To understand the MMPI-2, we must first look at its predecessor. The original MMPI was published in 1943 by Starke R. Hathaway and J.C. McKinley at the University of Minnesota. Before its invention, psychiatrists relied on subjective interviews. Hathaway and McKinley wanted an objective way to distinguish psychiatric patients from "normal" controls.
To understand the MMPI-2, one must first appreciate its predecessor, the original MMPI. Developed in 1939 by clinical psychologist Starke R. Hathaway and neuropsychiatrist J. Charnley McKinley at the University of Minnesota, the original MMPI was revolutionary. Before its creation, most psychological assessments were either projective (like the Rorschach inkblot test) or based on the clinician’s subjective intuition. mmpi-2