From MMPI to MMPI-2-RF/MMPI-3: The abandonment of subterfuge

Abstract

The conceptual-factorial scales of the MMPI-2-RC were constructed in divorce from the empirical categorizing strategy used for the original MMPI and its updated version, the MMPI-2. They were then integrated as a modern asset into a brand new instrument also based on factor analysis, the MMPI-2-RF. The latter was first introduced as a parallel version rather than a substitute for the MMPI/MMPI-2. However, workshops and webinars were multiplied, extolling the superiority of the new test. These subterfuges were then abandoned with the announcement of an MMPI-3, in the fall of 2020. This article, both historical and critical, takes stock of the MMPI-2, comments on the incongruous appearance of the "restructured scales" RC, summarily describes the restructured form MMPI-2-RF, and denounces the dreaded but predicted discarding of the MMPI-2 in favor of the MMPI-2-RF/MMPI-3, heretical avatars of MMPI that have recently surfaced in the market.

Keywords

• mmpi/mmpi-2
• rc scales/mmpi-2-rf
• empirical versus factor-theoretic validity
• mmpi-3