Psych 309, Dr. Steffen, Final

Individual tests

Administered to one subject at a time with scoring requiring skill and flexibility for interpretation

Group tests

Administered to many subjects at once with straightforward scoring and broad application

What four things should one take in mind when using group tests?

Use results with caution; Be suspicious of low scores; Consider wide discrepancies a warning; When in doubt refer for individual testing

Achievement test

Aptitude tests

Flynn effect

Increase in intelligence scores across generations and time

Grade inflation

Rising average GPA while SAT scores decrease, impacting college admissions

What are the major weaknesses of the SAT and ACT? 

Restricted range, poor predictive power in middle ranges, race and SES contributions.

What effect do coaching/preparation courses have on tests like the SAT or GRE?

Depends on who funded the research.

What are some of the big problems with coaching/preparation courses?

Higher scores pre-coaching are harder to raise; Financial and time investment; possible discrimination due to money.

Stereotype threat

Minorities underperform due to perceived stereotypes, affecting test scores

What is the best combination of predictors of undergraduate GPA?

SAT and high school combo predicts between 30 and 37% of the variance.

Raven Progressive Matrices test

Nonverbal group test measuring g factor, culture fair and simple

Goodenough-Harris drawing test

Simple, quick, and easy ability test to administer

What is the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and GPA/standardized test scores?

1. SES affects standardized test scores more than GPA.

Personality

Stable patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving

Trait

stable over time

Personality state

change from one situation to another

Self-concept

Personal definition and perception of oneself

Deductive strategy

Personality test development based on logical content or theory

Empirical strategy

Personality test development using criterion groups and cross-validation

What are the deductive strategies for structured personality-test construction?

Logical content and theoretical

What are the empirical strategies for structured personality-test construction? 

Criterion group and factor analytic

What is cross validation? 

Used primarily for criterion group—repeating with different sample to make sure same questions hold.

MMPI

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory to differentiate normal from psychopathology

What are some of the criticisms of the original MMPI?

Control group and reading level.

What is the purpose of the MMPI and MMPI-II? What three types of scales are there?

Validity, Clinical, & Content

What reading level is required for both the MMPI and MMPI-II?

6^th grade for MMPI and 8^th grade for MMPI-II

What are the three validity scales and what they measure

Lie, InFrequency, K (defensiveness) scales

Code Typing

Identifying disorders based on highest scales in MMPI

Is there much empirical research on the MMPI and MMPI-II?

TONS, more than any other personality test

What are the problems with factor analytic strategy? What are the three types of variance associated with this strategy?

The subjective nature of naming the factors, the process is not 100% statistical. Common, Unique, and Error variance.

NEO-PI-R

Personality test measuring Neuroticism, Extroversion, Openness, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness

Epigenetics

Heritable changes in gene expression not involving DNA sequence alteration

Agouti effect

Mother's diet affecting offspring's hair color, changing rat babies between mothers, shows that mothering is more important than genetics

Epigenetic divergence in twins

Twins become more dissimilar due to age and decisions

Cross fostering

Swapping offspring between mothers to study maternal influence

10-year/10,000-hour rule

Regular practice leads to expertise; deliberate practice is crucial

Expert violinists' habits

Engage in deliberate practice, take frequent breaks

Principles of deliberate practice

Push comfort zone, set goals, focus intently, respond to feedback, develop expertise model

Rest integration in practice

Schedule regular rest, avoid relying on caffeine or adrenaline

Personality change mechanism

Setting and working on specific goals

Achievement and IQ test practice

Practicing can improve scores

Importance of balance

Engagement without distress or boredom when changing behavior

Ideal point for virtue

Aristotle's concept of balance in pursuing virtue

What are the 5 principles of deliberate practice?

Push beyond, specific goals, focus, high-quality feedback, mental model

Extroversion, introversion, ambiversion

Ambiverts excel in sales due to adaptability

Traditional vs. cognitive-behavioral assessment

Differ in focus, symptoms, assessment method, theory, and goal

Rationale for cognitive-behavioral assessment

Focus on behaviors, thoughts, and physiological processes

Steps in cognitive-behavioral assessments

Identify behavior, establish baseline, intervene, assess change

Self-report in assessments

Traditional focus on eduring characteristics vs. cognitive-behavioral focus on importance of current cituation

Fear Survey Schedule

Identifies fear-inducing situations/stimuli

Assertiveness assessment

Have client imagine how they would behave in situation that would typically call for an assertive response

Dysfunctional Attitude Scale vs. Irrational Beliefs Test

Measure dysfunctional schemas vs. irrational beliefs

Cognitive functional analysis

Internal dialogue's role in behavior, assessed through ABC model

Psychophysiological assessments

Measure involuntary responses like heart rate, blood pressure

Biofeedback

Increasing self-regulation awareness of physiological state

Breathing in HRV biofeedback

Low, slow breathing at 6 breaths per minute

Computer use in cognitive assessment

Administer, score, interpret tests; create new tasks

Eliza program

Computer therapist program providing empathic responses

Benefits of computer administration

Time-saving, cost-effective, accurate, better accepted

Internet in data collection

Efficient for self-report data collection

Virtual reality in treatment

Used for phobias, exposure therapy, social skills training

Computer-adaptive testing

Test adjusts difficulty based on responses, saves time and money

Operational vs. hypothetical construct definitions

Used in test development to measure abstract concepts

Aptitude vs. achievement vs. intelligence

Differentiate potential, previous learning, problem-solving ability

Scales of measurement

Nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio scales with distinct properties

Mean vs. median vs. mode

Arithmetic average vs. middle score vs. most frequent score

Regression formula components

Y = a + bX; Predicted value, intercept, slope, predictor variable

Classical Test Score Theory components

Framework for test development and interpretation

Observed Score

True score plus error in classical test theory

Random Error

Assumption in classical test theory; impacts observed score unpredictably

Test Reliability Estimation

Internal consistency, test-retest, parallel/alternate forms methods

Reliability

Consistency, dependability of measurement

Systematic Error

Bias in a test, negatively affecting data accuracy

Validity

Degree to which a test measures what it claims to measure

Criterion-Related Validity

One of three main types of validity evidence

Construct-Related Validity

Ensures a test measures what it purports to measure

Convergent and Discriminant Validity

Two types of evidence for construct-related validity

Validity Coefficient

Correlation between a test and a criterion

Squared Validity Coefficient

Percentage of variation in the criterion explained by test scores

Incremental Validity

Assessment of a test's unique predictive power

Expectancy Effects

Impact of experimenters' expectations on study results

Halo Effect

Attributing positive traits regardless of behavior

Social Facilitation

Tendency to mimic behavior of those around us

Positive Manifold

Positive correlations among diverse ability tests

g (General Intelligence)

One general intelligence factor plus specific factors

Factor Analysis

Statistical method identifying underlying factors from data

Sensitivity

Accuracy in identifying true positives and avoiding false negatives

Specificity

Accuracy in identifying true negatives and avoiding false positives

True Positive

Correctly identified positive outcome in a test

True Negative

Correctly identified negative outcome in a test

False Positive

Identifying outcome as positive when it is actually negative

False Negative

Identifying outcome as negative when it is actually positive

Logical Content

Questions in personality tests logically associated with traits being measured

Social Desirable Responding

Tendency to present oneself favorably in responses

What are expectancy effects? What is another name for these effects?

Impact of experimenters’ expectations on study results; Rosenthal effect

What is incremental validity?

Does the test contribute over and above the contributions of other predictors? Does the predictor carry unique predictive power?

What is the relationship between test examiner race and intelligence scores?

Only if they are untrained, otherwise not relevant