About Panukat ng Ugali at Pagkatao

Dr. Virgilio G. Enriquez sought to construct a test in Filipino that measured Filipino-oriented traits, behaviors, and attitudes, primarily to identify inventive talent, the main objective of a National Science and Development Board (NSDB)-sponsored research project in the early 1970s. The research team wrote items to measure personality characteristics judged by them to be salient for Filipinos, which were culled from Filipino dictionaries, proverbs, social science studies, word associations, and interviews with college students and other informants. The resulting test, the Panukat ng Ugali at Pagkatao (PUP), was presented to the international scientific community in 1981 (in the International Conference on Personality Assessment), after which work on the test continued over the years. In its present form, the 160-item PUP is in Filipino with English translations for all of its items, 141 items of which are organized into 24 trait scales and 2 validity scales. The scales have an average of 6 items. Respondents indicate their level of agreement with each item using a 5-point bipolar scale (Hinding-hindi or definitely no, Hindi or no, Walang masabi or nothing to say, Totoo or true, and Totoong totoo or definitely true). In addition, there are 19 “identifier items” on self-claimed personality traits which were included in the PUP for personality research purposes.

The PUP’s validity scales indicate a respondent’s tendency to deny basic truths (Pagkakaila) and to reject cultural values typically held by Filipinos (Kaugalian). When a test taker’s responses on items belonging to these 2 scales indicate these response tendencies, his or her responses on the rest of the items are no longer analyzed or interpreted.

English translations of the scale names indicate that the PUP seeks to measure the following traits: ambition, coyness or unapproachability, thriftiness, perseverance, guts/daring, thoughtfulness, respectfulness, shyness, creativity, generosity, humility, self-control/restraint, criticalness, sensitiveness, helpfulness, inquisitiveness, belligerence, low tolerance for teasing, responsibleness, fickle-mindedness, non-risk-taking, excessive conformity, moodiness, and stubbornness. These scales have been clustered into 5 personality domains corresponding to the cross-culturally validated Big 5 personality factors of extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and intellect or openness to experience.

In addition to the 24 personality scales and 2 validity scales, 19 items were designed to assess culturally-relevant behaviors and attitudes for use as criterion variables in personality research studies, such as gambling behavior: “I am prone to gambling,” drinking behavior: “I am prone to drinking alcohol,” praying behavior: “I do not forget to pray, even when I have no particular wish or problem,” and accident-proneness: “I don’t know why, but I often get hurt or meet accidents.”

The PUP is scored either manually, using 15 scoring acetates, or using the computerized system developed for scoring the test. The test takes about 30-45 minutes to finish. Training is provided by PPRTH as a value-added service for purchasers of the PUP test package. Contact information: jingbayas@yahoo.com