Psychological Assessment Midterm

Psychological assessment

A subfield of clinical psychology specializing in the measurement of human abilities, traits, and characteristics

Testing

Getting the measures (part of the assessment process)

Assessment

The process of answering the referral question that involves many different ways of collecting information

Psychological Test

A measurement instrument that consists of a sample of behavior obtained under standardized conditions and evaluated using established scoring rules

Standardization

All administrations of the test are the same and it employs norms or criteria that classify test performance

Clinical objective of psychological testing

Provide the diagnostic picture for purposes of treatment and services

Forensic objective of psychological testing

Answer the referral question to help the trier of fact in answering a legal question

Psychometrist

A professional who uses, analyzes, and interprets psychological test data

Clinician

A professional who is knowledgeable about traditional content ares in psychology and the various contexts of assessment AND integrates the test data into a relevant description of the person

Clinical judgement

A special instance of perception in which the clinician attempts to use whatever sources are available to create accurate descriptions of the client

Frye Test

A legal standard used to determine the admissibility of scientific evidence. Evidential force of the principle must be recognized and have gained general acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs.

Daubert Standard

A test of scientific acceptability applicable to the gathering of evidence in criminal cases.

The judge must consider whether the technique or theory in question can be, and has been tested; whether it has been subjected to publication and peer review; its known or potential error rate; the existence and maintenance of standards controlling its operation; and whether it has attracted widespread acceptance within a relevant scientific community.

Heilbrun Criteria

Criteria for the use of psychological testing in forensic assessment. Must consider if the test is commercially available and adequately documented in two sources; has a reliability coefficient of .80 or higher; relevant to the legal issue or psychological construct; has standardized administration; and applies to the population being tested

Procedural considerations

Evaluation is conducted in the context of a clearly defined professional relationship. Evaulation is performed in a private room, free from distractions. Selected tests are fair, relevant for the purpose of the evaluation, and shown to be valid with the client's cultural and educational background

Test Integrity

An assessor shall not disseminate a psychological test in a way that may invalidate it in order to maintain _____.

Test fairness

The extent to which a test is used in an impartial, just, and equitable way.

Construct

A concept

Informed Consent

An ethical principle that research participants be told enough to enable them to choose whether they wish to participate

No

Is there informed consent in court-ordered evaluations?

Dual relationship

Any interaction other than the client-professional relationship (babysitting, bartering for services, going into business with client)

Iatrogenic harm

Harm that is precipitated of induced by the clinician's attitude, comments, or treatment

Confidentiality

The assurance that messages and information are available only to those who are authorized to view them (client's right in a clinical setting vs. not assumed in a forensic setting)

Duty to Warn and Protect

Clinicians duty to warn of imminent harm to a duty to protect (Tarasoff rule)

Bias in testing

The presence of systematic error in the measurement of certain factors among certain individuals or groups

Linguistic equivalence

Whether the test has been translated accurately

Conceptual equivalence

Whether constructs have the same meaning in various cultures

Metric Equivalence

Whether the instrument has similar psychometric properties across different groups/cultures

Malingering

Deliberate faking of a physical or psychological disorder motivated by gain

Expert witness

Individuals who provide information in court that is outside the expertise of the everyday layperson

Reliability

The extent to which a test is repeatable and yields consistent scores

High reliability

.90 reliability

Moderate reliability

.80 reliability

Low reliability

.70 reliability

Test-retest reliability

A method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing a test taker's scores on the same test taken on separate occasions (Time to Time)

alternate forms reliability

A method for determining the reliability of a test by administering the same test to the same group of people at different times (Form to Form)

Split-half reliability

A method for determining the reliability of a test by examining the relationship between half the items and the other half (Item to Item)

Interscorer reliability

A method for determining the reliability of a test by comparing scores given by different raters (Scorer to Scorer)

Confidence Interval

A range that allows for one to assess a person's true score in light of their obtained score (depending on the tests reliability and standard deviation)

90% or 95% confidence

2 typical confidence intervals

Validity

The degree to which the test actually measures what it is supposed to measure

Content validity

The extent to which a measure captures all parts of a defined construct

Face validity

The extent to which the test measures what it intends to measures on the face of it. AKA can the respondent tell what the items are measuring?

Criterion validity

The extent to which a measure is correlated with a behavior or concrete outcome that it should be related to

Construct validity

The extent to which a test measures the construct that it purports to measure

Measures of central tendency

Mean, Median, & Mode

Standard deviation

A computed measure of how much scores vary around the mean score (square root of the variance)

T-score

A standard score with a mean of 50 and a standard deviation of 10 (uses the population's mean and standard deviation)

Z-Score

Standard score that represents how many standard deviations you are away from the norm. Mean of 0 and standard deviation of 1

Scaled scores

Standard scores with a mean of 10 and a standard deviation of 3

Deviation IQ Scores

A standard score with a mean of 100 and a standard deviation of 15 that relates to IQ.

Percentile Rants

A score that reflects the percentage of scores that are lower than an obtained test score

Normal Curve

A symmetrical, bell-shape that describes the distribution of many types of data; most scores fall near the mean (68 percent fall within one standard deviation of it) and fewer and fewer near the extremes.

68%

What percent of scores on a Normal Curve lie within 1 standard deviation of the mean?

95%

What percent of scores on a Normal Curve lie between the mean and 2 standard deviation away (above & below)

99%

What percent of scores on a Normal Curve lie between the mean and 3 standard deviation away (above & below)

Variance

A difference between what is expected and what actually occurs

Equation:

The sum of the squared raw score values minus the square of the sum of all the raw scores divided by the number of raw scores (N). The resulting figure is then divided by the number of raw scores minus (N - 1).

Clinical interview

An integrated and primarily verbal communication with the purpose of obtaining the client's psychosocial history, characteristic patterns of living, and symptom presentation

Structured clinical interview

A standardized interview form which requires the clinician to follow a semi-structured interview questionnaire in order to reach a diagnosis

Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID)

The most frequently used structured interview, which adheres to the DSM-5 criteria for psychiatric diagnosis

Unstructured clinical interview

An individualized interview performed by the clinician, providing a flexible format that can be tailored to the client or population

Halo effect

When an interviewer develops a general impression of a person and then infers similar characteristics about the person

Confirmatory bias

When an interviewer makes an inference about a person and then directs the interview to elicit information that confirms that inference

Primacy effect

A noticeable characteristic impacts the way the interviewer judges other aspects of the individual

Interviewer biases often seen in unstructured interview

Halo effect, confirmatory bias, and primacy effect

Mental Status Examination (MSE)

A portion of a clinical interview that reviews the basic psychological functions of an individual

Intelligence

A construct that's difficult to define but should include: An individuals ability to learn from experience, solve problems through insight, adjust to new situations, and focus and sustain one's abilities to achieve a desired goal

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

Evaluation of one's "formal" intelligence with respect to age. Considered stable throughout adulthood.

(Mental age/Chronological age)*100

Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

WAIS-V

Current edition of the WAIS used by clinicians

15 subtests

How many subtests is the WAIS-V composed of?

Verbal comprehension, fluid reasoning, visual spatial, working memory, and processing speed

What are the five index scores comprising the Full Scale IQ (FSIQ)

Full Scale IQ (FSIQ)

A score that represents general intellectual ability (based on the five index scores0

Atkins v. Virginia

Supreme court case that determined that individuals with intellectual disabilities cannot receive the death penalty

70

IQ cut off to be considered as having an intellectual disability

Dr. George Denkowski

Psychologist who unethically inflated with scores of individuals with intellectual disorders in order to impose the death penalty

Lewis Therman, Henry Godddard, and Robert Yerkes

3 influential psychometrician who advocated for the use of IQ testing in relation to Eugenics

Academic achievement tests

Tests that measure specific academic skills compared to others at the grade or age level

Wide Range Achievement Test 5 (WRAT5)

Common academic achievement test that measures the basic academic skills in ages 5-85+ years

False

True or False: IQ is a measure of an innate fixed ability, nor is it representative of all problem-solving situations

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

Widely used test designed to measure the intelligence of children 6 years and older

Objective tests

Tests in which a person is asked to answer questions about themselves in a relatively structured way

Actuarial assessment tools

A specific type of objective test that attaches specific statistical weighting to different variables which assess the risk

Particularly relevant in forensic assessment since they assess for risk potential (risk for violence, risk for sexual violence, risk for spousal violence)

Projective tests

Less structured for the person taking the test, designed to uncover personality traits, unconscious wishes/motivations

Top 11 Most Used Objective Tests

1. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-3/MMPI-A)

2. Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI/PAI-A)

3. Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-III/MACI for adolescents)

4. NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R)

5. Competency Screening Test (CST)

6. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)/Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (RADS)

7. Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI)/ Trauma Symptom Checklist for Children (TSCC)

8. Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (ASIQ/SIQ for Adolescents)

9. Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI-3/SASSI-A2 for adolescents

10. Structured Inventory of Malingered Symptomatology (SIMS)

11. Actuarial Tools [Violent Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG); Hare Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R), STATIC-99; Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide (SARA)]

Top 5 Most Used Projective Tests

1. Rorschach

2. Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

3. Sentence Completion Test

4. Roberts Apperception Test

5. Figure Drawings

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

A standardized questionnaire that elicits a wide range of self-descriptions scored to give a quantitative measurement of an individual's level of emotional adjustment and attitude toward test taking (Ages 18+)

Hathaway and McKinley

Who developed the MMPI

MMPI-3

Latest version of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.

Poor reading ability

What is the single biggest cause of inconsistent responding on the MMPI?

52 Scales

How many scales does the MMPI-3 have?

Uncommon Virtues Scale (L)

MMPI validity scale that attempts to detect a deliberate and rather unsophisticated attempt to present oneself in an unrealistically favorable light when an individual is reluctant to admit even minor personal shortcomings.

Infrequent Responses Scale (F)

MMPI validity scale that attempts to detect a deliberate attempt to fake bad responses by scoring highly on rarely endorsed items (indicates they do not suffer from the disorder but are trying to appear that way)

Adjustment validity scale (K)

MMPI validity scale that attempts to detect more subtle or sophisticated attempts to deny faults and present favorably than scale L (reluctance to admit psychopathology)

Cannot Say Scale (?)

MMPI validity scale that examines the number of test items are either omitted or double marked, which result in lowering the scores on all other scales (more than 30 omissions makes the profile invalid)

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

first most used personality test

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI)

second most used personality test

RCd (Demoralization)

MMPI-3 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scale: General unhappiness and dissatisfaction

RC1 (Somatic Complaints)

MMPI-3 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scale: Diffuse physical health complaints

RC2 (Low Positive Emotions)

MMPI-3 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scale: Lack of positive emotional response

RC4 (Antisocial Behavior)

MMPI-3 Restructured Clinical (RC) Scale: Rule breaking and irresponsible behavior