History of Psychological Testing and Assessment

Chinese Civil Service Testing Program

• Most of the major developments in testing that occurred over the last century took place in United States which might cause a misconception regarding the origin of testing

• Evidence suggests that the Chinese, during the Han Dynasty, had a relatively sophisticated civil service testing program more than 4000 years ago

• Every third year in China, oral examinations were given to help determine work evaluations and promotion decisions

Francis Galton

• individual differences was theorized by him in his book Hereditary Genius that some people possessed characteristics that made them more fit than others

• To further support his claim, he began a series of experimental studies concentrating on the individual differences that exist in human sensory and motor functioning, such as reaction time, visual acuity, and physical strength

• Now, the most basic concepts underlying psychological and educational testing pertain to individual differences

• No two people are exactly alike in ability and typical behavior

• Tests are specifically designed to measure these individual differences in ability and personality among people

Experimental Psychology

• gave the idea that testing, like an experiment, requires rigorous experimental control

• This control can be observed when administering tests under highly standardized conditions

• It also initiated the quantification of psychological concepts such as cognitions, personality, stress, etc. (Example: memory, introversion-extroversion)

1905

• first version of Binet-Simon scale contained 30 items of increasing difficulty and was designed to identify intellectually subnormal individuals

• Binet’s standardization sample consisted of 50 children who had been given the test under standard conditions— that is, with precisely the same instructions and format

1908

• The standardization sample was increased to more than 200

• determined a child's mental age, thereby introducing a historically significant concept

• This shows that there is a chance that a child with a chronological age of 4 or 12 has a test performance the same level as an 8-year-old child

1911-1916

• The Binet-Simon Scale received a minor revision. By this time, the idea of intelligence testing had swept across the world

• Louis Terman of Stanford University revised the Binet Test for use in the United States. It now became a well-known test for intelligence called the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

• This version of the Binet-Simon Scale contained many improvements such as an increased standardization sample of 1000 people.

• Also, original items were revised, and new items were added The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale added respectability and momentum to the newly developing testing movement

world war I

The war created a demand for large-scale group testing because relatively few trained personnel could evaluate the huge influx of military recruits using Binet Test To address the said issue, Robert Yerkes headed a committee of psychologists who developed two structured group tests of human abilities: the Army Alpha and the Army Beta

ARMY ALPHA

These are administered to measure intelligence of recruits who have an ability to read

ARMY BETA

• These are administered to measure the intelligence of recruited illiterate adults

1937

the Stanford-Binet had been revised again. Among the many improvements was the inclusion of a standardization sample of more than 3000 individuals

Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale

Two years after the revised version of Stanford-Binet, David Wechsler published the first version of the Wechsler intelligence scale

Flynn Effect

• Revisions of tests are essential because of the changes in the abilities or intelligence of the population over time.

• These changes mean that the standardization sample of the older existing test might be different from the ones who will be taking the test in the present times.

Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale

• Unlike the Stanford-Binet test, which produced only a single score (IQ or Intelligence Quotient), Wechsler’s test yielded several scores, permitting an analysis of an individual’s pattern or combination of abilities

• Among the various scores produced by the Wechsler test was the performance IQ.

• Performance tests do not require a verbal response; one can use them to evaluate intelligence in people who have few verbal or language skills, which makes it not appropriate for individuals, such as those who cannot speak or who cannot read

Personality Tests

measured presumably stable characteristics or traits that theoretically underlie behavior

Traits

• These are relatively enduring dispositions (tendencies to act, think, or feel in a certain manner in any given circumstance) that distinguish one individual from another

• For example, optimistic people tend to remain hopeful regardless of whether or not things are going well.

• Also, pessimistic people tend to look at the negative side of things no matter what Optimism and Pessimism can thus be viewed as traits

earliest personality tests

• structured paper-and-pencil group tests.

• This can be administered to a large group and usually consists of either multiple-choice and true or false questions

• These highly structured personality tests can score stimuli or responses clearly without any doubt

• Researchers scrutinized and analyzed the early structured personality tests.

  They had criticisms regarding the test relying on face value alone which somehow served as a spark in the development of new tests

Woodworth Personal Data Sheet

• The first structured personality test which was developed during World War I

• need to screen military recruits

• This test depended on the now-discredited assumption that the content of an item could be accepted as face value

• Introduction of this test was enthusiastically followed by the creation of a variety of structured personality tests, all of which assumed that a subject’s response could be taken at face value

• made far too many assumptions that subsequent scientific investigations failed to substantiate

Rorschach Inkblot Test

• has been introduced by Herman Rorschach of Switzerland in 1921.

• However, several years passed before this test has been introduced in the United States by David Levy

• Levy’s student, Sam Beck, decided to investigate the properties of the this test scientifically which caused the growth of its popularity

• Today, however, this is under a lot of criticisms

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

• the development by Henry Murray and Christina Morgan in 1935

• This consisted of ambiguous pictures depicting a variety of scenes and situations, such as a boy sitting in front of a table with a violin on it which the subject is required to make a story out of the picture

MMPI

• a structured test utilized to measure adult personality and psychopathology

• argued that the meaning of a test response could be determined only through empirical research

• Its emphasis on the need for empirical data has stimulated the development of thousands of studies

Factor Analysis

• method of finding the minimum number of dimensions (characteristics or attributes), called factors, to account for a large number of variables

• For example, we might say that the person is outgoing, very active, and likes to mingle and bond with others.

• this can identify those overlaps in characteristics and be accounted for one dimension (Extroversion)