| CODE | PLC5760 | ||||||
| TITLE | Psychological Assessment: Theory and Practice | ||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||
| MQF LEVEL | Not Applicable | ||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Pastoral Theology, Liturgy and Canon Law | ||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The study-unit covers various approaches and paradigms in personality assessment: the Psychodynamic, the Interpersonal, the Personological, the Multivariate, and the Empirical. Each paradigm bears a tradition and a system of assessment characterized by different measurement instruments, skills and techniques. The Personality Measurements that will be used include: 1. The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) (Morgan & Murray, 1935) as a projective test, through the medium of the imaginative productions of the subject. 2. The Five-Factor measure of adult personality: The NEO Personality Inventory – Revised NEO PI-R, (Paul T.Costa, Jr., Ph.D, and Robert R. McCrae, PhD, 1985). 3. The Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory – III, 1994, a self-report instrument designed to assess DSM – IV related personality disorders and clinical syndromes coordinated with Millon’s theory of personality. 4. The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI- 2, Butcher et al.1990). Study-unit Aims: This study-unit should enable students to: 1. Assess Axis I and Axis II disorders based on the DSM-IV classification system. 2. Identify personality characteristics underlying a patient’s presenting symptoms. Early identification of personality disorders can help the clinician develop a more effective, short- term treatment plan. 3. Guide treatment decisions by providing an integrated picture of personality characteristics and clinical syndromes. The sessions will be held partially individually and partially in groups. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: i. Understand the theory and the complex nature of Psychological Assessment both as a science and as an art. ii. Understand the complexity of the validity related to the application of the measurement instruments and the necessary adjustments to be made in the various settings, whether clinical or forensic. iii. To intelligently assess the complexity of the information acquired and verify hypotheses 2. Skills (including transferable [generic] skills): By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: i. Administer, score and interpret a variety of tests in real life situations. ii. To learn to extract that right information from the data while avoiding falling into extreme situations by reading too much into it or by missing out of important clues. iii. To gain more confidence in these techniques without underestimating their importance, on the one hand, or adopting a blanket reassurance on the other hand. Main Text/s and any Supplementary Readings: The Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Paul T.Costa, Jr., Ph.D, and Robert R. McCrae, PhD.) NEO PI-R Professional Manual, 1992, Odessa, Fl: Psychological Assessment Resources. Piedmont,R.L.(1998).The revised NEO Personality Inventory: clinical and research applications,N.Y: Plenum Press,234. The MCMI-III Professional Manual ( Theodore Millon PhD) , NCS, 1994 Millon, Theodore (1996). Disorders of Personality DSM-IV TM. and Beyond. New York, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Rapaport, David, Gill, Merton, M, and Shafer, Roy (1968), “The Thematic ApperceptionTest” in Diagnostic Psychological Testing. New York: International Universities Press, Inc. pp.464-515. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Practical | ||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Paul Galea |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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