Psych. Chapter 13

**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