Psychological Testing and Assessment: Chapter 1

• Chapter 1 introduces psychological testing and assessment

Basic Concepts

• Psychological tests are objective and standardized measures
• Tests have diagnostic and predictive value measuring an individual’s capacity
• Behavior or psychological process is sampled through tests
• Standardization ensures uniformity in administration and scoring
• Test standardization establishes norms
• Reliability is the consistency of test results when administered to the same person
• Validity ensures the test measures what it intends to measure
• Objective measurement of difficulty involves determining difficulty level of the whole test or each item

What a Test Is

• A test is a tool to quantify behavior and predict future behavior
• Tests measure samples of behavior
• Error is always involved in the sampling process of a test
• A test item provides a specific stimulus, producing an overt test-taker response
• Every item in testing should be scored and evaluated
• Psychological tests measure characteristics related to behavior
• These tests are also known as educational tests

Types of Tests

• Individual tests are administered to one person at a time
• Group tests can be administered to many people simultaneously
• Achievement tests evaluate prior learning
• Aptitude tests evaluate the potential for learning
• Intelligence tests involve the ability to solve problems, adapt, think abstractly, and profit from experiences

Personality Tests

• Personality tests address both overt and covert dispositions of an individual
• Structured personality tests feature self-report; requiring subjects to endorse or reject statements about themselves
• Projective personality tests interpret responses to ambiguous stimuli to reveal aspects of the unconscious mind
• They assume responses reflect individual characteristics

Principles and Applications

• Reliability is accuracy, dependability, consistency, and repeatability
• Validity is the meaning and usefulness of test results for appropriateness
• Test administration concerns the process through which the test is given to test takers
• Application occurs through: examining interviewing techniques, gathering information from conversations, individual/group testing and special education
• Tests can measure one's human ability or structured personality
• Computers, interest, and medical status can be evaluated
• Tests are performed in industrial/organizational psychology and business

Key Considerations

• Psychological testing might contain bias and discrimination against certain groups
• Legal implications must be taken into account
• Important, current issues are shaping the future of testing, especially in the US

Historical Aspects

• Civil service testing dates to 4000 years ago in China
• Test batteries were used in China during the Han Dynasty (206-220 B.C.E.)
• Multiple tests were used to assess an issue
• Civil service testing introduced to the West in the early 1800s mirrored early Chinese systems

Darwin's Influence

• Charles Darwin wrote The Origin of Species (1859)
• The book discussed species development of traits that are adaptive for survival
• Sir Francis Galton (relative of Darwin) applied evolutionary theory to humans
• Galton wrote Hereditary Genius (1883)
• Argued people have traits that make them more fit than others
• James McKeen Cattel furthered Galton's work, creating modern tests

Emergence of Tests

• Hebert, Weber, and Fechner influenced testing and assessment
• Wundt (1879) is credited with founding the science of psychology
• Academic lineage included Titchener, Thurstone, Whipple, and Strong, and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank
• Tests address needs, like Binet and Simon's intelligence test in early 20th-century France

Development of Intelligence Tests

• The Binet-Simon Scale was created in 1905
• This outlined standard conditions and a standardization sample
• Representative samples are needed to create a test and an answer key
• The Binet-Simon scale examined mental age compared to chronological age
• The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale was released in 1916
• The standardization sample grew to 1,000 people, questions were revised/added

Testing in the World Wars

• During World War I, tests determined skills and abilities for military service
• Army Alpha and Army Beta tests were created
• Achievement tests featured standardized multiple-choice questions, lacking subjectivity; seen as superior to essay tests
• Interest in testing after declining, was renewed near the end of the 1930s

Personality Tests: 1920-1940

• Personality tests measure stable traits that distinguish people
• The earliest tests were pencil/paper
• The Woodworth Personal Data Sheet was created during World War I
• After World War II, criticism led to other structured personality tests diminished
• Two notable personality tests: The Rorschach Test and The Thematic Apperception Test
• In 1943 the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Test (MMPI) was created
• The MMPI-2 in 1989 is the most researched/used worldwide
• Factor analysis aims to minimize factors or dimensions that can describe a data set
• This was used to develop the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) in 1940s
• is a part of major test construction

Societal Changes

• Federal funding supported supervised training for clinical psychologists
• Psychological testing was a unique function of a clinical psychologist, as noted in the 1947 report; taught to doctoral students
• The APA in 1954, affirmed this position
• The relationship between psychologists and physicians grew complex
• Psychologist may have had a "secondary role"
• Testing declined 1950s-1970s

Contemporary Practices

• Applied psychology emerged in the 1980s
• As fields like neuropsychology, health psychology, forensic psychology, and child psychology emerged, so did that demand and usage of testing
• Testing is a major part of psychology training