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Psychological Testing
Concepts and Functions
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What is testing? Why do we have so many tests? What are the pros and cons to
testing? How can we use testing to
improve . . .? What types of tests do we take?
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Psychological Testing A psychological test is a
standardized measure of asample of a persons behaviorthat is used to measure theindividual differences that existamong people.
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Types of Psychological
Testing There are two types of
Psychological tests. Mental Ability tests
Personality tests
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Why use tests? Psychologicaltests are used inresearch,however, mostserve a
practical purpose.
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Mental Ability Tests Includes three subcategories.
Intelligence tests Aptitude tests
Achievement tests
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Intelligence tests Measuregeneral mentalabilities. Theyare intended tomeasureintellectual
potential.
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Examples Hanger is to closet as tree is to:
Branch - Bushes - Forest -Ground - Nest
What would be the next number in
this series? 15 ... 12 ... 13 ... 10 ...11 ... 8 ... ?
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Aptitude tests Assess talentfor specifickinds oflearning.(clerical speed,mechanicalreasoning, etc.)
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Examples Are You a Self-Starter? Climbing the ladder would bring a load
of responsibility and pressure that Iwouldn't want to carry.
If my boss or supervisor told me I were
being promoted, the fact that they hadso much confidence in my abilitieswould:
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Achievement tests Gauge a
personsmastery andknowledge of
various subjects
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Examples Who was the 43 rd President of
the United States? What is 5x6 divided by 2?
How many branches ofGovernment exist in the U.S.?
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Value of Personality Questionnaires
Value to the individual ( face validity )
Self-insight
Points of discussion
Norms provide comparison info
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Value of Personality Questionnaires
Value to research ( construct validity ) Study relationships of personality w/ other variables Study changes over time
Value for Counseling- marital therapy- university counseling centers
Value for personnel management Screening Prediction of success Placement & counseling
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Disadvantage of Personality Tests
Social Desirability Faking Good Faking Bad Random Responding
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Personality Tests Measure
aspects of personality,includingmotives,interests,values, andattitudes.
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California Psychological Inventory
CPI - one of the most popular personality inventory
Measures: various facets of normal personality;helps to make predictions about behaviours
Goughs theory (3 assumptions): Important characteristics in all societies and culturesUnderstandable and useful for both sidesValid predictors of future behavior in similar social contexts
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16 Personality Factor (16PF)
Raymond Cattell developed the Cattel Sixteen PersonalityFactor Test (1949)
Revised 4 times (1956, 1962, 1968, 1993) Survey all words in the the English language that described
personal characteristics (approx. 4000) Categorized the words into 45 groups and approx. 15 factors Designed to measure more personality traits and conflicts
than psychopathology 185 items across 16 scales 3 Point Likert Scale
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Psychometrics of 16PF Reliability: test-retest (.80 x2wk; .70 x3wk) Internal consistency reliability .74
Only sporadic studies found reliability below .70 Most validity studies have validity coefficients
above .70
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Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Myers-Briggs: based on Jungian theory of personality
Classifies individuals along 4 theoreticallyindependent dimensions.
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MBTI (cont.)
1. Introversion / Extroversion(E-I) : How is your generalattitude toward the world?
2. Sensing / Intuition (S-N) : How do you acquire
information?
3. Thinking / Feeling (T-F) : How is information processed?
4. Judging / Perceiving (J-P): How do you make decisions?
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MBTI (cont.)
Uses: Career counseling Team building Family counseling
Criticisms: Profiles generally positive
Barnum effect Validation evidence is sticky Factor analysis shows Big Five solution
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MMPI
Minnesota Multiphasic PersonalityInventory
MMPI-II most widely used psychologicaltest
10 clinical scales and several Auxiliary
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MMPITable 4-6
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Projective Personality Tests
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The Projective Techniques Projective tests allow the examinee to respond to
vague stimuli with their own impressions Assumption is that the examinee will project his
unconscious needs, motives, and conflicts onto theneutral stimulus
Word association tests, inkblot tests, sentence
completion tests, storytelling in response to pictures, etc.
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The Projective Techniques
(cont.) Three features:- Disguised: no face validity- Global: the whole personality
- Reveals unconscious aspects of personality
- Types:
- Inkblot: Rorschach- Picture interpretation: TAT- Sentence completion: Rotter Incomplete SB- Picture construction: DAP
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Administering the Rorschach
The test is usually administered with as little instruction andinformation as possible
The tester asks 'What might this be? and gives no clues orrestrictions on what is expected as a response
Anxious subjects often do ask questions, and vague answersare offered
Some advocate sitting beside the subject to avoid giving cluesby facial expression
If only one response is given, some hint to find more may beoffered: "Some people see more than one thing.
P h t i P ti f th
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Psychometric Properties of theRorschach
The Rorschach is a popular test, however, it has been plagued by low reliability and validity.
Obviously, it is difficult to measure any of the usual psychometric properties in the usual way
Validity and reliability are usually low because of theopen-ended multiplicity of possibility that is allowed and
by the lack of universally-accepted standardizedinstructions, administration protocol, and scoring
procedure
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Examples of Projectives
Rotter Incomplete Sentences Blank (RISB)
Complete the following sentences to express yourreal feelings:
- I like .. - My greatest fear .. - This PSY 3090.D instructor is ..
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Draw-a-Person Test
- Originally to assess childrens intelligence - Now: a screening procedure for emotional
disturbance- Cannot constitute a diagnosis
- The administration: Draw a person Draw a person of the opposite sex Draw yourself
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Draw-a-Person Test Administrator Asks:
- Can you please draw a person?- Draw whatever you like in any way you like?
Administrator Then Asks:
- Draw a person of the opposite sex?
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Draw-a-Person Test (cont.) Subjective vs. quantitative scoring system Clinician looks for:
Sequence of body parts Verbalizations during the drawing process
Size & placement of figures on the page Amount of action depicted Systematization in doing the task
Number of erasures Shading Gender of picture Over attention to certain body parts
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Draw-a-Person Test (cont..) Among the plausible but empir ical ly untr ue relations that
have been claimed:
- Large size = Emotional expansiveness or acting out- Small size = emotional constriction; withdrawal, ortimidity- Overworked lines = tension, aggression
- Distorted or omitted features = Conflicts related to thatfeature- Large or elaborate eyes = Paranoia
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Sources of Inaccuracy in Personality
Testing Personality assessment largely depends on self-
report Response sets may affect personality results
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Social Desirability
Some test takers choose socially acceptable answers or present themselves in a favourable light
People often do not attend as much to the trait beingmeasured as to the social acceptability of thestatement
This represents unwanted variance
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Social Desirability (cont.)
Example items:
Friends would call me spontaneous.
People I know can count on me to finish what Istart.
I would rather work in a group than by myself.
I often get stressed-out in many situations.
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Faking
Faking -- some test takers may respond in a particularway to cause a desired outcome
may fake good (e.g., in employment settings) to create
a favourable impression
may fake bad (e.g., in clinical or forensic settings) as acry for help or to appear mentally disturbed
may use some subtle questions that are difficult to fake because they arent clearly face valid
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Faking Bad People try to look worse than they really are
Common problem in clinical settings
Reasons: Cry for help Want to plea insanity in court Want to avoid draft into military
Want to show psychological damage
Most people who fake bad overdo it
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Random Responding
Random responding may occur when test takers areunwilling or unable to respond accurately.
likely to occur when test taker lacks the skills (e.g.,reading), does not want to be evaluated, or lacks attentionto the task
try to detect by embedding a scale that tends to yieldclear results from vast majority such that a differentresult suggests the test taker wasnt cooperating
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Random Responding
Random responding may occur when test takers areunwilling or unable to respond accurately.
likely to occur when test taker lacks the skills (e.g.,reading), does not want to be evaluated, or lacks attentionto the task
try to detect by embedding a scale that tends to yieldclear results from vast majority such that a differentresult suggests the test taker wasnt cooperating
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Random Responding Detection:
Duplicate items:I love my mother.I hate my mother.
Infrequency scales:
Ive never had hair on my head. I have not seen a car in 10 years.
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Mooney Problem Check list
Popular in Malaysia Not a test11 categories list of problemsIdentify problems faced by clients
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Mooney Problem Checklist
(1950) problems include morals & religion,
finances & living conditions, adjustment to
school work, social relations no score is computed
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Sample Items
Read the list slowly and as you come to a problem which is troubling you, draw a line
under it: Often have headaches Too crowded at home
Unpopular Drinking Getting low grades
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Test Design In order for a test to be accurate, it
must meet the three standards below. Standardization
Validity Reliability
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Standardization Standardization refers to the
uniform procedures used inadministrating and scoring a test.
Test norms: information used torank scores in relation to otherscores on the test.
Can you think of examples
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Validity Refers to the
ability of a testto measurewhat it was
designed tomeasure.
Examples
What psychologist promoted
introspection? Who developed the
four mechanisms fordreaming?
What school of psychology doesSkinner belong to?
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Testing ReliabilityTest-retest Comparing subjects scores on
two administrations of a test.Correlation Coefficient
A numerical index of the degreeof relationship (-1, +1)
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WRAP UP
VPI /SDS- Interest test (career)Work value inventory- (WVI)Value
test/satisfaction(career)Minnesota Importance questionnaire (work
value)
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Think! Why do we have so many tests?
How can we use testing to improve. . .? How does psychological testing
apply to school, careers, sports,etc?
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GROUP WORK
List Pshychology Test List all the career inventories
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