THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT IN MINISTERIAL SELECTION

Psychological assessment was initially used to screen-out ministry candidates judged as unfit on the basis of unstable personality traits. Recently, the focus has shifted to the issue of ministerial effectiveness. Current research has demonstrated moderate validation for the use of psychological assessments in ministerial selection procedures. However, no research to date has empirically validated the efficacy of psychological assessments in the prediction of ministerial effectiveness in actual parish settings. For the purposes of the present research, three studies were conducted to investigate the role of psychological assessments in selection procedures and in the prediction of ministerial effectiveness. Ss included 87 ordination candidates referred for psychological assessment between 1973-1977 by the United Methodist Church.;The Ordination Study was designed to investigate the determinants of the psychological assessment recommendations and the relationship of both the determinants and the recommendations to ordination decisions. Psychological assessments included MMPI and Inventory of Religious Activities and Interests data. Results indicated that: the psychological recommendations were based on specific aspects of the assessment data; the ordination decisions were not related to psychological assessment data; and a significant relationship was found between psychological recommendations and ordination decisions.;The Effectiveness Study was designed to investigate the relationship of psychological assessment recommendations to measures of ministerial effectiveness. Measures of ministerial effectiveness included primary measures (observable behaviors) by the Ministerial Effectiveness Inventory and secondary measures (consequences of behaviors) from denomination statistics. Results indicated: no significant relationship was found between psychological recommendations and measures of effectiveness; and significant relationships were found among the various measures of effectiveness.;The Prediction Study was designed to investigate the relationship of overt predictions of ministerial effectiveness, on the basis of psychological assessments, to actual measures of effectiveness. Results indicated that psychological prediction scores were determined, in part, on a broader base of psychological data than original psychological recommendations. However, no significant relationship was found between prediction scores and any measures of effectiveness.;On the basis of these results and the importance of job-related selection procedures, revisions are discussed for the use of psychological assessment in ministerial selection procedures and the prediction of effectiveness.