Delving Into a Criminal's Personality

There are many choices for testing a defendant's mental health, personality type, intellectual capacity, cognitive abilities, and mental competence. Each forensic psychiatrist uses appropriate tests for each individual's particular situation.

In general, these tests fall into three categories:

• Personality inventories
  
  This category is designed to reveal the defendant's basic personality type. This may include attitudes, behaviors, thought processes, beliefs, emotional responses, and social abilities. These tests are standardized tests and are very reliable. Such tests may reveal antisocial tendencies, obsessions, compulsions, and various other disorders.
  
  Common personality inventories include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), the California Psychological Inventory (CPI), and the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI). Some of these tests were administered to you during grade school, and it is possible that you have come across such tests.



• Projective testing
  
  This category is designed to evaluate the person's thought processes and personality. These tests are not as standardized and offer more subjectivity than personality inventories. The forensic psychiatrist uses these to peek into the mind of a defendant to determine how he views himself, others, and the whole world. These physicians many times uncover any obsessions and fantasies that are conducive to a person's actions. The following tests are regularly used:
  
  
  
  
  • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
    
    The defendant is shown photographs of common situations and asked to imagine stories to coincide with the images. The defendant's inner fantasies and thoughts may be revealed. As an example, when the defendant is shown a picture of a man and woman talking, he may imagine a story of a couple planning their wedding or arguing about money. Each story is indicative of a unique psychiatric state.
  
  
  
  • Projective drawing
    
    Here, the defendant makes his own drawings which are then analyzed. The defendant may be asked to draw something like a tree, horse, or truck, a person of the opposite sex, or a scary situation. These drawings can reveal a person's inner fantasies or thoughts. For example, if the defendant draws pictures of a house on fire, a woman who has been shot, or a tree with no leaves or branches, these pictures may provide a view into the inner mind of that person.
  
  
  
  • Rorschach test
    
    This is the infamous inkblot test. The defendant looks at a series of inkblots and is asked to tell what he sees. How the images are described can reveal something about his psyche, thought processes, and relations with reality. This test can also provide clues about the person's inner fantasies.
  
  
  
  
  
• Intellectual and cognitive testing
  
  This last category is designed to determine the defendant's thought processes, mental competency, intelligence, and ability to understand his/her own demeanor. This information is decisive in assessing the defendant's level of responsibility and competency to stand trial. The most common test used in this category is the Wechler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). This test is also known as the IQ test.

The forensic psychiatrist uses these tests as tools in his arsenal in evaluating a subject who is accused of a crime.

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