The Personality
Assessment System (PAS) is a powerful tool for both understanding
and predicting behavior. PAS profiles are derived from the
scatter analysis of Weschler subtest scores. Within each profile
lies a Primitive profile, a Basic Profile, and a Contact Profile.
PAS theory is based on the premise that we are all born with a
Primitive Profile (i.e., EFA, IRU), and that the environmental
and social “pressures” placed on us to either change or remain
the same shape the direction of what will become the Basic Profile
(i.e., EcFuAc, IuRuUc), established around adolescence, and the
Contact Profile (i.e., EccFucAcc, IucRuuUcu), which forms in early
adulthood.
There are
eight Primitive Profiles in the PAS: ERA, ERU, EFA, EFU, IRA,
IRU, IFA, IFU. At the Basic level, there are 64 possible
profiles, and at the Contact level, there are thousands of possible
profiles. For more information, refer to A Brief Explanation
of the Personality Assessment System.
The following
cases, used with permission of the authors of Personality and
Ability: The Personality Assessment System*, provide illustrations
of PAS-based interpretations.
Case
#1
This woman
was tested as a research subject. She was married to a law
student and was working as a secretary/clerk in a mental health
agency, waiting for him to graduate, when she intended to seek
employment as a social worker. She worked easily with the
clientele and the staff, but did not socialize with the staff
after work. Her supervisor observed that she was a good worker
and that she talked a lot.
Female, age
20, bachelor’s degree in social work.
WAIS Scores
D
A I BD
S C PA
PC OA DS
11 15 15 11
16 17 15
12 9
13
NL = 15
Formula 15(EccFucAcc)M
i*fu* i/r'a°.
EFA
This pattern
is a common one in the standardization sample for females, and
it is usually a productive adjustment.
Because she
is externally aware and involving, and aware of relationships
among things and people in her environment, and responsive to
people, the EFA child should be very attractive to adults and
unless there is pressure to assume responsibility, will run the
risk of being “spoiled”.
Other people will want to take care of such a psychologically
attractive child. It is easier for a girl with this pattern
than a boy child because it is close to the American stereotype
of what a girl should be. Is she succeeds in having people
take care of her and do things for her, adolescence may be traumatic,
with its demands for increasing independence.
EcFuAc
i*fa
The Ec indicates
development of ideational discipline, a control over external
involvement and a capacity for responsibility. Her behavior
repertoire is expanded to include both I and E activities, but
habitually will be more I. She has retained F at the basic
level exploiting the capacity to perceive relationships.
Usually considerable insight is developed, including the placement
of self in relation to others. She will respect procedures
and protocol if she can understand the reasons for them.
She will have a history of learning to live with confusion in
new situations and a potential problem is task follow-through.
She has controlled her ability to respond to others, but remains
attractive to them. She will use this skill to avoid close
involvements with others because of the Ec.
EccFucAcc
i/r'a°.
As an Ecc
she has learned to discipline the primitive distractibility of
an E and has developed intellectual skills. Her orientation
is essentially passive and intellectual. However, there
will still be a need for activity and it will likely be directed
into mental activity. The Fuc has exploited the primitive
F ability to see and work with relationships. There is a
potential for originality by seeing relationships that others
do not. The awareness of relationships extends to placement
of self in relation to others and insight into others’ social
behavior. Since she is an Ecc this F ability will probably
be used to avoid overinvolvement with others in order to maintain
the internal direction of activity. Fuc’s often have trouble
with task follow-through. They also are resistive to external
control and direction if they do not understand the reasons for
it. As an Acc she has rejected personal responsiveness as
a way of achievement. Compensation in this dimension mitigates
the tendency of the Fuc to leave things incomplete. She
will still be attractive to others and will have to defend against
overinvolvement with others. There is some degree of social
anxiety, usually well masked in the primitive A, unless there
is a social reason for showing it.
In addition
to the tension which always accompanies compensation, this adjustment
has the additional problem of the effort necessary to control
social and interpersonal relations. They are attractive
to others, but need to defend against overinvolvement to maintain
their internal and accomplishment oriented direction. They
tend to be idealistic and responsible, but want to avoid being
emotional and personal. NL is important because at higher
NL’s they can use rationality and intellectual activities to maintain
their sense of place. At lower NL’s they may adopt idiosyncratic
rituals as a method of self-control.
As a social
worker she would be good at those administrative procedures she
could understand and use. She might be creatively resistant
to those she did not see as connected to her responsibilities.
Psychotherapist would not be a good choice, because the close
emotional relationships of therapist and client would threaten
her sense of place in the world.
Case
# 2
This 45-year
old, male with 7 years of education, was tested in an outpatient
treatment program for alcoholics.
WAIS Scores
D
A I BD
S C PA
PC OA DS
V
11 3 10
7 8
9 9
9 11
9 10
NL = 8.9
Formula
8.9(IucFccAuu)M ir*a e’r/a
For this
one we quote from interpretation written by Gittinger (1964, p.272)
“The ir*a(IuFcAu)
individual is, then, an actively autistic or schizoid person (because
he is i), who is highly self-centered or narcissistic, but yet
retains some social versatility (a). In general, he tends to be
a succor dependent person who exploits social relationships in
order to further his own highly personal and individual interests”.
“There are
many similarities between the ir*a and the basic ira, but the
former is much more sensitive, autosensual, and diverse. The Basic
ira tends to be imitative and perseverating in his autosensuality
while the ir*a, since he is much more fascinated with his own
sensuality and the subtleties of his autism and fantasy, tends
to be more inventive and experimental. Bizarreness is quite common
in this group since his autistic inventions have a completely
individual quality that have no meaning of except to himself.
In spite of his social adaptability or versatility the ir*
a live in a personal world that has meaning (or reality) for him
alone”.
“In essence,
their ir*a is an ambulatory (socialized) schizoid who seems truly
incapable of making reciprocal emotional involvements with others
and who, at best, will make only highly superficial attempts to
assume responsibility. Drug additions of all types, an fetishes
of all descriptions, will occur in this group. Because of his
lack of perseveration (or ritualization of ideas) neurotic adjustments
of a schizoid nature are more common than clear-cut schizophrenic
illness.
“[The surface
adjustment] is the most superficially intact and one of the common
ir*a adjustments. He is an apparently alert individual who makes
short term social relationships. However, under even mild stress,
this type of individual will abandon a relationship and either
withdrawl into fantasy or make another superficial relationship.
. . Drug addiction is common and experimentation with drugs is
unusually common. This is one of few types that get a real ‘kick’
out of the variety of experiences that are possible from psychogenic
materials. Such people will try anything from sterno to mescaline,
not out of desperation, but for variety and subtlety. Apathy and
indifference. . . are characteristics. . . On the whole, this
adjustment is, socially, very unproductive”.
Case
#3
Male, age
21, a junior in college with a 2.1 grade average and a tentative
major in humanities. Referred for evaluation of a possible
learning disability.
WAIS-R Scores
D
A I BD
S C PA
PC OA DS
V
9 9 11
14 9 12
11 12
16 9
10
NL = 11.5
Q1 = 0 Q2 = +1
VIQ = 101
PIQ = 117 FSIQ = 107
Formula 11.5(EucRucAuu)L
era i’ra
Primitive
ERA
Primitive
E’s are attracted to and distracted by external stimuli. This
distractibility leads them to physically active and to become
involved with the external world. The Primitive R is perseverative,
able to learn specific procedures, often by rote. The Primitive
A is responsive to people and their requirements. Their need for
the external world, rote learning ability and people contact leads
them to learn language early, but without adult insistence they
may perservate at an early level of learning. They will usually
learn physical developmental tasks easily, especially when adults
specify what they are to learn. ERA is one of the two most common
patterns in attention deficit disorders.
Basic EuRuAu
era
The formula
says that the little compensation has taken place so we should
have an adult version of the child’s ERA behavior plus learned
content. A and S are close to the threshold. There should be some
learning to discipline external distractibility and some attention
to overall perception, or relationships. He should be interpersonally
responsive and generally make a good impression. There is a need
to be physically active and often such skills are used in athletics.
The complete
profile is very rare in college student samples, but relatively
common in the WAIS standardization sample. The lack of compensation
on the E and R suggest difficulty with distractibility and ideational
discipline plus difficulty in perceiving relations among ideas.
This would be the kind of student who constantly needs to be told
what to learn. He might obtain his information in lower division
courses by using his Au skills, but more advanced courses make
more demand on the skills he lacks. His overall IQ is on the low
side for most college students. He would probably run into trouble
reading complex material because he cannot hold enough in working
memory without being distracted by subsequent material. His Q2
score is higher than expected for major in humanities. When
someone with this profile does appear in college, he might survive
in early courses by using Ru skills of going over material often
and memorizing enough to get passing grades.
He should
be comfortably and habitually socialized. The high information
suggests that there is some awareness of his inability to perform
mental tasks efficiently and some attention to such functioning
but there are probably feelings of intellectual inferiority. The
Euc-Auu raises expectations in any area of endeavor in friends
and relatives. The Euc awareness of the tendency to get over involved
with people usually leads to some defensiveness against involvement,
often by developing physical skills, but also sometimes by getting
in routine intellective activities.
He might
benefit from the usual study recommendations of distraction free
environment and a strict routine for studying. However, he might
have discovered this on his own and already be using such techniques.
The record
for this case includes problems with reading where he has to go
over passages several times to get meaning, which causes time
problems on tests. He has been willing to spend the time on studying.
He has good study habits. He has participated in high school sports
and calls himself semi-athletic. He failed the first math course
beyond the common university requirement. He was called personable
by the interviewer and has used these skills in part time jobs,
such as camp counselor.
*
Krauskopf, C.J., & Saunders,
D.R., (1994). Personality and Ability: The Personality Assessment
System. Maryland: University Press of America, Inc.
