Personality Assessments Conceptualized as Perspectives

Using an extension of Brunswik's Lens Model, a framework was developed for analyzing the distinct phases of assessment processes and their phase relations, both within and between assessments.

Abstract

Abstract The view was advanced that an integral understanding of personality requires a conceptualization of assessments as organized multiple processes. Using an extension of Brunswik's Lens Model, a framework was developed for analyzing the distinct phases of assessment processes and their phase relations, both within and between assessments. The scheme incorporated a pervasively organismic conception of the environment, and localized personality neither in the observer-judge, nor in the observed-judged, but rather in their transactional relation. Divergence-convergence between different assessments was treated as a phase-specific matter, and as an important substantive question for systematic investigation. Selected features of the scheme are illustrated in an empirical application.