"Ideal self" instructions, MMPI profile changes, and the prediction of clinical improvement.

Abstract

A number of recent studies on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory have dealt with the problem of response sets inherent in that test (1, 6, 7) and with the effects of experimentally induced instructional sets on test performance (4,8,10,11). These studies were undertaken to specify those variables which may influence patterns of response apart from the content of the test items and to determine whether these systematic effects can be utilized to improve the diagnostic and prognostic merit of the instrument.The present study investigated the effects of an "ideal self" instructional set on test performance. The following hypotheses were put forth: (a) the introduction of an "ideal self" set produces changes in the MMPI patternings of psychiatric patients relative to the values obtained under the customary instructional procedures; (6) the changes in MMPI patterns are in the direction of fewer elevated scale scores; (c) the more deviant the original MMPI record, the more marked the change; (d) the interindividual variability is significantly less on the "ideal self" pattern than on the "real self" pattern.A study by Grayson & Olinger (10) closely paralleled the present design. Employing the novel instructional set "typical well-adjusted adult on the outside," the authors found that the ability to improve MMPI performance on the second testing was a favorable prognostic

Methodology and research on the prognostic use of psychological tests.

“…Grayson and Olinger (1957), in a VA inpatient sample, reported that those who were given early trial visits were able to give improved MMPIs when asked to respond in "the way a typical, welladjusted person on the outside would do" to a greater extent than those still hospitalized after 3 months. Rapaport (1958) was not able to validate this finding, using a military sample, although the change on most of the scales was in the correct direction. Stieper and Wiener (1959) found a group of VA outpatients who were seen in psychotherapy for an average of 5.3 years had higher pretherapy scores on the MM PI scales, Hs and Hy, than a group who were discharged after 14 months.…”

Detection of Faking Good on the MMPI in a Psychiatric Inpatient Population

“…In addition, order effects probably inflated the ability to simulate normalcy. Support for the relationship between the capacity to role play and improved prognosis also came from Bloom and Arkoff (1961) and Rapaport (1958), although the trends noted in these studies did not reach significance.…”