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

Sep 17, 2026

A critical historical analysis traces the shift from MMPI and MMPI-2 toward MMPI-2-RF and the announced MMPI-3. The article examines how MMPI-2-RC restructured clinical scales were created using a factorial theoretical approach rather than the original empirical “contrasting groups” validation. It outlines the MMPI-2-RF restructured form, reviews the contested validity claims, and discusses the market impact, including the predicted replacement of MMPI-2 by MMPI-2-RF/MMPI-3.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

From MMPI to MMPI-2. The empirical psychometric strategy

¦ 2023 Vol. 19 no. 1 From MMPI to MMPI-2-RF/MMPI-3: The abandonment of subterfuge Michel Parisiena B aPsychologue | 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 theMMPI/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. | Acting Editor Denis Cousineau (Universitˊe d’Ottawa)
The original article was published in French by the Revue Quˊebˊecoise de Psychologie, 2022, vol.
23, p. 1-23, with permission to publish the English translation in The Quantitative Methods for Psychology. | | --- | --- | | [B](B m.parisien.psy@mparisien.ca)[ m.parisien.psy@mparisien.ca](B m.parisien.psy@mparisien.ca) | | | 10.20982/tqmp.19.1.p047 | | Introduction Hathaway and McKinley published the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) manual in 1943, which gave true clinical credence to the empirical psychometric strategy of “contrasting groups” initiated 16 years earlier by Strong (1927) for the vocational ﬁeld. From a wide range of items, various scales emerged representing a rich variety of descriptions of clinical categories. Once the normative sample has been established, the only thing that ultimately mattered was the ﬁnal empirical validation of each item in relation to the targeted clinical criterion group. In 1989, a reissue of the original MMPI test (366 items) resulted in the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2, 367 items), now consisting of over 120 scales. In a spirit of continuity, the existing clinical scales have not been revalidated on new contemporaneous groups, nor were the core and supplementary scales of the test (Parisien, 1999, 2014) . More or less, the items that made them up remained the same, so that in general the empirical strategies of the original MMPI are and can be legitimately applied to the MMPI-2 (Nichols, 2011) . Some of the authors of MMPI-2 (Butcher et al., 2001), apart from Butcher and Dahlstrom, worked “quietly” with the discreet consent of The University of Minnesota Press, on a project of new so-called ‘restructured clinical scales’(RC scales), this time obeying a factorial theoretical approach whose validation methodology drastically deviated from the traditional empirical approach (known as "by contrasting groups") which characterized in their very essence the MMPI and MMPI-2 Inventories. Since they were developed using a completely different psychometric strategy, it is highly artiﬁcially that the new RC scales were integrated into the computerized scoring protocol MMPI-2 Extended Score Report. In 2008 (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008), the MMPI-2-RF,“RF” for Restructured Form, a self-report instrument of 338 items grouped into 51 new or revised scales including the RC scales, appeared. The conceptual-factorial approach was again favored for all the scales of the MMPI-2-RF (see Parisien, 2021b, 2021a) . Since 2003 (Tellegen et al., 2003), several American publications have appeared, ﬁrst on RC scales which were generally judged as not fulﬁlling their promise of validity (see Ranson et al., 2009) . As for the M

FAQs

What validation strategy shaped the original MMPI and MMPI-2 compared with the restructured RC scales?

The original MMPI and MMPI-2 rely on an empirical psychometric strategy based on “contrasting groups,” while the restructured RC scales follow a factorial theoretical approach with validation methodology that diverges from the traditional empirical method.

What is the MMPI-2-RF and how does it incorporate restructured scales?

The MMPI-2-RF (“Restructured Form”) is a self-report instrument with 338 items grouped into 51 new or revised scales, explicitly including the RC scales, and it favors the conceptual-factorial approach.

How did the announcement of MMPI-3 affect the status of MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF?

With the fall 2020 announcement of an MMPI-3 modeled on MMPI-2-RF, the article argues that the commercial survival of MMPI-2 came into question, especially since the replacement direction had already been promoted through MMPI-2-RF marketing.

Sep 17, 2026

Uploaded by Ethan Miller