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Slide 1-Introduction To Psychological Testing

Psychological testing refers to measuring psychological variables through standardized tests and procedures. Tests measure samples of behavior to help understand and predict behavior. There are several types of psychological tests that measure different constructs like intelligence, aptitude, personality, interests and neuropsychological functioning. Tests are used in educational, clinical, research, military and industrial settings. Factors like administration, scorer characteristics, and motivation of the test-taker can influence test results. The tools of assessment include tests, interviews, case histories, role-plays and behavioral observations.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
398 views26 pages

Slide 1-Introduction To Psychological Testing

Psychological testing refers to measuring psychological variables through standardized tests and procedures. Tests measure samples of behavior to help understand and predict behavior. There are several types of psychological tests that measure different constructs like intelligence, aptitude, personality, interests and neuropsychological functioning. Tests are used in educational, clinical, research, military and industrial settings. Factors like administration, scorer characteristics, and motivation of the test-taker can influence test results. The tools of assessment include tests, interviews, case histories, role-plays and behavioral observations.

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Sundas Saikhu
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Introduction to Psychological

Testing
Definitions
• Anastasi (1988) defined test as an “objective” and
“standardized” measure of a sample of behavior.
• A test is a measurement device or technique used
to quantify behavior or aid in the understanding
and prediction of behavior (Kaplan, 2013).
• According to The British Psychological Society,
The term ‘psychological test’ refers to a procedure
for the evaluation of psychological functions (as
cited in Toplis, Dulewicz, & Fletcher, 2005).
• A psychological test or educational test is a set of
items that are designed to measure characteristics
of human beings that pertain to behavior.
• Psychological Testing refers to the measuring of
psychology-related variables by means of devices
or procedures designed to obtain samples of
behavior
• Psychological testing refers to all the possible
uses, applications, and underlying concepts of
psychological and educational tests.
• Psychological assessment is basically a
judgmental process, whereby a broad range of
information, often including the results of
psychological tests, is integrated into a
meaningful understanding of a particular person
(as cited in Domino & Domino, 2006).
Types of Assessments
Educational assessment refers to, broadly speaking, the use of tests
and other tools to evaluate abilities and skills relevant to success or
failure in a school or pre-school context.
Retrospective assessment may be defined as the use of evaluative
tools to draw conclusions about psychological aspects of a person as
they existed at some point in time prior to the assessment.
Remote assessment refers to the use of tools of psychological
evaluation to gather data and draw conclusions about a subject who
is not in physical proximity to the person or people conducting the
evaluation.
Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) refers to the “in the
moment” evaluation of specific problems and related cognitive
and behavioral variables meet the very time and place that they
occur. Using various tools of assessment, EMA has been used to
help tackle diverse clinical problems including post-traumatic
stress disorder (Black et al., 2016), problematic smoking (Ruscio
et al., 2016), and chronic abdominal pain in children (Schurman
& Friesen, 2015).
Therapeutic Assessment
TA is a form of psychological assessment that emphasizes collaboration with
you and focuses on how to identify and remove barriers to positive change.
Brief History Of Psychological Testing
Types of tests
• Tests can be broadly grouped into two camps:
• Group tests are largely pencil-and-paper measures
suitable to the testing of large groups of persons at
the same time.
• Individual tests are instruments that by their
design and purpose must be administered one on
one. An important advantage of individual tests is
that the examiner can gauge the level of motivation
of the subject and assess the relevance of other
factors (e.g., impulsiveness or anxiety) on the test
results.
The Main Types of Psychological Tests
• Intelligence Tests: a person’s general potential to solve
problems, adapt to changing circumstances, think
abstractly, and profit from experience. Measure an
individual's ability in relatively global areas such as verbal
comprehension, perceptual organization, or reasoning and
thereby help determine potential for scholastic work or
certain occupations.
• Aptitude Tests: refers to the potential for learning or
acquiring a specific skill. Measure the capability for a
relatively specific task or type of skill; aptitude tests are, in
effect, a narrow form of ability testing.
• Achievement Tests: refers to previous learning. Measure a
person's degree of learning, success, or accomplishment in
a subject or task.
• Creativity Tests: Assess novel, original thinking and
the capacity to find unusual or unexpected solutions,
especially for vaguely defined problems.
• Personality Tests: Measure the traits, qualities, or
behaviors that determine a person's individuality; such
tests include checklists, inventories, and projective
techniques.
• Interest inventories: Measure an individual's
preference for certain activities or topics and thereby
help determine occupational choice.
• Neuropsychological Tests: Measure cognitive,
sensory, perceptual, and motor performance to
determine the extent, locus, and behavioral
consequences of brain damage.
Rationale for use of Psychological Tests
1. Help in decision making and problem solving.
2. Provide objective results that reduce possible
interviewer bias. Predictions are generally
accurate and usable.
3. Are cost effective and save time.
4. Useful in understanding and evaluation of
personality.
5. Easy method of gathering statistical information
for evaluation of an individual’s progress during
therapy or as an outcome measure.
FACTORS INFLUENCING THE SOUNDNESS
OF TESTING
• the manner of administration,
• the characteristics of the tester,
• the context of the testing,
• the motivation and experience of the examinee, and
• the method of scoring

• The sensitivity of the testing process to extraneous


influences is obvious in cases where the examiner is cold,
hurried, or incompetent, invalid test results do not originate
only from obvious sources such as blatantly nonstandard
administration, hostile tester, noisy testing room, or fearful
examinee. In addition method, examiner, context, or
motivation can alter test results.
The Tools of Psychological Assessment
• The Test- discussed
• The Interview- a method of gathering information through direct communication
involving reciprocal exchange. Penal (hiring, firing, and advancement of personnel)
and motivational interviewing (therapeutic dialogue that combines person-centered
listening skills such as openness and empathy, with the use of cognition-altering
techniques designed to positively affect motivation and effect therapeutic change)
• The Portfolio- files related to work products- retained on paper, canvas, film,
video, audio, or some other medium. An instructor’s portfolio may consist of
various documents such as lesson plans, published writings, and visual aids
developed expressly for teaching certain subjects.
• If you were to prepare a portfolio representing “who you are” in terms of your
educational career, your hobbies, and your values, what would you include in your
portfolio?
• Case History Data- refers to records, transcripts, and other accounts in written,
pictorial, or other form that preserve archival information, official and informal
accounts, and other data and items relevant to an assessee. Case history data may
include files or excerpts from files maintained at institutions and agencies such as
schools, hospitals, employers, religious institutions, and criminal justice agencies.
• Role-Play Tests- is a tool of assessment wherein assessees are directed to
act as if they were in a particular situation. Assessees may then be
evaluated with regard to their expressed thoughts, behaviors, abilities, and
other variables. Individuals being evaluated in a corporate, industrial,
organizational, or military context for managerial or leadership ability may
routinely be placed in role-play situations
• Behavioral Observation- monitoring the actions of others or oneself by
visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative
information regarding those actions. It used as a diagnostic aid in various
settings
• Computers as Tools- help in the measurement of variables that in the past
were quite difficult to quantify. Cost effective, time effective, assessment
in the context of generating simulations.
• Other tools- DVD, corporate personnel may be asked to respond to a
variety of video-presented incidents, Psychotherapists may be asked to
respond with a diagnosis and a treatment plan for each of several clients
presented to them on video, Police personnel may be asked how they
would respond to various types of emergencies, which are presented either
as reenactments or as video recordings of actual occurrences.
Types of Referral Settings/Testing in Practice,
Research & Training
• Psychiatric Settings (Diagnosis; Suicide Risk;
Admission/Discharge)
• General Medical Settings (assessment of neuropsychological
deficits; possible emotional factors or psychological
disorders associated with medical complaints;
neuropsychologists are usually asked to help determine
whether a patient’s complaints were “functional” or
“organic”)
• Legal Context (assess reliability of a witness; help evaluate
the quality of information by a witness; the quality of
another mental health professional’s report; accused person’s
competency to stand trial; degree of criminal responsibility)
• Educational Context (assess nature and extent of
child’s learning difficulties; measuring intellectual
strengths and weaknesses; assessing behavioral
difficulties; creating an educational plan; estimating
a child’s responsiveness to treatment; and
recommended changes in a child’s program)
• Research Settings (to determine the effect of
independent variable on dependent variable and to
assess the efficacy of intervention)
• Military & Industrial Settings
Sources of Information About Tests

• Test catalogue available from the publisher of the


test as well as affiliated distributors of the test
• Test manuals
• Professional books
• Reference volumes such as the Mental
Measurements Yearbook, available in bound book
form or online
• Journal articles
• Online databases
Assumptions Underlying
Psychological Testing
1. Psychological constructs, states, & traits exist:
Help in understanding and predicting behaviors
• A trait has been defined as “any distinguishable, relatively enduring
way in which one individual varies from another” (Guilford, 1959).
• States also distinguish one person from another but are relatively
less enduring (Chaplin et al., 1988).
• construct —an informed, scientific concept developed or constructed
to describe or explain behavior
2. Psychological constructs, states, & traits can be
quantified and measured: For interpretation, need to
know the history, definition of construct as per test
• Measuring traits and states by means of a test entails developing not
only appropriate test items but also appropriate ways to score the
test and interpret the results.
3. Various approaches to measuring aspects of the same thing
can be useful and this is the part of the assessment process.
to capture the best picture any of the Personal histories,
Background Information, Interviews, Mental state
examination, Tests could be get. For example, Personality
needs to be measured through various means i.e. interviews,
testing and behavioral observation.
4. Assessment can provide answers to some of life’s most
momentous questions. For example Forensic setting: for child
custody, competent to stand a trial, Organizational setting: for
recruitment, selection, training, Educational field: for
admission, trainings, scholarships
5. Assessment can pinpoint phenomena that
require further attention or study, For example
Clinical setting: for diagnosis purposes,
Organizational field: for hiring, firing, training
Purposes, Educational field: aggressive behavior.
6. Various sources of error are part of the
assessment process. Error due to test or during
the process of test administration.
• error refers to a long-standing assumption that factors other than what
a test attempts to measure will influence performance on the test.
7. Tests and other measurement techniques
have strengths and weaknesses
• Competent test users understand a great deal about the
tests they use i.e. how a test was developed, the
circumstances under which it is appropriate to administer
the test, how the test should be administered and to whom,
and how the test results should be interpreted. Competent
test users understand and appreciate the limitations of the
tests they use as well as how those limitations might be
compensated for by data from other sources.
9. Test-related behavior predicts non-test-related
behavior. For example, there may be a need to understand a
criminal defendant’s state of mind at the time of the commission
of a crime. It is beyond the capability of any known testing or
assessment procedure to reconstruct someone’s state of mind.
Still, behavior samples may shed light, under certain
circumstances, on someone’s state of mind in the past.
10. Present-day behavior sampling predicts future
behavior. For example: Forensic setting: legal
matters, Organizational setting: future
promotions, firing, hiring, Educational domain:
achievement etc, Clinical domain: depression
11. Testing and assessment can be conducted in a
fair and unbiased manner. Careful consideration to
construct tests for diverse population and to
Reduced test taker biasness
12. Testing and assessment can benefit society. As
Testing provide accurate predictions about future
behavior and performance
THANK YOU 😊

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