MMPI Administration and Scoring

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory -
Revisions:
Revised version i.e MMPI 2 was published in 1989. Subject respond booklet was updated
Validity and personality scales have been added  This test includes 3 validity scales, 10 clinical
scales and 4 special scales.  Administration • Can be given to individual or group • Person
should be above 16 years of age, should be literate (upto 8th std) • There is no time limit • Or no
right or wrong answer.
Materials:
566 questions, available in different language e.g. Q 1 : I generally prefer to attend movies alone.
Q2 : I consider myself a very nervous person Answer is either true/false/can’t say VALIDITY
SCALE It includes omitted items, L-scale, F-scale, K-scale If omitted items are more than 30. i.e
can’t say answers then profile should not be interpreted
L scale Average score is 4 High L score is indicative of – person trying to create favorable
impression, rigid, moralistic, over estimates self, excessive used repression and denial, poor
tolerance to stress and pressure, unoriginal in thinking, little awareness of consequences of his
own action. Low L score is indicative of – honest, functions effectively as a leader,
communicates ideas effectively, confident about self to admit minor faults. It was constructed to
detect a deliberate attempt on the part of the subject to present themselves in favorable light.
Consist of 15 items which deal with minor flaws and weakness to which most people are willing
to admit
F scale: infrequency scale It is index of test taking attitude. It is a good indicator of degree of
psychopathology. Extra test behavior. High F (T score > 100)score is indicative of responded to
item in a random way, has paranoia, hallucinations or delusions, poor judgment, short attention,
lack of insight, psychosis, or can be answered all items true, faking bad response, or responds to
items in a random way. It Is generally associated with elevated 6-8 (paranoid schizophrenia)
clinical scales. Also seen in adolescents.
If the F score is between 80-100 – it can be answered all fake, malingering, exaggerating
symptoms. If it is between 65-80, then it indicates – deviant, social, political conviction, severe
neurotic, moody, restlessness, unstable, curious. Low F score is indicative of socially
conforming, tried to fake a good profile, free of psychopathology
K scale: consist of 20 items and detects people who either deny or exaggerate psychopathology
Score >70 may be found in educated subjects High score indicative of Fake answers, false to
most items, trying to appear effective and efficient, shy and inhibited, fearful and lack of
emotional involvement Average scores (55-70) indicates independent, intelligent, self reliant,
clean thinking and enthusiastic, well adjusted emotionally and psychologically. Low scores
(<55) means responded true to most items, dissatisfied, ineffective, lack of insight, socially
controlling, suspicious, acute psychotic or organic.
Clinical scales 1. Hypochondriasis (Hs) 2. Depression (D) 3. Hysteria (Hy) 4. Psychopathic

deviant (Pd) 5. Masculinitiy/feminity (Mf) 6. Paranoia (Pa) 7. Psycho-asthenia (Pt) 8.
Schizophrenia (Sc) 9. Hypomania (Ma) 10. Social Introversion (Si)
Some deviant response test: 1. Random responding: a person may respond in idiosyncratic
manner i.e. marking every second item false or some other way. 45-70 is the normal range seen
with F>100, L & K > 50. Spike on scale 8(Sc) and subspike on scale 6(Pa)
All true responding: extremely elevated F scale and spike at 8 and 6 3. Faking bad: L & K, 5th
not elevated, rest elevated.
Faking good: the profile shows V shaped validity scale configuration. All scale between 30-50
with 5th scale highest is seen.
SCORING:
After completion, raw scores for each scale are converted to t score by means of profile forms
which are separate for males and females. Thus, t score are obtained on all clinical scales. 50 is
the mean t score and 10 is the standard deviation. The score may be plotted in the following way.
Interpretation:
Generally scores between 45-70 are taken as normal or indicative of absence of that particular
pathological trait. It is desirable to know the age, sex and socioeconomic status of subject and
whether he belongs to any minority culture. Any of these factors may cause elevations of some
scales and should not be taken as pathological in that case. Elevation of single scale, if Sc scale,
doesn’t mean that the subject has schizophrenia, a configural approach is necessary in
interpretation. It means interpreting the whole profile to get total idea of personality. Sometimes
it is important to check the responses of certain individual items, since many questions are not
asked in interview, but MMPI ask these questions.
Advantage and disadvantage:
Advantages and disadvantages of MMPI is Its atheoritical nature, no personality theory is

associated to it. Presence of validity test in addition to clinical and personality information. It is
most widely used and most researched Best for assessing personality and confirming diagnosis.
Disadvantages Lengthy Personal nature of some questions Ability to read and write is must Has
to be administered and interpreted by trained personnel and has to be correlated clinically.

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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory -

Clinical scales 1. Hypochondriasis (Hs) 2. Depression (D) 3. Hysteria (Hy) 4. Psychopathic

Advantage and disadvantage:

Advantages and disadvantages of MMPI is Its atheoritical nature, no personality theory is

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