Freiburg personality inventory

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The Freiburg Personality Inventory (FPI) is a psychological personality test widely used in German-speaking countries . The personality questionnaire records (inventories) several characteristics. The FPI is mainly used in clinical psychology and in general psychological research. It was developed at the Psychological Institute of the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg under the direction of Jochen Fahrenberg .

history

The first version appeared in 1970, consisting of four arcs: FPI-G (long version), FPI-A and FPI-B (parallel half versions), and FPI-K. They were based on a sample of approximately 2,300 people. In 1983 the FPI-R, standardized and revised on the basis of a population-representative survey, was published. In 2001, after a new standardization, the currently valid versions were published: FPI-R (revised long version, now 138 items) and FPI-A1 (revised half version A, 114 items). The sample includes 3,740 people in the old and new federal states. The norms are structured according to gender and seven age groups. The test answers are evaluated either using templates or with the aid of a computer (after entering data on the PC).

Dial selection

The test authors selected 10 properties that were particularly important in research and practical diagnostics and also for their own research projects. In addition, German reconstructions of the two fundamental personality dimensions (secondary factors) researched by Hans Jürgen Eysenck , extraversion and emotionality, were added. The 138 questions (items) are to be answered with “agree” or “disagree”. The answers are evaluated according to 12 scales:

  1. Life satisfaction
  2. Social orientation
  3. Performance orientation
  4. Reticence
  5. excitability
  6. aggressiveness
  7. Stress
  8. Physical complaints
  9. Health concerns
  10. openness
  11. Extraversion
  12. Emotionality

The FPI arose from the authors' theoretical interests in certain personality traits. According to the authors, the characteristics selected for the FPI are not derived from a preconceived personality theory . Neither a statistical formalism of data reduction ( factor analysis ) nor the intention to describe a small number of basic dimensions of personality was decisive . In contrast to other tests, the approach is primarily oriented towards property theory and takes into account selected personality traits that are of outstanding importance in certain practical fields such as clinical psychology or personality research. Factor analysis, item analysis and cluster analysis were used in the development of the FPI , but they were only tools to improve the conciseness of the theoretical concepts and scale designs.

The scales represent psychological constructs that stand out in the psychological self-descriptions of the average population and are therefore also important for assessing other people.

validity

Between the test values ​​and objectively observable behavior, sociodemographic, occupational, clinical and similar a. Characteristics exist numerous correlations. In principle, however, it should not be overlooked that it is a matter of self-descriptions or self-assessments, which also depend on expectations, social evaluations, response tendencies , stereotypes of judgment and other influences.

The test authors Jochen Fahrenberg , Rainer Hampel and Herbert Selg tried to verify validity in their further work and presented the results in the test manual (test manual). In the course of the test construction , various test quality criteria were determined and the standardization for quality control was repeated. The comparison of the two representative surveys from 1982 and 1999 showed that the structure of the FPI-R as well as test method statistics, reliability coefficients and even the standard values ​​were very reproducible.

The manual for the 8th edition of the FPI-R goes into detail on the criticism of personality questionnaires , mainly on the response tendencies , on social desirability and on the questionable basic psychometric assumptions. The authors emphasize: Personality questionnaires in particular require a method-conscious application and strategies of multimodal diagnostics , i. H. Safeguards and critical interpretation.

Areas of application and further developments

The FPI-R was developed as a personality inventory with a medium range for various tasks in psychological diagnostics, but has an application focus in the areas of psychosomatics , psychotherapy , rehabilitation , chronic illnesses and health psychology . Two areas were further differentiated by scale constructions and population-representative standardization: the Freiburg complaints list and the questionnaire on life satisfaction .

Adaptations and licensed editions of the FPI-R exist in other languages.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jochen Fahrenberg, Herbert Selg: The Freiburg personality inventory. Hogrefe, Göttingen 1970
  2. ↑ Jochen Fahrenberg, Rainer Hampel, Herbert Selg: FPI-R Freiburg personality inventory. 8th extended edition Hogrefe, Göttingen 2010.

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