Psych. Chapter 13

Characteristics of psych. Tests

Characteristics of psych. Tests

-Find out a lot in a short time

-Predictions

-Career

-Your desires, interests, attitudes

-Psych. Problem

Dangers of tests

Test are simply for measuring and predicting human behavior NOT AN END

Test reliability

• Test consistency

-Same result under a variety of situations

3 ways to determine reliability

-In retaking a test or taking another similar test, does a person score about the same?

-Does test get same results when scored at different times by different people

Interscorer reliability

score you get depends more on the grader than on you

Scorer reliability

teacher grades papers at different times

Split-half reliability

each score about the same

-randomly divide test in ½ and score each

-½ separately

Test validity

Ability of a test to measure what it is supposed to

Predictive validity

How well a test can predict performance

Standardization

-Tests must be given and scored the same way every time

-Finding the norm or average score of a large group

-Establishing norms

Percentile system

number of scores higher or lower than your

-Used for comparison

-50th percentile does NOT mean you have met a standard of achievement but only you did better than ½ of the population

Two factor theory- Charles Spearman

Represents general intelligence- s

-Specific mental abilities (verbal or math)- g

Thurstone’s theory of Intelligence

-No evidence of general int.

-7 primary mental abilities pg. 355

Gardner’s Theory of multiple intelligences

-Howard Gardner

-8 types of intel. Pg, 357

-Biological organization of the brain affects one’s strength in each area

-Critics

-Some interest are skills

Sternberg's theory of Intel.

-Triarchic Theory

-ANalytical thinking skills

-Int. Tests, problem solving

-Creative thinking

-Practical thinking

-Cope with env.

Emotional intelligence- 4 aspects

- Ability to perceive and express emotions accurately and appropriately

-Ability to use emotions while thinking

-Ability to understand emotions and use the knowledge effectively

-Ability to regulate emotions to promote personal growth

The Stanford-Binet Int. Scale

-Items grouped by age level

-Many differ items and activities

-Tested 1 @ a time

-Stadaized instruction

-IQ = intelligence quotient

-IQ= mental age/ chronological age x 100

• Wechsler test- cognitive strengths and weaknesses

• 3 types

-Wechsler Audlt Int. Scale (WAIS-R)

-Wechsler lint. Scale for Children (kids 6-16) WISC-lll

-Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Int. (WPPSI-R) 4-6 ½

• % scores in many areas

-Computer differ scores in each area= more detailed picture of strengths and weakness

Uses and meaning of IQ score

• Score abt 100

• 95% 70-130

• Most useful in school prediction

Problems with IQ- Nature vs. Nurture

• Nature- heritability

-Amt that genetics has to do with your chars

• Nurture

-How much the environment has to do with intelligence

Cultural Bias

Wording favors a particular social group

Aptitude test

-Predict new sik

-Discover talents

Predictive validity

How well a test can predict performance an is related to later performance that the test was designed to predict

Ex: SAT predicted how well a person does in college

Achievement tests-Content validity

How well they measure mastery

Adaptive testing

Use of computers, everyone gets the same questions in the same order, computers change difficulty according to performance.

Adaptive instruction

Adapt tests to include more problems in areas where you are frequently wrong

Interest inventories

Performance, attitudes, interests

Strong interest inventory- 1927

-PPL leaving military to make educational and career decisions

MMPI- MInnesota Personality test

• 567 t or F cannot say

• Reveal habits, fears, delusions, sex attitudes, psych disorders

• Look for patterns of responses

• Checking for accuracy

-Rephrasing of ?

• Most frequently used

• Revised to include type A personalities, intro and extroversion

The CPI

• The CA psychological inventory

• More general use

• No questions for psychiatric illnesses

• Measures traits

-Predict adjustment to stress

The Meyers-Briggs test-Focus

How people take info. Make decisions and approach day-day tasks

4-scale personality

Extroversion vs. Introversion

-Intuition vs. Sensing

-Feeling vs. thinking

-Judging vs. perceiving

• Each personality is a combo. Of above

The Meyers-Briggs test- purpose

Offer test takes an evaluation of their personalities to see how they relate to others and others relate to them

Projective personality test

Open interpretation to stimulus

Rorschach InkBlot

-10 cars w/inkblot

-Theory

-Anything they say will mean something

-Results not reliable or valid

- Rely on psychologists expectations

The TAT

• The thematic apperception test

• 20 cards w/ vague but suggestive situations

• Tell a story about the picture

Test-retest-

a way of assessing the external reliability of a research tool. It involves presenting the same participants with the same test or questionnaire on two separate occasions, and seeing whether there is a positive correlation between the two.

Triarchic

proposes that a person’s intelligence involves analytical, creative and practical thinking skills