A memory-systems approach to the classification of personality tests: comment on Meyer and Kurtz (2006)

Abstract

In response to Meyer and Kurtz's (2006) recommended discontinuation of the terms "objective" and "projective" as descriptors of personality tests, a new classification system for personality measures is sketched out that is based on memory research. Adopting a widely used model of the organization of human memory systems (e.g., Squire, Knowlton, & Musen, 1993), a distinction between declarative and nondeclarative personality tests is proposed based on whether tests assess facets of personality represented in consciously accessible memory systems or in nonconscious memory systems whose operation is reflected in performance. The declarative/nondeclarative classification can be further refined by specifying separable memory systems within each domain of memory (e.g., episodic, semantic, priming, skill learning). It is proposed that such a new classification would be conceptually meaningful, because it links personality tests to highly refined accounts of human cognition, and heuristically fruitful, because it provides new insights into the properties and limits of existing tests and helps identify hitherto largely untapped sources for the assessment of personality.