MMPI can be described as a personality inventory or a scale that is used to predict the best composition of personality traits for an inventory taker. It is an integral personality measurement scale for anyone seeking to understand the composition of personality traits. MMPI is mainly composed of 567 test items and it takes a longer time to administer (American Psychological Association, 1986). On average, it may take approximately 60 to 90 minutes to complete the administration process.
MMPI is mainly designed to be administered to individuals above the age of 18 years. This implies that if it may give an inaccurate assessment of personality traits if administered to individuals below the age of 18 years. This test may be scored in different ways. It may be scored by hand or by a computer. However, the results are always interpreted by a qualified mental health professional, who had undergone extensive training on administration and interpretation of MMPI-2 (Gregory, 2003). Therefore, the test should not be administered by a person who had not been well trained on MMPI because the administration and interpretation process may be inaccurate leading to wrong diagnoses. Only trained and licensed clinical psychologists or psychiatrists are allowed to administered and interpret rules obtained from the test.
It is suggested that MMPI should be used in collaboration with other assessment tools. This is because the conditions presented by a patient, which are mainly assessed through MMPI, may be presented in other conditions.
On the other hand, TAT is a picture based story telling evaluative tests. In this test, different patters are usually shown to the client and he or she is then asked to make stories around what they can see (Gregory, 2003). This means that the test depends on the constructiveness of the client because they have to tell stories depending on the picture that they can see. It is a projected measure that is usually meant to evaluate a person’s patterns of thought, attitude, observation capacity, and emotional responses to ambiguous test materials. In this case, the ambiguous materials manly consist of a set of cards which are used to portray human figures in different settings and situations (Morgan, 1991). The, the client is asked to give a story about each card and include different element like events shown in the picture, what led to the event, what the persons shown in the picture are feeling, and the outcome of the events.
TAT is considered to be important in eliciting information about the person’s view of the world and his or her attitudes towards other people (Morgan, 1991). It is an important tool during interview when employers want to understand the different dimensions of their candidates. TAT is not considered a valid personality evaluation tool. However, when used with other confirmatory test and assessment, it can be used to conclude a diagnosis for a client and to create treatment plan based on the information obtained and observations of the client.
Both MMPI and TAT are used by clinicians but they have to be used in combination with other tools for accuracy of the results. MMPI is usually designed to according to 10 scales.
MMPI and TAT