Critique of the Personal Styles Inventory

The Personal Styles Inventory (PSI-120) was developed with the purpose of assessing individual behaviors in both clinical and nonclinical settings. It measures your overall personality as well as your personality in specific areas of your life (Educational & Psychological Consultants, Inc.). Counselors can use the PSI-120 in career counseling, general counseling and organizational consultation services to identify any areas which may require attention. Counseling applications as discussed in Personal Styles Inventory by Kunce, Cope, and Newton, are: enhancing self-awareness, identifying sources of stress, counseling about careers, understanding interpersonal relations, providing consultation, and individualizing interventions (Kunce, Cope, & Newton, 1991). This test is intended for adults aged 16 and up and measures three major aspects of personality: emotions, action, and thinking (Medway & Smith, 1999). The PSI has scales to measure eight emotional styles, eight activity styles, and eight cognitive styles. This test can be used in individual or group settings.
As explained in Personal Styles Inventory, the inventory uses a circumplex format to integrate data on personality characteristics in relation to two basic bipolar dimensions: (a) extroversion versus introversion and (b) the need for stability versus change. Style scores indicate strength of a characteristic only; scores are unrelated to either mental health or psychopathology (Kunce, Cope, & Newton, 1991).
A lack of diversity in the norm group was identified by both Medway and Smith and they suggested future research should include a broader range of participants from multiple demographics considering that the current research is solely based on university students. Acco...

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...iver, NJ: The Merrill Counseling Series.
Educational & Psychological Consultants, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2014, from The Personal Styles Inventory: http://new.epc-psi.com/home
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Medway, F., & Smith, J. (1999). Test Review of Personal Styles Inventory. The fifteenth mental measurementsyearbook [electronic version](17). Retrieved from Buros Institute of Mental Measurements Yearbook online database.
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