Psychologists who carry out personality assessments must be conversant in diverse technical languages to describe their clients' social contexts and inner personality function. The clinician needs to understand a person's family, gender role, ethnic identity, religious beliefs, and similar qualities, and also a client's inner personality functioning, including the workings of motives, emotions, cognition, and self-control: These can be characterized by relevant psychiatric symptoms, personality traits, and individual test scores such as those on the MMPI-2-RF and Rorschach-Performance Assessment System. The Personality Systems Framework for Assessment (PSF-A) can support the assessment process by organizing information about both an individual's context and personality function, freeing professionals to optimally focus on characterizing their clients.
