Short History of Psychological Testing and Assessment

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the history and methods of psychological testing and assessment.

Psychological assessment

The gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation, accomplished through tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and measurement procedures.

Psychological testing

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

Testing vs Assessment

Testing aims to obtain a numerical gauge of an ability or attribute; assessment aims to answer a referral question or inform a decision, and is typically individualized, while testing can be group-based.

Francis Galton

Pioneer who linked inherited physical and mental traits and contributed to the concept of correlation coefficient, studying relationships between sensory-motor responses and intelligence.

Correlation coefficient

A statistic describing the strength and direction of the relationship between two variables.

Alfred Binet

French psychologist who, with Theodore Simon, developed the first modern intelligence test in 1904 to identify subnormal children; administered one-on-one.

Theodore Simon

Co-developer with Binet of the original intelligence testing scale.

Stanford-Binet

Enhanced Binet-Simon scale developed at Stanford by Lewis Terman; introduced the intelligence quotient IQ (mental age/chronological age).

Army Alpha

WWI mass cognitive screening test for recruits; language-free and administered to over 1.7 million; used for group testing.

Army Beta

Non-reading version of the Army Alpha using form boards, mazes, and pantomime for directions; for recruits who could not read.

Edward Thorndike

Pioneer in educational and psychological assessment; promoted more reliable tests and helped advance group testing and the Stanford Achievement Test.

Strong Vocational Interest Blank

A widely used vocational interest inventory developed by Strong; originally 420 items.

Frank Parsons

Father of vocational guidance; promoted self-knowledge, knowledge of the world of work, and true reasoning to match people with occupations.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Wechsler's major adult IQ test; evolved from earlier WBIS with subsequent revisions WAIS-R, WAIS-III, WAIS-IV.

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Projective test using ten inkblots to reveal aspects of a person’s unconscious life through interpretations.

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Projective test in which individuals tell stories about standard pictures to reveal motives and personality characteristics.

Woodworth's Personal Data Sheet

Early WWI instrument for screening recruits for susceptibility to mental health problems; 116 yes/no items; ancestor of modern personality inventories.

Norms

Data indicating the average performance and the distribution for a reference group used to interpret individual scores.

Standardization

Administering tests under uniform conditions and using a standardization sample to establish norms and comparability.

Cut score

A numerical threshold used to classify data into two or more categories (e.g., pass/fail, eligible/ineligible).

Psychometrics

Science of psychological measurement focusing on reliability, validity, and measurement quality.

Objective vs Projective tests

Objective tests have structured items (eg, multiple choice); Projective tests use unstructured stimuli to reveal unconscious processes.