among current instruments, there are many advantages to this form of as sessment. This is most clearly evident in the discussion of Cross-Observer Agreement analysis with married couples. The logic and empirical utility of this approach is nicely outlined and the case histories demonstrate the value of the interpretive process. Finally, the chapter on research applications provides an excellent ar ticulation of sound empirical strategies for using the NEO PI-R, or any other assessment protocol. Useful materials are provided to help both clin icians and researchers formulate relevant theoretical and applied ques tions. Regardless of one's view on the utility of the FFM, this book will be useful for learning about both profile interpretive approaches to personal ity assessment and about the manner in which test validation should pro ceed. There is no question that this book will assist the reader in developing proficiency in the use of the NEO PI-R. More important, it will provide instruction in conducting the general enterprise of personality as sessment and research. Paul T. Costa, Jr. Baltimore, Maryland PREFACE The mental health field is going through a number of important transfor mations. One such development is the field's increasing theoretical diver sity. There are many different types of practitioners who are applying a broad range of therapeutic paradigms, from the more traditional behav ioral and cognitive frameworks to the emerging areas of spirituality and holistic medicine. The philosophies and treatment approaches are as nu merous as the professionals themselves. Another reality is the growing concern over health care and how it will be managed. The rise of managed care companies is an outgrowth (or impetus) for this new trend. These or ganizations have emphasized the need for clinicians to provide effective treatments in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Finally, with the increas ing awareness of the ethical dimensions of practice, there is the recognition that practitioners need to be made accountable for their services, both to the consumers of their services and to themselves. Therapists must be able to provide evidence of the efficacy of their services to consumers. Cer tainly, many factors influence how much success a client will experience; some of these are beyond the reach of the therapist, but consumers have the right to know just how much improvement they are likely to experi ence in therapy. Clients, like consumers in other areas, are entitled to valid assurances that their therapy will have a potential benefit. The responsi bility of therapists to themselves is to maintain a high level of clinical ex pertise. This requires that the therapist receive useful feedback on the effects of his or her interventions. Therapists must be aware of such factors as the overall extent of improvement experienced by clients as a result of interventions, whether interventions are more effective with certain types of problems than with others, and whether certain intervention strategies are working better than others. xi
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