Personality Assessment Paradigms and Methods

Book excerpt: This book is an update of Paradigms of Personality Assessment by Jerry Wiggins (2003, Guilford), a landmark volume in the personality assessment literature. The first half of Wiggins (2003) described five major paradigms: psychodynamic (as exemplified by the Rorschach and TAT), narrative (interview data), interpersonal (circumplex instruments), multivariate (five-factor instruments), and empirical (MMPI). In the second half of the book, expert representatives of each paradigm interpreted test data from the same patient, Madeline. In this follow-up, personality experts describe innovations in each of the major paradigms articulated by Wiggins since the time of his book, including the advancement of therapeutic assessment, validation of the Rorschach Performance Assessment System, development of a multimethod battery for integrated interpersonal assessment, publication of the Restructured Form of the MMPI-2, and integration of multivariate Five-Factor Model instruments with personality disorder diagnosis. These innovations are highlighted in a reassessment of Madeline 17 years later. This book, which provides a rich demonstration of trans-paradigmatic multimethod assessment by leading scholars in the personality assessment field in the context of one of the most interesting and thorough case studies in the history of clinical assessment, will be a useful resource for students, researchers, and practicing clinicians.