@LostInParadise I have a good story about the MMPI.
We used to be required to take that test to qualify for admission to nuclear power sites as workers and supervisors. On one of my first projects, in 1980, an entire group of 14 supervisors from my company took the test in a single session. The company rented a hotel conference room, set us up at tables and had a test administrator present while we took the test together. But it wasn’t as tightly administered as, say, a final exam at a college (and after all, there are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers), so there was a lot of give and take and kidding about the questions during the session: “I feel like I have a tight band around my head. – True or False”; “I would like to hunt lions in Africa. – True or False” and about 500 or so questions, if I remember rightly, covering all kinds of situations, some of them more real than others. The proctor didn’t try to get us to shut up or stop that.
Since very few of us had had experience taking this ‘inventory’ before, none of us realized the effect of what we were doing, which somehow threw off the responses. Eventually we all finished the test and went on to other business. When the results came back, most of us had to re-test, as the results were deemed invalid.
Two of us had schedule conflicts, and couldn’t retest in the more formal (and individualized) setup, so we retested later at the jobsite. What they did was set up an office trailer (the size of a full-size mobile home) with ‘test stations’ at each end of the office. I tested at one end, and Tom H. tested at the other end, with a very serious proctor in the middle of the office. I finished first, and went outside. I made up signs that said “TRUE” and “FALSE” and went to Tom’s end of the trailer. For the next half-hour or so, until he finished the test, I would randomly put up one of the signs in the window he was facing, but out of sight of the proctor.
He finished the test later and came outside, laughing. Apparently he had used my random answers on some of the questions he waffled on, rather than saying “Not Sure” (which was a valid, but non-preferred response). Two days later he had to visit the psychologist for an hour for a formal review and approval before he could get an okay to remain at the site.