Pitfall 1 – Designing the instrument based on one or two theoretical constructs
The instrument of between 150 – 200 items is designed to measure the five dimensions developed from multiple theoretical constructs via the six psychological schools of thought as follows:
- Psychodynamic Theories
- Humanistic theories
- Behaviorism
- Social Cognitive theories
- Evolutionary theories
- Genetic theories
By looking at the personality (elephant) through the windows of six theoretical constructs we can see a more complete picture of the personality (elephant). KYKO instrument is calibrated and validated using the Rasch Model which is a loglinear model to ensure the items measure the five dimensions on a common scale so that they can be legitimately compared in magnitude between each other. The error of measurement on the items in the five dimensions vary from 0.03 to 0.07% which shows a high degree of accuracy (See Table 15 of the article on Validation and Calibration of Item for KYKO Instrument on www.scribd.com)
Pitfall 2 – To put a number on the typology of personality
KYKO psychometric instruments measure the intensities of five dimensions on a common scale with the units expressed in logits. The range of the intensities of the measures may be categorized as High, Fairly high, Average, Below Average and Low for each dimension.
With each of the dimensions having five intensity categories, the combination of category intensities over the five dimensions for each person is 55 = 3125, which means that there are 3125 possible different profiles that each person’s “character” may fall into.
The high, Fairly high, Average, Below Average and low is determined by the logit (or its derived unit, the “thau”) range. Hence the number of personalities from the combinations of the intensities of measures on the five dimensions obtained from the Rasch Model is infinite.
Pitfall 3 – To assume that our behavior pattern is constant and is not affected by the environment
KYKO Complexity Dimension defined as the need, desire and want to adapt, change, influence and make use of others for survival and growth and to satisfy dominant needs was established to address the above pitfall. Under this dimension two types of personalities are identified.
- Static personality with low needs, want and desire to adapt, change, influence and make use of others for survival and growth and to satisfy dominant needs enable us to predict behavioral pattern that are persistent and consistent between situations and across time.
- Dynamic personality with high needs, want and desire to adapt, change, influence and to make use of others for survival and growth and to satisfy dominant needs enable us to predict complex behavior patterns that vary between situations and across time.
Clearly static descriptions of personalities are less sensitive while dynamic descriptions of personalities are more sensitive to environmental differences.
Pitfall 4 – To Classify human differences using adjectival descriptors
KYKO classifies human differences under inner states such as needs, wants and desires enabling the inclusion of all psychological and motivation traits. When needs, wants and desires are energized behavior becomes observable. From the observable behavior, we are able to predict the thinking, feelings, and doings of a personality. For examples to predict what car a person is likely to buy.
A personality with high security needs will buy a conventional car with all the safety features. One buys a conventional car because one wants to be safe and secure.
A personality with low security needs is adventurous and is likely to buy a sports car. One buys a sport car because one is adventurous and wants sensational experiences.
A personality with high egocentric needs is likely to buy a luxury branded car. One buys luxury branded car because one wants to project one’s image and status.
A personality with high egocentric and low security needs is likely to buy a branded sport car. A personality with high egocentric and security needs is likely to buy a conventional branded car and so on.
Notice that the above examples are able to predict what and why of a person’s patterns of behavior.
Pitfall 5 – To assume that human beings are simple and that their behavioral patterns are recognizable, predictable and are consistently persistent between situations and across time.
KYKO complexity dimension takes care of the above pitfall. This dimension enables us to predict both simple and complex behavioral patterns
Pitfall 6 – To limit its interpretation of personality to positive traits only
KYKO is able to address the above pitfall by combining the self actualizing dimension with the other four dimensions to predict patterns of behavior.
For example:
Negative traits such as being violent, bullying, being hot-tempered and other aggressive type and demeaning traits can be identified by combining the high egocentric personality (High measure on the Egocentric Dimension) with the neurotic personality (Low measure on the self-actualization dimension)
Positive traits such as confidence, high self esteem, persistence, can be identified as a combination of the high egocentric personality (High measure on the Egocentric Dimension) with the normal personality (High measure on the self-actualization dimension)
Negative traits such as jealousy, revengeful, envy can be identified as a combination of the high sociocentric personality (High measure on the Sociocentric Dimension) with the neurotic personality (Low measure on the self-actualization dimension)
Positive traits such as cooperation, caring, helpful can be identified as a combination of the high sociocentric personality (High measure of the Sociocentric Dimension) with the normal personality (High measure on the self-actualization dimension)
Negative traits such as nagging, worries, peevish can be identified as a combination of the high security personality (High measure on the Security Dimension) with the neurotic personality (Low measure on the self-actualization dimension)
Positive traits such as being organized, loyal, meticulous, being precise can be identified as a combination of the high sociocentric personality (High measure on the Security Dimension) with the normal personality (High measure on the self-actualization dimension)
and so on.
Clearly, KYKO Psychometric Instruments can identify all the positive and negative psychological traits in the lexicon of our dictionary
Pitfall 7 – The prediction of variables is not free from personal bias
KYKO address the above pitfalls to support the predictions of variables based on the theoretical concepts of a group of psychologists.
For example,
To predict leadership variables
Vision
- Satellite Vision – High Complexity
- Tunnel vision – Low Complexity
Leadership style
Autocratic – High Egocentric
Participative – High Sociocentric
Bureaucratic – High Security
Laissez Faire – Low Security
Situational – High Complexity
Leadership behavior
People who push others to produce results – High Egocentric + High Self-Actualization
People who force others for their own personal gains – High Egocentric + Low Self actualization
A deceptive leader (High Complexity) uses his legitimate power (High Egocentric) and relationship (High Sociocentric) to satisfy his hidden motives (Low Self-Actualization.