Multiphasic Minnesota Personality Inventory
Definition
The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, known as the MMPI, and its revised second
edition (MMPI-2) are psychological assessment instruments completed by the person being
evaluated, and scored and interpreted by the examiner. The clinician evaluates the test taker's
personal characteristics by comparing the test taker's answers to those given by various
psychiatric and nonpsychiatric comparison groups. By analyzing the test taker's patterns of
response to the test items, the examiner is able to draw some tentative conclusions about the
client's level of adaptation, behavioral characteristics, and personality traits. The MMPI-2 is
preferred to the older MMPI because of its larger and more representative community
comparison group (also referred to as the "normative" group). The original version of the MMPI
is no longer available from publisher, the although some institutions continue to use old copies of
it.
Purpose
The results of the MMPI-2 allow the test administrator to make inferences about the client's
typical behaviors and way of thinking. The test outcomes help the examiner to determine the test
taker's severity of impairment, outlook on life, approaches to problem solving, typical mood
states, likely diagnoses, and potential problems in treatment. The MMPI-2 is used in a wide
range of settings for a variety of procedures. The inventory is often used as part of inpatient
psychiatric assessments, differential diagnosis , and outpatient evaluations. In addition, the
instrument is often used by expert witnesses in forensic settings as part of an evaluation of a
defendant's mental health, particularly in criminal cases. The MMPI has also been used to
evaluate candidates for employment in some fields, and in educational counseling.