Psychologists who carry out personality assessments must be conversant in diverse technical languages to describe their clients’ social contexts and inner personality function. The clinician needs to understand a person’s family, gender role, ethnic identity, religious beliefs, and similar qualities, and also a client’s inner personality functioning, including the workings of motives, emotions, cognition, and self-control: These can be characterized by relevant psychiatric symptoms, personality traits, and individual test scores such as those on the MMPI–2–RF and Rorschach-Performance Assessment System. The Personality Systems Framework for Assessment (PSF–A) can support the assessment process by organizing information about both an individual’s context and personality function, freeing professionals to optimally focus on characterizing their clients.
