Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire

The Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) is a personality test measure normal personality developed by Auke Tellegen in 1982.[1] It is currently sold by the University of Minnesota Press.

The test in its various versions has had 300, 276 and 198 true-false items. The current version is the 276 items one. There also exists a short form with 155 items (MPQ-BF). The questionnaire gives ratings on four broad traits, Positive Emotional Temperament, Negative Emotional Temperament, Constraint and Absorption, as well as 11 primary trait dimensions.[2]

Broad Dimensions

PEM - Positive Emotional Temperament

High Positive Emotional Temperament = behavior and temperamental characteristics conducive to joy, and to active and rewarding engagement with social and work environments. Low Positive Emotional Temperament = tendencies to experience joylessness, loss of interest, and fatigue, reflecting non-pleasurable and possibly depressive disengagement. Associated with Wellbeing, Social Potency, Achievement, and Social Closeness.

NEM - Negative Emotional Temperament

High Negative Emotional Temperament = proneness to experience anxiety, anger, and related emotional and behavioral negative engagement. Low Negative Emotional Temperament = a somewhat phlegmatic temperament, disposing to calm, relaxation, and other non-pleasurable states of disengagement. Most distinctively related to Stress Reaction, Alienation, and Aggression.

CON - Constraint

High Constraint = tendencies to inhibit and restrain impulse expression, unconventional behavior, and risk-taking. Low Constraint = inclined to act on impulse, take risks, and ignore conventional restrictions. Cluster of traits primarily linked to Control, Harm-avoidance, and Traditionalism.

ABS - Absorption

Represents an openness to a wide array of absorbing and self-involving sensory and imaginative experiences. These experiences may have either an integrative ("peak experience") or a dissociative effect, depending on the presence of other personality characteristics measured by the MPQ.


Primary Trait Scales

Well-Being

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Having a cheerful happy disposition; feeling good about themselves; seeing a bright future ahead; being optimists; living interesting, exciting lives; enjoying the things they are doing."

Social Potency

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Being forceful and decisive; persuasive and liking to influence others; enjoying or would enjoy leadership roles; enjoying being noticed, being the center of attention."

Achievement

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Working hard, driving themselves; enjoying working hard; welcoming difficult and demanding tasks; persisting where others give up; ambitious; putting work and accomplishment before many other things; seting high standards; being perfectionistic."

Social Closeness

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Sociable, liking to be with people; taking pleasure in and valuing close personal ties; warm and affectionate; turning to others for comfort and help."

Stress Reaction

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Tense and nervous; sensitive and vulnerable; prone to worry and feeling anxious; irritable and easily upset; having changing moods; feeling miserable without reason; being troubled by feelings of guilt and unworthiness."

Alienation

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Believing that others wish them harm; being victims of false and nasty rumors; having been betrayed and deceived; feeling used by "friends"; feeing pushed around; having had a lot of bad luck."

Aggression

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Physically aggressive; enjoying upsetting and frightening others; enjoying scenes of violence (fights, violent movies); victimizing others for own advantage."

Control vs. Impulsivity

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Reflective; cautious, careful, plodding; rational, sensible, level-headed; liking to plan activities in detail."

Harm Avoidance vs.Danger Seeking

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Not enjoying or would not enjoy participating in dangerous adventures or activities (e.g., skydiving), being in a natural disaster (e.g., a forest fire), being caught in a sudden and dangerous emergency (e.g., a hold-up); deliberately risking serious bodily injury (e.g., riding a runaway horse). Instead, prefer safer activities and experiences, even if they are tedious or aggravating."

Traditionalism

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Endorsing high moral standards, religious values, and institutions; expressing positive regard for parents; endorsing strict child-rearing practices; valuing conventional propriety and a good reputation; opposing rebelliousness and unrestricted freedom of expression; condemning selfish disregard of others."

Absorption

"High scorers on this scale describe themselves as: Responsive to evocative sights and sounds (e.g., a sunset); readily captured by entrancing stimuli (e.g., overpowering music); tending to think in images; have "crossmodal" experiences, including synesthesia (e.g., sounds evoke color experiences); capable of vivid and compelling imaginings; able to vividly re-experience the past; becoming deeply immersed in own thoughts and imaginings; experiencing episodes of expanded (e.g., ESP-like) awareness; experiencing states of altered awareness (e.g., of "stepping outside oneself")."


References

  1. ↑ Tellegen, Auke, and Niels G. Waller. "Exploring personality through test construction: Development of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire." The SAGE handbook of personality theory and assessment 2 (2008): 261-292.
  2. ↑ http://www.upress.umn.edu/test-division/mpq/copy_of_mpq_BF-overview