Author: Jaime Derringer (she/they), Associate Professor of Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

This repository contains open educational resources (OER) for PSYC/EPSY 567 Personality Assessment. The last major update of content was for the Spring 2025 semester.

Attribution

I am teaching this course for the first time in Spring 2025. The course, especially the topics covered and assembled readings, derive heavily from the most recent version taught by now-Emeritus Professor James Rounds in Spring 2024.

Learning Objectives

Course catalog description: Methods and theory in the quantitative assessment of personality; review of research findings and trends.

This course is structured to follow the open access APA/AERA/NCME Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014)

If you are looking for an applied/data analysis course, I recommend Dr. Susu Zhang’s PSYC 490 Measurement & Test Development Lab and its accompanying ebook, R Programming for Psychometrics.

Course Structure

The seminar will consist of student-led discussion of readings. Three or more students will be assigned to lead the discussion each week. However, all students should come to class ready to discuss any or all of the readings. The instructor will also provide overviews of the readings and comments on particularly important issues. Your participation in class discussions is valued, appreciated, and critical to the success of the course.

Grades are based on the total number of points earned by the end of the semester. Points come from weekly activities (up to five points per week for 15 weeks) and a course project (assignments leading up to a research proposal or review paper, totaling up to 30 points). There are potentially 105 points to be earned throughout the semester; the overage is intended to provide flexibility for illness, conference travel, personal priorities, etc.

  • A: At or above 90 total points
  • B: 80-89.999 total points
  • C: 70-79.999 total points
  • D: 60-69.999 total points
  • F: Below 60 total points +/- grades are not given in this class.

Activities are scaled so that approximately 1.5 hours of effort = 1 point. You can earn up to five points per week from activities. Most weeks, there will be more than five options for activities available; you are welcome to choose-your-own-adventure in terms of which activities you complete. The list of activities available each week is contained as the ‘module’ for that week. You are expected to at least skim everything early in each week to (1) decide which activities you’re going to do and (2) quickly be able to find and digest any particular section of readings that come up in class discussion that week.

Weekly activities are due by Friday 5 pm that week. Late weekly activities may be submitted by Monday 5 pm for 80% credit.

Each class attended earns 1 activity point; class attendance points can’t be made up or submitted late. We will be a small class; for the sake of being able to set expectations in advance, we will coordinate a loose schedule of a few student leaders each week to help keep the conversation going. Our discussions will be generally structured around the readings associated with that week.

Outside of class, the most common activity will be annotating/virtually discussing journal articles in Perusall; multiple readings will be available for annotation/discussion each week. You’re expected to skim all the readings that are Activity options; earn a point by commenting. You can earn up to 1 point per article. Perusall applies automatic scoring based on an algorithm that I define; usually, about 4 quality comments or replies will earn a point. You’ll be able to see your progress in your Perusall account.

The next most common activity will be evaluating your chosen test (see the Course Project description below) in terms of the recommendations (identified as Clusters) made by the Standards in each chapter of the text. This consistent reflection on a test (ideally, having selected one relevant to your research/professional goals) is intended to contribute to the materials you have to work with when assembling your Course Project.

Throughout the semester, you will develop a Course Project of a research proposal or a review paper (about 12-18 double-spaced pages) about a specific test. From the beginning of the course, you will identify a test to evaluate against the guidelines presented in the Standards text. In addition to these weekly evaluation activities, the course project includes three major assignments up to and including the final paper:

  • Week 9: Draft paper or proposal (10 points)
  • Week 12: Peer review of 2 others’ drafts (10 points)
  • Finals week: Final paper or proposal (10 points)

These larger Course Project assignments are due by Monday 5 pm the next week. Late Course Project assignments lose 10% of their grade per day late.

Integrity and “AI” Policy

UIUC Student Code Academic Integrity Policy

Make good choices. You are ultimately responsible for the content of what you submit. The landscape of computer assistance for research and knowledge production is ever-changing. A good guideline is that if you would be uncomfortable describing your process for producing work for this course (to me, to your research supervisor, or announced on a roadside billboard), you should re-evaluate your approach. If you are in doubt, reach out to discuss options and approaches. I am a reasonable, practical person, and I can tell you from experience that the examples of (obviously) “AI” generated work that I have encountered have been terrible enough that they end up earning failing scores on their merits alone. If you would like to quickly see for yourself, try talking to any LLM about a topic you are already very knowledgeable about… it’ll say wrong things that sound good, except you know better.

Accessing Course Readings

The closest thing this course uses to a textbook is The APA/AERA/NCME Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014), which is available open access/for free.

For journal articles, PDFs will be posted on the course Canvas page.

If you are accessing readings from outside of the course, I’ve tried to mark articles that are freely available as (open access). For those that aren’t, many are old/popular enough that there are freely available PDFs floating around on the internet if you search for the article. If you have access to a University library system, most of these journals will likely be available online through your library.

When you pay to access a journal article, that money goes to the publisher, not to the authors or their institutions. Especially newer articles you can usually get by emailing the author (first, last, or corresponding) - we love to hear that someone wants to read our work! Services like Sci-Hub (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci-Hub) bypass journal paywalls to provide free access.

Schedule

Week 1 - January 20

Week 2 - January 27

  • Validity (Standards chapter 1, pp. 11-31)
  • Cronbach & Meehl (1955). Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0040957
  • Campbell & Fiske (1959). Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0046016
  • Messick (1995). Validity of psychological assessment: Validation of inferences from persons’ responses and performances as scientific inquiry into score meaning. American Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.50.9.741
  • Roberts et al. (2007). The power of personality: The comparative validity of personality traits, socioeconomic status, and cognitive ability for predicting important life outcomes. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-6916.2007.00047.x
  • Flake, Pek, & Hehman (2017). Construct validation in social and personality research: Current practice and recommendations. Social Psychological and Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617693063
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the three clusters of Validity standards (pp. 23-31) applied to your Course Project test

Week 3 - February 3

  • Reliability/Precision and Errors of Measurement (Standards chapter 2, pp. 33-47)
  • Streiner (2003). Starting at the beginning: An introduction to coefficient alpha and internal consistency. Journal of Personality Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15327752JPA8001_18
  • McCrae et al (2011). Internal consistency, retest reliability, and their implications for personality scale validity. Personality and Social Psychological Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868310366253
  • Gnambs (2014). A meta-analysis of dependability coefficients (test–retest reliabilities) for measures of the Big Five. Journal of Research in Personality. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.06.003
  • McNeish (2018). Thanks coefficient alpha, we’ll take it from here. Psychological Methods. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000144
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of ANY four clusters of Reliability standards (pp. 42-47) applied to your Course Project test

Week 4 - February 10

  • Fairness in Testing (Standards chapter 3, pp. 49-72)
  • Traits and Culture
  • Paradigms of Personality Assessment: Personological
  • de Raad et al. (2010) Only three factors of personality description are fully replicable across languages: A comparison of 14 trait taxonomies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017184
  • Laajaj et al. (2019) Challenges to capture the big five personality traits in non-WEIRD populations. Science Advances. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaw5226 (open access)
  • McAdams (1995). What do we know when we know a person? Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.1995.tb00500.x
  • Adler et al. (2017). Research methods for studying narrative identity: A primer. Social Psychological and Personality Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617698202
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the four clusters of Fairness standards (pp. 63-72) applied to your Course Project test

Week 5 - February 17

  • Test Design and Development (Standards chapter 4, pp. 75-93)
  • Paradigms of Personality Assessment: Empirical
  • Classical Test Construction
  • Hase & Goldberg (1967) Comparative validity of different strategies of constructing personality inventory scales. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0024421
  • Goldberg et al. (2006). The international personality item pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.007
  • Clark & Watson (2019). Constructing validity: New developments in creating objective measuring instruments. Psychological Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000626 (open access)
  • Sellbom, Kremyar, & Wygant (2021). Mapping MMPI-3 scales onto the hierarchical taxonomy of psychopathology. Psychological Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001049
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the four clusters of Test Design and Development standards (pp. 85-93) applied to your Course Project test

Week 6 - February 24

  • Scores, Scales, Norms, Score Linking, and Cut Scores (Standards chapter 5, pp. 95-109)
  • Dimensions and Types
  • Item Response Theory
  • Riese & Waller (2009). Item response theory and clinical measurement. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.032408.153553
  • Krueger, Derringer, et al. (2012). Initial construction of a maladaptive personality trait model and inventory for DSM-5. Psychological Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291711002674
  • Kotov et al. (2017). The Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP): A dimensional alternative to traditional nosologies. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000258
  • Wilmot et al. (2019). Direct and conceptual replications of the taxometric analysis of Type A behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000195
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the four clusters of standards for Scores, Scales, Norms, Score Linking, and Cut Scores (pp. 102-109) applied to your Course Project test

Week 7 - March 3

  • Test Administration, Scoring, Reporting, and Interpretation (Standards chapter 6, pp. 111-121)
  • Paradigms of Personality Assessment: Interpersonal
  • Observer Ratings
  • Wiggins (1979). A psychological taxonomy of trait-descriptive terms: The interpersonal domain. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.3.395
  • Hofstee, de Raad, & Goldberg (1992). Integration of the big five and circumplex approaches to trait structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.63.1.146
  • Gurtman & Balakrishnan (1998). Circular measurement redux: The analysis and interpretation of interpersonal circle profiles. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2850.1998.tb00154.x
  • Funder (2012). Accurate personality judgment. Current Directions in Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721412445309
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the three clusters of standards for Test Administration, Scoring, Reporting, and Interpretation (pp. 114-121) applied to your Course Project test

Week 8 - March 10

  • Supporting Documentation for Tests (Standards chapter 7, pp. 123-129)
  • Clinical versus Actuarial Judgment and Diagnostics
  • Decisions: Importance of Base Rates
  • Dawes, Faust, & Meehl (1989). Clinical versus actuarial judgment. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.2648573
  • Grove et al. (2000). Clinical versus mechanical prediction: A meta-analysis. Psychological Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.12.1.19
  • Swets, Dawes, & Monahan (2000). Psychological science can improve diagnostic decisions. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. https://doi.org/10.1111/1529-1006.001
  • Bokhari (2023). Clinical (in)efficiency in the prediction of dangerous behavior. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics. https://doi.org/10.3102/10769986221144727
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the four clusters of standards for Supporting Documentation for Tests (pp. 125-129) applied to your Course Project test

SPRING BREAK

Week 9 - March 24

  • The Rights and Responsibilities of Test Takers (Standards chapter 8, pp. 131-137)
  • Paradigms of Personality Assessment: Psychodynamic
  • Lilienfeld, Wood, & Garb. (2000). The scientific status of projective techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest. https://doi.org/10.1111/1529-1006.002
  • Garb, et al. (2005). Roots of the Rorschach controversy. Clinical Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2004.09.002
  • Bornstein (2012). Rorschach score validation as a model for 21st-century personality assessment. Journal of Personality Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2011.627961
  • Oswald et al. (2013). Predicting ethnic and racial discrimination: a meta-analysis of IAT criterion studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032734
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the four clusters of standards for Test Takers’ Rights and Responsibilities (pp. 133-137) applied to your Course Project test
  • Course Project Assignment: Draft paper/proposal due Monday March 31 by 5 pm

Week 10 - March 31

  • The Rights and Responsibilities of Test Users (Standards chapter 9, pp. 139-148)
  • Heritability of Personality Traits
  • Vukasović & Bratko (2015). Heritability of personality: A meta-analysis of behavior genetic studies. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000017
  • Briley, Livengood, & Derringer (2018). Behaviour genetic frameworks of causal reasoning for personality psychology. European Journal of Personality. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2153
  • Briley, Livengood, Derringer, et al. (2019). Interpreting behavior genetic models: Seven developmental processes to understand. Behavior Genetics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-018-9939-6
  • Gupta et al. (2024). A genome-wide investigation into the underlying genetic architecture of personality traits and overlap with psychopathology. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01951-3 (open access)
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the four clusters of standards for Test Users’ Rights and Responsibilities (pp. 142-148) applied to your Course Project test

Week 11 - April 7

  • Psychological Testing and Assessment (Standards chapter 10, pp. 151-168)
  • Paradigm of Personality Assessment: Multivariate
  • Multimethod Perspective
  • Goldberg (1990). An alternative “description of personality”: The Big-Five factor structure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.59.6.1216
  • Eid et al. (2008). Structural equation modeling of multitrait-multimethod data: different models for different types of methods. Psychological Methods. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013219
  • Soto & John (2017). The next Big Five Inventory (BFI-2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096
  • Cutler & Condon (2023). Deep lexical hypothesis: Identifying personality structure in natural language. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000443
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the five clusters of standards for Psychological Testing and Assessment (pp. 164-168) applied to your Course Project test

Week 12 - April 14

  • Workplace Testing and Credentialing (Standards chapter 11, pp. 169-182)
  • Social Desirability in Scale Construction
  • Ellingson, Sackett, & Hough (1999). Social desirability corrections in personality measurement: Issues of applicant comparison and construct validity. Journal of Applied Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.84.2.155
  • Piedmont et al. (2000). On the invalidity of validity scales: evidence from self-reports and observer ratings in volunteer samples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.78.3.582
  • Uziel (2010). Rethinking social desirability scales: From impression management to interpersonally oriented self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610369465
  • Li et al. (2024). Mixed-keying or desirability-matching in the construction of forced-choice measures? An empirical investigation and practical recommendations. Organizational Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.1177/10944281241229784
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the three clusters of standards for Workplace Testing and Credentialing (pp. 178-182) applied to your Course Project test
  • Course Project Assignment: Peer review of 2 others’ draft papers/proposals due Monday April 21 by 5 pm

Week 13 - April 21

  • Educational Testing and Assessment (Standards chapter 12, pp. 183-201)
  • Retrospective Reports
  • Henry et al. (1994). On the “remembrance of things past”: A longitudinal evaluation of the retrospective method. Psychological Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.6.2.92
  • Hardt & Rutter (2004). Validity of adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences: Review of the evidence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2004.00218.x
  • Oltmanns, Jackson, & Oltmanns (2020). Personality change: Longitudinal self-other agreement and convergence with retrospective-reports. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000238 (open access)
  • Pryiomka (2018). Quantitative dogmatism in character assessment and its implications for education: A case study of grit. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12388
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the three clusters of standards for Educational Testing and Assessment (pp. 195-201) applied to your Course Project test

Week 14 - April 28

  • Uses of Tests for Program Evaluation, Policy Studies, and Accountability (Standards chapter 13, pp. 203-213)
  • Personality Continuity and Change
  • Conley (1984). Longitudinal consistency of adult personality: Self-reported psychological characteristics across 45 years. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.47.6.1325
  • Fleeson (2001). Toward a structure-and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.80.6.1011
  • Low et al. (2005). The stability of vocational interests from early adolescence to middle adulthood: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.131.5.713
  • Roberts et al. (2017). A systematic review of personality trait change through intervention. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000088
  • Bleidorn et al. (2022). Personality stability and change: A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000365
  • Write a brief (1-2 pages) discussion of the two clusters of standards for Uses of Tests for Program Evaluation, Policy Studies, and Accountability (pp. 209-213) applied to your Course Project test

Week 15 - May 5

  • Wrap up

Finals Week

  • Course Project Assignment: Final paper or proposal due by 5 pm on what would have been our “Finals Day” (TBD)