
The Luscher Profile (Personality Profile)
Compatibility: 64K Apple II series
Requirements: One disk drive, second drive and printer optional

by Jeff Hurlburt


     Hardly anything is more interesting to people than people, particularly when the person is oneself. Perhaps with this in mind, Mindscape has taken the unusual step of releasing a well-known personality assessment instrument. The "Luscher Profile" (sometimes "Luscher Color Test") has long been popular magazine fare-- usually in quickie form-- because it is easy to present and fun to take, and because it possesses good "face validity". That is, most people know that color affects behavior and are willing to believe that, conversely, color preferences can tell us something about ourselves.

     Mindscape's "long version" of the "Luscher Profile" comes in an attractive booksize folder which holds the diskette, fold-out color cards, and directions manual. The latter proved largely superfluous given explicit program menus and straight-forward test procedures. To obtain a profile you simply enter your name, turn to the first test card, and follow step-by-step prompts. Approximately half the test consists of ranking five or six color squares in order of preference, with the remainder involving selections from color pairs. Altogether, a complete testing requires five to ten minutes.

     The program takes care of all analysis and develops a profile arranged under several headings. These address current mood; needs, desires, and goals; motivations, emotional involvements, response to challenges, future expectations, and "things to consider". Averaging four or five sentences per heading, results may be read directly from the screen or, for more leisurely perusal, from a printout. Since a Luscher profile represents the instrument's view of your current status, you may wish to save yours for comparison with subsequent testings. The program permits storing profiles on a separate diskette and even includes an option for individual passwords to protect confidentiality.

     Response to the profile has been very positive, indeed, surprisingly so. Evidently, most people feel unthreatened by an instrument which, unlike a questionnaire, requires no obviously personal responses; even though the resulting analysis is supposed to be a "personal" profile. Of course, it helps that discussions are objective and non-judgemental; and it is easy to take home-computer-generated statements with a grain of salt-- always a healthy attitude. Accuracy, at least in my case, was good; though, of necessity, such evaluations cannot be very specific.

     Perhaps the only real weakness is in the area of 'hard test' documentation. It is nice to know that the profile was developed by a respected psychologist (Max Luscher) and that it is widely used in Europe; but specific data on standardization, validity, reliability, and recommended time between retests would be welcomed. Still, Mindscape's "Luscher Profile" is a very slick, smooth-running package, at once insightful and uniquely entertaining.


Available from Mindscape: 3444 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062. (312) 480-7667. $39.95


GRFX  S.M.  PLAY  DIFF  INTR  GAME
----------------------------------
 07    06    08    NA    08    07
