MMPI profiles, including L, K, and F validity scale data, were examined for 40 hospitalized psychiatric patients, for whom diagnoses from both psychologists and physicians were available. Comparison of diagnostic patterns of the same patients, especially for diagnoses of Personality Disorders and Schizophrenics, showed relatively little agreement between disciplines. Discriminant function analyses showed also that each discipline weighted MMPI scales differently in determining diagnosis, even though the scale profiles for each patient in the sample were essentially identical. The MMPI seemingly played a nonsignificant role in determining a set of inconsistently applied diagnoses.
WesslerR.Estimating IQ: expertise or examiner effect?Percept Mot Skills1970; 30: 269.
3.
PageS.On Wessler's estimating IQ: expertise or examiner effect? — research and discussion.Percept Mot Skills1970; 30: 369–70.
4.
QuinseyV., AmbtmanR.Variables affecting psychiatrists’ and teachers’ assessments of the dangerousness of mentally ill offenders.J Consult Clin Psychol1979; 47(2): 353–62.
5.
IvnikR.Uncertain status of psychological tests in clinical psychology.Professional Psychology1977; 206–13, May.
6.
PageS.Utilization of psychometric data as a diagnostic aid. Unpublished paper, submitted for publication University of Windsor 1981.
7.
RosenhanD.The contextual nature of psychiatric diagnosis.J Abnorm Psychol1975; 84: 462–74.
8.
GoldenC.Clinical interpretation of objective psychological tests.New York: Grune & Stratton,1979.
9.
CohenJ.A.Coefficient of agreement for nominal scales.Educational and psychological measurements1960; XX(1): 37–46.
10.
RosehanD.On being sane in insane places.Science1973; 179: 250–8.
