PSYASS 2 - MIDTERM PERIOD

Psychological assessment

Gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation that is accomplished through the use of tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed apparatuses and measurement procedures.

Psychological testing

The process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior.

Testing

To obtain some gauge, usually numerical in nature, with regard to an ability or attribute.

Testing

May be individual or group in nature.

Tester

The _________ is not key to the process; practically speaking, one _________ may be substituted for another _________ without appreciably affecting the evaluation.

Testing

Typically requires technician-like skills in terms of administering and scoring a test as well as in interpreting a test result.

Assessment

To answer a referral question, solve a problem, or arrive at a decision through the use of tools of evaluation.

Assessment

Typically individualized.

Assessor

The _________ is key to the process of selecting tests and/or other tools of evaluation as well as in drawing conclusions from the entire evaluation.

Assessment

Typically requires an educated selection of tools of evaluation, skill in evaluation, and thoughtful organization and integration of data.

Educational assessment

Refers to the use of tests and other tools to evaluate abilities and skills relevant to success or failure in a school or pre-school context.

Retrospective assessment

Refers to the use of evaluative tools to draw conclusions about psychological aspects of a person as they existed at some point in time prior to the assessment.

Remote assessment

Refers to the use of tools of psychological evaluation to gather data and draw conclusions about a subject who is not in physical proximity to the person or people conducting the evaluation.

Ecological momentary assessment

Refers to the "in the moment" evaluation of specific problems and related cognitive and behavioral variables at the exact time and place that they occur.

Collaborative psychological assessment

The assessor and assessee work as partners.

Therapeutic psychological assessment

An element of therapy is part of the process.

Dynamic assessment

Refers to an interactive approach to psychological assessment that usually follows a model of evaluation, intervention of some sort, and evaluation.

Test

May be defined simply as a measuring device or procedure.

Psychological test

A device or procedure designed to measure variables related to psychology.

Format

The form, plan, structure, layout of test items, and other considerations.

Administration

Tests may either involve demonstration of certain tasks demanded of the assessee and trained observation of performance or may not even require the involvement of test administrators.

Score

A code or summary statement, usually but not necessarily numerical in nature, that reflects an evaluation of performance on a test, task, interview, or some other sample of behavior.

Scoring

The process of assigning such evaluative codes or statements to performance on tests, tasks, interviews, or other behavior samples.

Cut score

A reference point, usually numerical, derived by judgment and used to divide a set of data into two or more classifications.

Psychometrics

Defined as the science of psychological measurement.

Utility

Refers to the usefulness or practical value that a test or other tool of assessment has for a particular purpose.

Interview

A method of gathering information through direct communication involving reciprocal exchange.

Motivational interviewing

May be defined as a therapeutic dialogue that combines person-centered listening skills such as openness and empathy, with the use of cognition-altering techniques designed to positively affect motivation and effect therapeutic change.

Portfolio

A file containing the products of one's work; it may serve as a sample of one's abilities and accomplishments for the purpose of evaluation.

Case history data

Information preserved in records, transcripts, and/or other forms that preserve archival information, official and informal accounts, and other data and items relevant to an assessee.

Groupthink

Arises as a result of the varied forces that drive decision-makers to reach a consensus.

Behavioral observation

Monitoring the actions of people by visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or qualitative information regarding those actions.

Role play

May be defined as acting an improvised or partially improvised part in a simulated situation.

Role-play test

A tool of assessment wherein assessees are directed to act as if they were in a particular situation.

Local processing

On-site scoring

Central processing

Central location scoring

Simple scoring report

A mere listing of a score or scores.

Extended scoring report

Includes statistical analyses of the testtaker’s performance.

Interpretive report

Distinguished by its inclusion of numerical or narrative interpretive statements in the report.

Consultative report

Usually written in language appropriate for communication between assessment professionals, may provide expert opinion concerning analysis of the data.

Integrative report

Employ previously collected data (such as medication records or behavioral observation data) into the test report.

Computer assisted psychological assessment

Allowed for tailor-made tests with built-in scoring and interpretive capabilities.

Test developer

Creates tests for research studies, publications (as commercially available instruments), or modifications of existing tests.

Testtaker

Anyone who is the subject of an assessment or evaluation.

Psychological autopsy

May be defined as a reconstruction of a deceased individual’s psychological profile on the basis of archival records, artifacts, and interviews previously conducted with the deceased assessee or people who knew him or her.

Achievement test

Evaluates accomplishment or the degree of learning that has taken place.

Diagnosis

May be defined as a description or conclusion reached on the basis of evidence and opinion.

Diagnostic test

Refers to a tool of assessment used to help narrow down and identify areas of deficit to be targeted for intervention.

Informal evaluation

Typically nonsystematic assessment that leads to the formation of an opinion or attitude.

Clinical settings

Tests and other forms of assessment are widely used in hospitals, inpatient and outpatient clinics, private-practice consulting rooms, schools, and other institutions.

Counseling setting

Assessments may occur in environments such as schools, prisons, and governmental or privately owned institutions.

Geriatric setting

Assessments that primarily evaluate cognitive, psychological, adaptive, or other functioning; it focuses on the quality of life.

Business and military setting

Decisions regarding careers of personnel are made with a wide range of achievement, aptitude, interest, motivational, and other tests.

Government and organizational credentialing

Include governmental licensing, certification, or general credentialing of professionals.

Academic research settings

Academicians should have a sound knowledge of measurement principles and tools of assessment.

Health psychology

A discipline that focuses on understanding the role of psychological variables in the onset, course, treatment, and prevention of illness, disease, and disability.

Test catalogues

Catalogues distributed by publishers of tests; they usually contain brief and uncritical descriptions of tests.

Test manuals

Contain detailed information concerning the development of a particular test and technical information.

Professional books

Books are available for assessment professionals to supplement, reorganize, or enhance the information typically found in the manual of a very widely used psychological test.

Reference volumes

Reference volumes like the Mental Measurements Yearbook or Tests in Print provide detailed information on many tests.

Journal articles

Contain reviews of a test, updated or independent studies of its psychometric soundness, or examples of how the instrument was used in either research or an applied context.

China

Where the first tests and testing programs were developed at as early as 2200 BCE as a means of selecting people for government jobs.

Ancient Greco-Roman

These writings attempted to categorize people in terms of personality types.

Francis Galton

Half cousin of Darwin who devise a number of measures for psychological variables.

Wilhelm Max Wundt

He started the first experimental psychology laboratory and measured variables such as reaction time, perception, and attention span in Germany.

James McKeen Cattell

Inspired by his interaction with Galton, coined the term mental test in 1890, and was responsible for introducing mental testing in America.

Twentieth (20th) Century (3)

• The measurement of intelligence

• The measurement of personality

• The academic and applied traditions

The measurement of intelligence

Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon published a 30-item “measuring scale of intelligence“ designed to help identify Paris schoolchildren with intellectual disability.

The measurement of personality

The Personal Data Sheet developed by Robert S. Woodworth was used for the World War I recruits to screen their general adjustment.

Self-report

Refers to a process whereby assessees themselves supply assessment-related information by responding to questions, keeping a diary, or self-monitoring thoughts or behaviors.

Projective test

An individual is assumed to “project“ onto some ambiguous stimulus his or her own unique needs, fears, hopes, and motivation.

The academic and applied traditions

In the tradition of Galton, Wundt, and other scholars, researchers at universities worldwide use assessment tools to help advance knowledge and understanding of human and animal behavior. Yet there is also an applied tradition, one that dates at least back to ancient China and the examinations developed there to help select applicants for various positions based on merit.

Culture

“The socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, and products of work of a particular population, community, or group of people.“ (Cohen, 1994)

Culture-specific tests

Tests designed for use with people from one culture but not from another.

Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment (3)

• Verbal communication

• Nonverbal communication and behavior

• Standards of evaluation

Verbal communication

Language, the means by which information is communicated, is a key yet sometimes overlooked variable in the assessment process; most obviously, the examiner and the examinee must speak the same language; this is necessary not only for the assessment to proceed but also for the assessor’s conclusions regarding the assessment to be reasonably accurate.

Nonverbal communication and behavior

facial expressions, finger and hand signs, and shifts in one’s position in space may all convey messages; the messages conveyed by such body language may be different from culture to culture.

Psychoanalysis

A theory of personality and psychological treatment developed by Sigmund Freud, symbolic significance is assigned to many nonverbal acts.

Standards of evaluation

Judgments related to certain psychological traits can also be culturally relative; for example, whether specific patterns of behavior are considered to be male- or female-appropriate will depend on the prevailing societal standards regarding masculinity and femininity.

Individualist culture

Typically associated with the dominant culture in countries such as the United States and Great Britain; characterized by value being placed on traits such as self-reliance, autonomy, independence, uniqueness, and competitiveness.

Collectivist culture

Typically associated with the dominant culture in many countries throughout Asia, Latin America, and Africa; value is placed on traits such as conformity, cooperation, interdependence, and striving toward group goals.

Affirmative action

Refers to voluntary and mandatory efforts undertaken by federal, state, and local governments, private employers, and schools to combat discrimination and to promote equal opportunity for all in education and employment.

Psychology, tests, and public policy

Tests and other tools of assessment are portrayed as instruments that can have a momentous and immediate impact on one’s life; tests may be perceived by the everyday person as tools used to deny people things they very much want or need.

Laws

Rules that individuals must obey for the good of the society as a whole—or rules thought to be for the good of society as a whole.

Ethics

Body of principles of right, proper, or good conduct.

Code of professional ethics

Recognized and accepted members of a profession, it defines the standard of care expected of members of that profession.

Standard of care

The level at which the average, reasonable, and prudent professional would provide diagnostic or therapeutic services under the same or similar conditions.

Leigslation

*The exercise of the power and function of making rules (such as laws).

Minimum competency testing programs

Formal testing programs designed to be used in decisions regarding various aspects of student’s education.

Truth-in-testing legislation

Passed at the state level beginning in the 1980s; the primary objective of these laws was to give testtakers a way to learn the criteria by which they are being judged.

Quota system

A selection procedure whereby a fixed number or percentage of applicants from certain backgrounds were selected.

Discrimination

May be defined as the practice of making distinctions in hiring, promotion, or other selection decisions that tend to systematically favor members of a majority group regardless of actual qualifications for positions.

Reverse discrimination

May be defined as the practice of making distinctions in hiring, promotion, or other selection decisions that systematically tend to favor members of a minority group regardless of actual qualifications for positions.

Disparate treatment

Refers to the consequence of an employer’s hiring or promotion practice that was intentionally devised to yield some discriminatory result or outcome.

Disparate impact

Refers to the consequence of an employer’s hiring or promotion practice that unintentionally resulted in a discriminatory result or outcome.

Litigation

The court-mediated resolution of legal matters of a civil, criminal, or administrative nature; can impact our daily lives.

Test-user qualifications

APA Committee on Ethical Standards for Psychology published a report called Ethical Standards for the Distribution of Psychological Tests and Diagnostic Aids.

Three levels of tests

• Level A

• Level B

• Level C

Level A

Tests or aids can adequately be administered, scored, and interpreted with the aid of the manual and a general orientation to the kind of institution or organization in which one is working (for instance, achievement or proficiency tests).

Level B

Tests or aids that require some technological knowledge of test construction and use of supporting psychological and educational fields such as statistics, individual differences, psychology of adjustment, personnel psychology, and guidance (e.g., aptitude tests and adjustment inventories applicable to normal populations).