A STANDARD INTERVIEW AS AN AID TO ASSESSMENT

Abstract

A 20-minute Standard Interview was designed for the purpose of making distinctions between persons with respect to level or strength of several motivational characteristics. The procedure, built around a series of questions concerning the individual''s future, is intended to be applicable to persons of various ages, circumstances, and levels of mental health. Temporal and motor aspects of Ss'' responses were found to bear plausible, important relationships to symptom manifestations, particularly conversion hysteria, mania, and depression. This Standard Interview approach to assessment is unique because the hypothesis on which it rests[long dash]that the energetics of a response may have practical motivational implications[long dash]is generated by a basic assumption of a well known behavior theory.