MMPI-2 and MCMI-III in Forensic Evaluations: A Survey of Psychologists

Abstract

This study explored psychologists' procedures for administering, scoring, and interpreting the MMPI-2 and MCMI-III in forensic cases. A national sample of 137 forensic psychologists responded to an online survey that focused on their use of the MMPI-2 and MCMI-III. The survey results reaffirmed some troubling practices found in a past study with child custody evaluator, such as lack of verification of data entry, inadequate knowledge of significance cutoffs, and over-reliance on computer-generated interpretive reports. Each of these may significantly impact the accuracy of scoring and/or interpretation. Implications for forensic practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Forensic psychology
• psychological testing
• MMPI-2
• MCMI-III
• forensic evaluations