US police in 1960s
Narrol & Levitt in the 1960’s founded that police was being tested to assess whether they have aptitude to become police officer means are they street smart? Or not but US recommendations were not being followed about emotional stability and personality characteristics.
US police in1970s
Police changed in the light of psychologist’s recommendations. Many large police departments in the USA were using standardized personality inventories.
Standardized personality inventories are those psychological tests that are applicable to every one andintend to assess personality. Over 48 % were using Minnesota Multi-Phasic Personality Inventory MMPI in 1970s.
US police in 2003
Cochrane,Tett & VandeCreek (2003) surveyed 155 municipal police departments. situation was totally transformed as:
• 91% were using personality measures
• 71.6%were using MMPI
• 24.5%were using CPI
• 18.7% were using 16 PF
• 11.6% were using IPI
• Other tests were also being used such as PAI
Use of different psychological tests was quite frequent.
The oldest known usage of psychology in policing was for mental testing, which was soon followed by personality testing (Bartol & Bartol 2004). During the early 20th Century, several prominent psychologists tested the intelligence of police officers. For example the work of following Psychologists:
Louis Terman (1917)
Louis Thurstone (1922)
Poland (1978)
Rationale of using personality inventories
The basic reason behind using personality inventory is to find the person who is fit for police job and for those who are on duty whether they are fit for duty or not.
Major aspects of personality assessment
1. screening in
2. Screening out
Screening in
Means searching for the person who is fit for the job and looking for a police personality, looking for traits, habits, reactions and attitudes of an ideal police officer. So, once desired traits have been identified tests are employed to find the matching personalities but the basic problem is individual differences. May be two very different personality type officers would show excellent performance and two identical personalities may show totally opposite behaviour. The Idea of Screening in was a
complete lost cause, because many different kinds of people make very good police officers and consequently, screening in is not a pursuable goal.
Narrol & Levitt in the 1960’s founded that police was being tested to assess whether they have aptitude to become police officer means are they street smart? Or not but US recommendations were not being followed about emotional stability and personality characteristics.
US police in1970s
Police changed in the light of psychologist’s recommendations. Many large police departments in the USA were using standardized personality inventories.
Standardized personality inventories are those psychological tests that are applicable to every one andintend to assess personality. Over 48 % were using Minnesota Multi-Phasic Personality Inventory MMPI in 1970s.
US police in 2003
Cochrane,Tett & VandeCreek (2003) surveyed 155 municipal police departments. situation was totally transformed as:
• 91% were using personality measures
• 71.6%were using MMPI
• 24.5%were using CPI
• 18.7% were using 16 PF
• 11.6% were using IPI
• Other tests were also being used such as PAI
Use of different psychological tests was quite frequent.
The oldest known usage of psychology in policing was for mental testing, which was soon followed by personality testing (Bartol & Bartol 2004). During the early 20th Century, several prominent psychologists tested the intelligence of police officers. For example the work of following Psychologists:
Louis Terman (1917)
Louis Thurstone (1922)
Poland (1978)
Rationale of using personality inventories
The basic reason behind using personality inventory is to find the person who is fit for police job and for those who are on duty whether they are fit for duty or not.
Major aspects of personality assessment
1. screening in
2. Screening out
Screening in
Means searching for the person who is fit for the job and looking for a police personality, looking for traits, habits, reactions and attitudes of an ideal police officer. So, once desired traits have been identified tests are employed to find the matching personalities but the basic problem is individual differences. May be two very different personality type officers would show excellent performance and two identical personalities may show totally opposite behaviour. The Idea of Screening in was a
complete lost cause, because many different kinds of people make very good police officers and consequently, screening in is not a pursuable goal.
