Personality Assessment - Essay Example

Personality Assessment The Paper Psychologist theorists have articulated and devised personality assessment tests and quizzes in order to explore the hidden personality traits and characteristics of the individuals, which are generally conducted in the light of Freudian Psychoanalysis Theory, Roger’s Phenomenological Theory, Piaget’s Cognitive Theory and several others. Since Nature has gifted different people with different qualities, assessment of which is highly beneficial for the getting acquaintance with the aptitude, mental inclinations and disposition of the people on the one hand, and in respect of their cure from various ailments and diseases on the other.

Personality assessment is also vehemently supportive in the treatment process of the individuals; it is therefore the counselors and therapists lay stress upon knowing the domestic, environmental, racial, ethnic and religious background of the patients before starting the treatment procedure. Now, the counselors have also started enquiring about the sexual orientation of the individuals, as such kind of information is pertinent for the recommendation of treatment process of the patients. Personality predicts how a person will work—diligently, intelligently, cheerfully, and cooperatively.

Personality affects the style or manner in which a person approaches his/her work; to the degree that a person must work with others—clients or fellow employees—this style matters greatly. (hoganassessments.com) INTP, INTJ, ENFJ, ENFP and others are the prominent personality categories, assessment of which is based upon the theoretical framework of the illustrious 20th century psychologist Karl Jung. Since personality assessment diagnosis is a very sensitive issue, the questionnaire must be developed in such a way that it should not hurt the feelings of the patient altogether.

On the contrary, even the prickliest questions related to case history must be sugar quoted, interesting and attractive for the patient. Personality assessment diagnosis maintains both positive and negative impacts upon the individuals in general as well as on the patients in particular. It is partly due to the very reality that some patients possess such disposition that does not allow them to tolerate even the slightest and least hurting comment about their personality. Consequently, the counselor and therapist have to observe extreme kind of patience and endurance while curing such patients.

One of the most imperative advantages of such diagnosis includes the thorough exposure of the strengths and weaknesses of the patient under treatment, which helps the counselor to deal with the patient in the same manner. For instance, finding a patient as the extravert by nature becomes supportive for the counselor to let him give vent to his views and ideas, as much as he likes, in a friendly environment. Since extraverts are talkative by nature, they are always ready to express themselves before others.

The same can be applied on the employees by the management of the organizations. The more extravert personnel can be allocated in public dealings, sales and marketing departments, while the introverts could be assigned the tasks related to strategic analysis and policy making etc. Hence, the counselor should not discourage such garrulous patients from exposing their feelings, as it may hurt them in such a way that may jeopardize the very process of the treatment and counseling. Another significant advantage of personality assessment is this that it provides a wide range of opportunities in communicating the nature of one’s ailment.

Thus, the counselor can better convey the nature of problem to the patient in the light of his personality assessment results. For example, if a patient is by nature dependent on his family, the family and close relations could also be involved while disclosing the ailment the patient has been undergoing. Consequently, he can be in a position to obtain extraordinary attention and care from the family members. Additionally, assessment diagnosis is also very beneficial in knowing the case history of the patient, where he quite unintentionally describes the weak areas and reasons of his agony during the test.

The same assessment is also advantageous in the determination of seeking education as well as professional aptitude. For instance, if a student is brilliant in the disciplines like philosophy and psychology, he could be guided to obtain his degree in the same field rather than wasting his precious time in learning computer technology or medical education. Personality assessments can be a strong predictor of job performance and oftentimes are superior to job interviews. They can also demonstrate less potential for adverse impact than cognitive ability tests.

(Anderson, 2006:1) Somehow, disclosure of the some personality trait may infuriate the patient in such a way that he turns out to be reactionary by concealing his thoughts and observing isolation subsequently. It is particularly due to the very fact that sensitive and touchy personalities refuse to admit themselves as possessive, irritating, avaricious, crafty and jealous at heart etc. Consequently, such disclosure would not only be a highly irresponsible act on the part of the psychologist, but may also aggravate the disease and ailment of the patient as well.

Similarly, revelation of personality assessment diagnosis may leave negative impact on the personality, as if a patient has already established plans of becoming doctor or engineer, and his personality traits indicate him as the type INTP, it would be hard to convince him to choose the discipline according to his aptitude, and thus he would be in a perplexed state of affairs regarding the selection of his course of action. It may also challenge the creativity of the patient and may drag him towards the state of melancholy and disappointment for the future days to come.

Personality assessment diagnosis also contains some ethical issues in its fold. It is the ethical obligation of the counselor not to make fun of any habit or practice observed and exercised by the patient. For instance, sexual orientation has always been a very sensitive issue all over the globe. So, if a patient maintains the sexual inclinations that are strictly against the religious or moral code of the counselor, he has no right to impose the same upon the patient. On the contrary, he must observe sympathetic attitude towards the patient for his quick and complete convalescence.

A major document is the ACA Code of Ethics (2005), which stresses that all counseling should be predicated on ethical practice. A social justice perspective on counseling states that counselors have an ethical responsibility to engage in advocacy initiatives, both with and on behalf of their clients, which challenge systemic barriers to psychosocial development. (Lee, 2007: 2) Hence, aptitude, liking and tastes of the patients should never be the object of fun for the counselor. Personality assessment diagnosis results also raise some racial, ethnic and religious issues.

Since almost all societies of the world are becoming multicultural ones in the wake of globalization, ethno-racial issues have become the order of the day in contemporary era. Actually some racial traits can easily be discovered among the patients while treating them. For instance, it has aptly been observed that the Chinese are generally amicable, compromising, a bit timid and cordial, and seldom enter into fights and quarrels with others. On the contrary, an overwhelming majority of the Afghans is quarrelsome, vindictive and clever by nature.

Similarly, the White Anglo Saxon Population (WASP) is viewed to be prejudiced and pride community that observes tendencies of superiority complex over others. So the counselors can easily discover divergent traits in some particular racial group or community. Somehow, they are not allowed to make their treatment with a grudging heart or having malice for the people belonging to the rival religious and ethnic communities. When counselors learn that their clients are in a professional relationship with another mental health professional, they request release from clients to inform the other professionals and strive to establish positive and collaborative professional relationships.

(ACA Code , Section 3 A) Thus, the counselors should strictly observe all these issues while making personality assessment diagnosis results in order to serve the humanity on the very principles of equality, justice and fair play. List of References Lee, C. C. (2007). Social Justice: A moral imperative for counselors (ACAPCD-07). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. Anderson, Michael G. (2006) Personality Assessment in Personnel Selection Retrieved from https://www.cpp.com/pdfs/Personality_Assess_Personnel_Selection.

pdf ACA Code of Ethics (2005) Clients Served by Others Section 3A. Quoted in http://www.txca.org/Images/tca/Documents/ACA%20Code%20of%20Ethics.pdf http://counselingoutfitters.com/ACAPCD/ACAPCD-07.pdf Hogan Assessment Systems. Why is Personality testing important to Recruitment? Retrieved from http://www.hoganassessments.com/_hoganweb/documents/why%20personality%20testing%20is%20important%20to%20recruitment.pdf