Why did you choose to enter the field of psychology?
I was first interested in biology and especially in the brain. In my first behavioral neuroscience class, I felt that this field took on many of the questions that had always been interesting to me. Then I was given the chance to spend a summer as an undergraduate working on a study of people with aphasia. I realized then that I was really interested in neuropsychology.

What made you decide initially to develop the Memory for Intentions Test™ (MIST™)?
In working with people who have brain injury and asking them to set goals for rehabilitation, the problem of prospective memory, or memory for intentions, kept coming up. I wanted to understand what it was about completing an intention that was difficult for people with brain injury. At the time, there was no standardized measure available.

What would you like to tell people about your product that they may not know?
I think it is very useful as a clinical measure and has the ability to discriminate between different types of prospective memory failures in different populations; the alternate form makes it useful to measure efficacy of rehabilitation. But it is also a useful research measure and has been published in a number of studies with people with different disorders.

What would you like to tell people about yourself that they may not know?
I love the theater and one of my jobs during graduate school in New York City was sewing costumes. My kids got interested in theater, and my son even convinced me to be in a community theater production with him. My daughter still does plays, but my son is now focused on playing guitar.

How do you spend your free time?
I spend as much time as I can with my two children, ages 10 and 14, and my husband. We had the wonderful experience of spending six weeks together as a family in Rome this summer while I taught a course titled “The Arts and the Brain.” I spend time volunteering in my kids’ schools or in other community activities. I love to read novels, the more tragic the better.

Why did you choose to enter the field of psychology?
Initially, what I found most compelling about the field of psychology was psychopathology—its development and treatment. During my latter years in college, however, I became increasingly interested in society’s formal responses to persons with mental disorders. This, combined with a longstanding interest in the law, led me to enter Florida State University’s doctoral program in clinical psychology, since a number of faculty in the psychology department were interested in interactions between the legal and mental health systems.

What made you decide to develop the Inventory of Legal Knowledge?
I decided to develop the ILK because of my longstanding clinical and research interests in two areas—assessment of criminal competencies and assessment of response style. I also had the opportunity to work with a great colleague, Jeff Musick, who I had the pleasure of supervising when he completed his clinical psychology internship at the University of South Florida. Jeff had developed what could be considered an early ILK prototype. After some discussion, we concluded it would be a good project on which to collaborate. The rest, as they say, is history.

What would you like to tell people about your product that they may not know?
Two things. First, both Jeff and I regularly evaluate defendants whose competence to proceed with the legal process is raised as an issue. I like to think that, as a result, we are sensitive to the many realities facing forensic psychologists, and that we designed and developed a tool that is user-friendly as a result. I would also like to share that we first agreed that the name of the instrument would be the Competence Assessment Tool, or COMPASS, for short. We thought that the idea of a compass providing direction was particularly clever and would make for a great graphic on the test manual cover, to boot.  Unfortunately, an assessment instrument with a similar name was already in existence. Our second choice was the Inventory of Legal Knowledge, the ILK.

How do you spend your free time?
When not at work or with my family, I am most likely to be found on a motorcycle or in a game of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em.

PAR staff are on the way to Vancouver, British Columbia for the National Academy of Neuropsychology (NAN) 30th Annual Conference. If you are attending NAN, please stop by our booth to meet some of our staff and take a look at some of the new products we recently released, including the Tasks of Executive Control™ (TEC™), the Memory for Intentions Test™ (MIST™), the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms, 2nd Edition (SIRS-2), the Mini-Mental® State Examination, 2nd Edition ( MMSE®-2™), the NEO Personality Inventory-3™ (NEO-PI-3™), and more. NAN attendees receive 15% and free shipping and handling on all purchases made at the conference.

Why did you choose to enter the field of psychology?
My father was a mechanical engineer and very early in my childhood I realized I had no manual aptitude or skills whatsoever. So that career option was closed by lack of talent. My mother always encouraged me to pursue helping professions. When I began taking psychology classes in college at Indiana University, I had a natural affinity for the subject matter.

What made you decide initially to develop the ECAF™-2?
As a practitioner, I realized that the discipline needs more standardization and objectivity and many practicing vocational experts shared my beliefs. In fact, there is a formal group in California that is attempting to develop practice standards. As I gained experience over the years, I learned that there is no other measure equivalent to the ECAF-2.

What would you like to tell people about your product that they may not know?
It has been under development for over a decade and it has been well-validated through a number of published reliability and validity studies. Also, it incorporates generally accepted methods in sync with mainstream theories.

What would you like to tell people about yourself that they may not know?
My first novel, Justice Indicted, will be published in February 2011. The book is a social commentary based on my experiences as an expert witness for over 25 years.

How do you spend your free time?
I spend my free time traveling with my wife. I have three children ages 16-22. I’ll be accompanying my oldest child on a trip to London later this month; he is enrolling in a master’s program at the London School of Economics.

Why did you choose to enter the field of psychology?
This was the best way I could think of to participate in the evolution of our world. I was fascinated by the complex task of identifying patterns to thoughts, feelings, and behavior that could help us predict a person's behavior. I could not find any field more complex, and all other fields seemed boring compared to this intellectual frontier.

What made you decide initially to develop the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2™ Child and Adolescent (STAXI-2™ C/A)?
The amazing paucity of anger measures currently existing, especially for children and adolescents. I knew the state-trait theory already had been overwhelmingly accepted by the field of psychological assessment. As a developmental psychologist in training, I approached Charlie Spielberger and suggested we develop a measure for children. He and I knew there was such a need since parents, teachers, and mental health professionals were all very concerned about the high prevalence of anger, but researchers seemed to have been giving most of their attention to anxiety, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), depression, etc., classical conditions. Meanwhile, the public health problem of anger “snuck up” on our world. We see this with the school shootings that have occurred that now have everyone's attention.

What would you like to tell people about your product that they may not know?
This is a measure that can truly help get at the nuances of anger. As a practicing developmental psychologist who works everyday in the trenches with parents, pediatricians, teachers, etc., I have a keen sense of whether a measure is worth our time and energy as a practitioner who is very busy. The STAXI-2 C/A passes this test admirably. Why? Most people do not want to know if there is anger or not, rather, they want to know if the child is possibly harboring anger, how much they are struggling to control their anger, and to what degree might they be controlling anger much more than any adult appreciates. They also want to know if the anger is more just a temporary state or more like a trait, and thus, more concerning.

These are the most compelling question for our field, and for the adults working with children. And it is these questions that the STAXI-2 C/A provides answers to. Second, this is a necessary measure any time one is conducting a risk assessment, as again, this measure endeavors to assess covert anger that we have learned is “silent but deadly.” This anger measure provides a robust profile of a person's personality as it relates to anger. In this way, this measure is very practical.

What would you like to tell people about yourself that they may not know?
My experience with anger goes far beyond research and clinical settings, as I have a 3-year-old and a 5-year-old, and am blessed with everyday appreciating the nuances of anger in my wonderful children. I learn from them every day. We, as parents, know there is nothing that can replace real-world experience with emotions like anger. I am also a competitive cyclist who most recently rode the Tour de Tucson, a 67 mile road race. My wife and I, with our two wonderful children, live in Tucson, Arizona, deep in the desert, my favorite place on earth.

How do you spend your free time?
Riding as fast as I can down the road, rain or shine. When not in the bike saddle, I am reading to my kids or we are outside enjoying the desert climate. I am currently learning about Transformers and He-Man from my son, and from my daughter, I am learning all about the importance of having tea parties for her dolls.

The Standard Inventory Measure of the Five-Factor Model Is Now Applicable to Those as Young as 12 Years

The new NEO™ Inventories for the NEO Personality Inventory-3™ (NEO-PI-3™), NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3™ (NEO-FFI-3™), and NEO Personality Inventory-Revised™ (NEO PI-R™)

by Robert R. McCrae, PhD and Paul T. Costa, PhD are now available. In  addition, several updated NEO software products are now available including the NEO Software System™  with NEO-PI-3™ , NEO PI-R™, NEO-FFI-3™ , and NEO PDR™ Modules; the NEO Software System™  with NEO-PI-3™ , NEO PI-R™, and NEO-FFI-3™  Modules; the NEO Software System™  On-Site Scanning Module for the NEO-PI-3™  and NEO PI-R™; as well as all materials needed for the NEO PI-R™ and NEO-PI-3™  Professional Report Service.

The NEO-PI-3™  provides a comprehensive and detailed assessment of adult and adolescent personality. It is a concise measure of the five major domains of personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness). The NEO-FFI-3™  is a 60-item version of the measure, ideal for situations where time is limited and global information on personality is sufficient. The NEO PI-R™  forms and norms have not changed with the update of the NEO™  Inventories Professional Manual.

Both the NEO-PI-3™  and NEO-FFI-3™  include a downward extension to age 12. Items have been revised to make them easier to read and more appropriate for younger examinees. Separate adolescent and adult norms are available. NEO-PI-3™  Profile Forms have been made larger and now more user-friendly; combined-sex Profile Forms are now available. New features such as the NEO Problems in Living Checklist and NEO Style Graph Booklet provide innovative ways to give clients feedback on their particular personality profile.

Try the NEO-3 and let us know what you think.

Dear Colleagues,

There are so many new and exciting things to tell you about—our newly updated Web site, our first blog, and the release of several innovative new products; and the availability of the Mini-Mental® State Examination, 2nd Edition™ (MMSE®-2™) forms in 10 new languages. I encourage you to take a few minutes to browse our Web site or download a PDF of our latest catalog and discover all that we have to offer.

Download a PDF of our latest catalog.

I am delighted to announce the upcoming release of four new products: the NEO™ Inventories (NEO-PI-3™/NEO-FFI-3™), the Emotional Disturbance Decision Tree™–Parent Form (EDDT™-PF), the Inventory of Legal Knowledge™ (ILK™), and the Memory for Intentions Test™ (MIST™).

• The NEO-PI-3™ is a concise measure of the five major domains of personality, as well as the six traits that define each domain. Designed to provide a detailed assessment of personality in adolescents and adults, this new edition is appropriate for use with adolescents ages 12 years or older. Thirty-eight items have been revised or edited to lower the reading level and make the instrument more appropriate for younger examinees. In addition, new NEO tools have been created to enhance the usability of the NEO-PI-3™ in occupational and clinical settings. The  also has been revised.


• The EDDT™-PF is designed to assist in the identification of children who qualify for the federal special education category of emotional disturbance (ED). Because many school districts require parental input when making eligibility decisions, the EDDT™-PF was developed to provide a standardized approach to the assessment of ED that encompasses the federal guidelines and addresses the broad emotional and behavioral nuances of this population.


• The ILK™ is a 61-item, orally administered interview designed to help practitioners and researchers quickly evaluate response style in adolescents and adults undergoing evaluations for competence to proceed.


• The MIST™ is an examiner-administered performance-based test of prospective memory skills—the ability to remember to carry out a task in the future.

Additionally, the new MMSE®-2™ forms are being translated into 10 languages, including Spanish for the U.S., German, Italian, Chinese, Dutch, Latin American Spanish, French, Russian, European Spanish, and Hindi. These translations will be available soon. Contact our Customer Support Center for more information.

Finally, I want to thank you for your continued support and for your business. We sincerely appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

R. Bob Smith III, PhD, Chairman and CEO

P.S. PAR has evaluated its proprietary software for compatibility with the recently released Windows® 7. Download our Windows 7 Compatibility Chart to find out if the version of PAR software you are using is compatible with Windows 7. If you have further questions, please call Technical Support at 1.800.899.8378.