Psych Ass

• Ancient Roots:

  • Chinese Civilization: testing used for selecting government jobs
  • Greek Civilization: tests used to measure intelligence and physical skills
  • European Universities: relied on formal exams for conferring degrees and honors
• Individual Differences:

  • Charles Darwin: believed in individual differences leading to more complex, intelligent organisms over time
  • Francis Galton: established the testing movement, introduced anthropometric records, rating-scale, questionnaire method, and statistical methods
• Early Experimental Psychologists:

  • Johan Friedrich Herbart: mathematical models of the mind, father of pedagogy
  • Ernst Heinrich Weber: sensory thresholds, just noticeable differences
  • Gustav Theodor Fechner: founder of psychophysics, Weber-Fechner Law
  • Wilhelm Wundt: first psychology laboratory
  • Edward Titchner: brought Structuralism to America
  • Guy Montrose Whipple: pioneer of human ability testing
  • Louis Leon Thurstone: factor analysis, law of comparative judgment
• The Study of Mental Deficiency and Intelligence Testing:

  • Jean Esquirol: accurate description of mental retardation
  • Edouard Seguin: modern educational methods for mentally retarded individuals
  • James McKeen Cattell: coined the term "mental test"
  • Alfred Binet: father of IQ testing
  • Lewis M. Terman: introduced IQ concept based on mental age and chronological age
• Tools of Psychological Assessment:

  • Psychological Tests: standardized measuring devices
  • Interviews: structured, unstructured, semi-structured
  • Portfolio Assessment: work sample assessment
  • Case-History Data: records, transcripts, archival information
  • Behavioral Observation: monitoring actions for diagnostic purposes
• Parties in Psychological Assessment:

  • Test Authors and Developers
  • Test Publishers
  • Test Reviewers
  • Test Users
  • Test Sponsors
  • Test Takers
  • Society at Large
• Three-Tier System of Psychological Tests:

  • Level A: administered by non-psychologists, educational achievement tests
  • Level B: require technical knowledge, group intelligence tests
  • Level C: require advanced degree or license, projective tests
• General Types of Psychological Tests According to Variable Measured:

  • Ability Tests: assess what a person can do, include Intelligence, Achievement, and Aptitude Tests
  • Tests of Typical Performance: assess what a person usually does, include Personality Tests, Interest/Attitude/Values Inventories
• Specific Types of Psychological Tests:

  • Intelligence Test: measures general potential, examples include WAIS, WISC
  • Aptitude Test: measures potential for learning specific tasks, examples include DAT, SATT
  • Achievement Test: measures amount, rate, and level of learning, example is National Achievement Test
  • Personality Test: measures traits and qualities
• Personality Test measures traits, qualities, attitudes or behaviors that determine a person’s individuality
• Can measure overt or covert dispositions and levels of adjustment
• Can be measured idiographically (unique characteristics) or nomothetically (common characteristics)
• Interest Inventory measures an individual’s performance for certain activities or topics to help determine occupational choice or make career decisions
• Measures the direction and strength of interest
• Interests have a certain stability starting at 17 years old
• Broad lines of interests are more stable while specific lines of interests are more unstable
• Attitude Inventory involves direct observation on how a person behaves in relation to certain things
• Attitude questionnaires or scales are used
• Reliabilities are good but not as high as tests of ability
• Specific behaviors can be predicted from measures of attitude toward the specific behavior
• Values Inventory purports to measure generalized and dominant interests
• Validity is extremely difficult to determine by statistical methods
• The only observable criterion is overt behavior
• Employed less frequently than interest in vocational counseling and career decision-making
• Diagnostic Test uncovers and focuses attention on weaknesses of individuals for remedial purposes
• Power Test requires an examinee to exhibit the extent or depth of their understanding or skill
• Speed Test requires the examinee to complete as many items as possible
• Creativity Test assesses an individual’s ability to produce new/original ideas, insights, or artistic creations of social, aesthetic, or scientific value
• Can assess the person’s capacity to find unusual or unexpected solutions for vaguely defined problems
• Neuropsychological Test measures cognitive, sensory, perceptual, and motor performance to determine the extent, locus, and behavioral consequences of brain damage
• Given to persons with known or suspected brain dysfunction
• Objective Test is a standardized test administered individually or in groups
• Objectively scored with a limited number of responses
• Uses norms and has a high level of reliability and validity
• Projective Test uses ambiguous stimuli to measure wishes, intrapsychic conflicts, dreams, and unconscious motives
• Examinees respond to vague stimuli with their own impressions
• Administered individually and scored subjectively
• Have low levels of reliability and validity
• Norm-Referenced Test converts raw scores to standard scores
• Criterion-Referenced Test references raw scores to specific cut-off scores