Psychology · Ch 2 — Self and Personality
Self-report Measures
Self-report Measures
The Logic Behind Self-Report Measures
Gordon Allport argued that the most straightforward way to understand a person is simply to ask them about themselves. This insight gave rise to self-report measures, which remain one of the most widely used methods in personality assessment.
What Self-Report Measures Are
Self-report measures are fairly structured assessment tools, often grounded in psychological theory. They require the person being assessed to give verbal responses using some kind of rating scale — for example, rating how much they agree with a statement on a scale from 1 to 5.
The method asks the subject to objectively report their own feelings with respect to various items. The responses are accepted at face value, meaning the tester takes the person's answers as honest and accurate. These responses are then scored in quantitative terms — turned into numbers — and interpreted based on norms that have been developed for that particular test.
Key Features at a Glance
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Structure | Fairly structured, not open-ended |
| Basis | Often derived from a theory of personality |
| Response format | Verbal responses using a rating scale |
| Assumption | Responses are accepted at face value |
| Scoring | Quantitative (numerical) |
| Interpretation | Based on established norms |