Re: 911::WAS: I got the job - NOW: psych tests

[Guest guest]

At 20:27 03/11/2002 -0800, wondered:

>While we're on the subject of weird questions, perhaps someone on this list

>will have the answer to a couple of questions that have been plaguing me. A

>few years back, for a security job, I had to take the MMPI test.

<snip>

My most favorite true/false statement on the MMPI is: I often have very

strange thoughts.

...uhhhh.... how " often " does that have to be? Ummmm... doesn't everyone

have a strange thought now and then?

One law enforcement agency psychiatrist once told me (during my " see if

you're eligible to be hired by our agency " session) that the MMPI, while

still used as ONE of the many tools for evaluation, has to be scored with

an understanding that current law enforcement employees score higher on

paranoia indexes. Because people DO stop talking when we enter a bustling

party, and there ARE people who may be out to get us, and we DO know things

that other people may not know, and ..... a whole slew of things that make

that paranoia meter swing slightly off the original 1950s " norm "

established when the MMPI was developed.

>The one

>question that has been perplexing me for a while, " ...do you have the urge

>to play with your feces? " Were they trying to find out if we were

>potty-trained, or is there some other disorder that this is indicative of?

>(Although I shudder at the thought of what it might be..)

<grin> Oh, that one was easy to mark " false. " But the repetition of

questions asking if [my] feces were black and tarry? The impression that

this was a problem that could fixate someone taking the test was somewhat

unsettling.

>The most recent

>psych exam that I went through included the [true or false] question

> " ...stamp collecting and archery are my favorite hobbies... " -- anybody

>recognize what disorder this question would flag on?

Whatever it indicates, it's probably something a lieutenant or some ranking

uniformed officer might mark with a " you betcha! " hard scribble of his/her

#2 pencil.....

....just hazarding an idle guess; not that my own personal paranoia meter

needle wobbles for any particular reason. <merrily whistling " Always Look

on the Bright Side of Life " from a favorite Monty Python movie>

Happy to be here, proud to serve.

Olmstead

Communications Supervisor

~on the Central California coastline~

" Not presumed to be an official statement of my employing agency. "

Home E-mail: mailto:gryeyes@...

http://www.gryeyes.com/

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 3/12/02 12:44:33 AM Mountain Standard Time,

gryeyes@... writes:

<< But the repetition of

questions asking if [my] feces were black and tarry? The impression that

this was a problem that could fixate someone taking the test was somewhat

unsettling. >>

ummmmm sounds like they're trying to get medical information for a

pre-exsiting problem! Internal bleeding, such as an ulcer will produce that

kind of stool.

Kathy

[Guest guest]

> >The one

> >question that has been perplexing me for a while, " ...do you have the

urge

> >to play with your feces? " Were they trying to find out if we were

> >potty-trained, or is there some other disorder that this is indicative

of?

> >(Although I shudder at the thought of what it might be..)

>

> <grin> Oh, that one was easy to mark " false. " But the repetition of

> questions asking if [my] feces were black and tarry? The impression that

> this was a problem that could fixate someone taking the test was somewhat

> unsettling.

I still can't help but wonder why you would even have to include that on the

test. Wouldn't you be able to tell the minute the person walked into the

small enclosed space where the test is being administered?

--Chris

[Guest guest]

I was amused by the repetitiveness in general of the MMPI. Our resident

shrink was somewhat amazed by my score on one of the scales--whether one

willl lie in order to appear socially acceptable. Six lies to appear

socially acceptable is the norm, it takes 12 to red-flag. I scored zero.

The shrink said it's very unusual to find someone who doesn't really care

what people think! (Take that, all you Muskrats out there!!!!)

Another odd factoid: I'm a speed reader, and was taking the test with a

fellow applicant. I finished in half the usual time, and he told me later

that after I left, the shrink came in to tell him I'm a speed reader, so

that my early finish wouldn't skew his results. The shrink also told me in

the post-test interview that speed readers tend to do better on the test,

because they don't linger a long time, just mark the first impression and

move on. We both were hired, by the way, and are both still here. Oh, but

the MMPI is gone; we no longer administer a psych test.

Kim

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[Guest guest]

> I was amused by the repetitiveness in general of the MMPI. Our resident

> shrink was somewhat amazed by my score on one of the scales--whether one

> willl lie in order to appear socially acceptable. Six lies to appear

> socially acceptable is the norm, it takes 12 to red-flag. I scored zero.

> The shrink said it's very unusual to find someone who doesn't really care

> what people think! (Take that, all you Muskrats out there!!!!)

After my posts last night, I did a bit of digging and found a copy of the

test online. (It's a copyrighted test, so I am sure that the person who

left that copy of it laying around wasn't supposed to be doing that.) The

test is supposed to be a replacement for the MMPI-2. Anyhow, I went back

and investigated some of the more oddball questions that weren't abstract

enough to have stuck in my memory. " My favorite poet is Kertezc. "

I threw that name into a couple of search engines, and the only hits that I

could find were in reference to that same personality assessment. Guess

that was one of the honesty questions.. The shrink (...ahem, psychologist.

I'm married to a psych major.) never clued me in to my results, but the fact

that I made it out of the office without being dogpiled by the " nice large

men in white " was a good sign.

> Another odd factoid: I'm a speed reader, and was taking the test with a

> fellow applicant. I finished in half the usual time, and he told me later

> that after I left, the shrink came in to tell him I'm a speed reader, so

> that my early finish wouldn't skew his results. The shrink also told me

in

> the post-test interview that speed readers tend to do better on the test,

> because they don't linger a long time, just mark the first impression and

> move on. We both were hired, by the way, and are both still here. Oh,

but

> the MMPI is gone; we no longer administer a psych test.

>

> Kim

I've lost track of all the different psych tests that I've had to take for

San ... The total was somewhere around 1500 questions, between all of

the tests, in one evening. Dispatcher candidates have to go through all of

the same psych, polygraph, and background investigation hoops that police

officer recruits do. (However, we are spared from having to answer the

" ...would you be willing to use deadly force in the line of duty... "

questions.)

--Chris

P.S.

Wish me luck, I'll find out in two weeks if I've got the post with SJPD...

<twitch>