Psychological Assessment of Intelligence

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

  • Brief Description:

    • Standardized test assessing intelligence and cognitive abilities in children and adults aged 2 to 23 years old.

    • Latest edition: Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Fifth Edition (SBS5) released in 1986.

    • Introduced organized administration and scoring instructions, concept of IQ, and alternate items.

  • Purpose:

    • Differentiating between mental retardation and specific learning disabilities.

    • Understanding psychodynamics of individuals struggling in learning.

    • Identifying gifted individuals.

    • Studying cognitive skill development from ages 2 to adult.

    • Making decisions based on examiner's skills and observations during testing.

Stanford-Binet Scoring

  • Psychometric Soundness:

    • High coefficients for SB5 Full-Scale IQ and reliability for Abbreviated Battery IQ.

    • Test-retest reliability coefficients were high.

  • Test Administration:

    • Designed for adaptive testing tailored to the test-taker.

    • Begins at an optimal difficulty level to maximize information collection, facilitate rapport, and prevent examinee fatigue.

    • Explicit rules for starting, reversing, and discontinuing testing.

    • Provides prompts for vague responses in verbal items.

Stanford-Binet Scoring Categories

  • IQ Ranges:

    • Very gifted, gifted, superior, high average, average, low average, borderline impaired, mildly impaired, moderately impaired.

  • Interpretation:

    • Labels serve as shorthand reference in psychological reports.

    • Example summary statement for a student's intellectual ability.

Wechsler Scales

  • David Wechsler:

    • Advocated for nonintellective factors in intelligence tests.

    • Designed Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence.

  • Tasks Measured:

    • Various types of tasks assessed in Wechsler intelligence tests for different age groups.

Differential Aptitude TestIn summary, an aptitude test is an instrument utilized to determine and measure an individual's ability to acquire, through future training, some specific set of skills. There are a few well-known published aptitude tests on the market, and for this module, we will discuss the Differential Aptitude Test.

  • Wechsler noticed issues with Binet scale for adults

    • Binet scale items were designed for children

    • Lack of validity when answered by adults

  • Wechsler's test design differences

    • Point scale concept used instead of age scale

    • Inclusion of nonverbal performance scale

  • Scoring in Wechsler's test

    • Credits or points recorded for correctly answered items

    • Test yields total overall score and scores for each content area

  • Advantages of Wechsler Scales

    • Allows analysis of individual's ability in various content areas

    • Standard concept in intelligence testing today

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  • Wechsler's Performance Concept

    • Includes a nonverbal performance scale

    • Tasks require actions rather than just answering questions

  • WAIS-IV structure

    • Individual subtests related to basic skills

    • Subtests sorted into verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed indexes

  • Interpretation of WAIS-IV results

    • Provides data for diagnosing conditions

    • Comparison of index scores and subtest patterns helpful in evaluation

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  • Measured IQ Range Categories

    • Ranges from Superior or Gifted to Profound Retardation

  • Psychometric soundness of WAIS-IV

    • Reliability, validity, and overall psychometric soundness established

    • High internal consistency reliability estimates found

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  • Personality Assessment Overview

    • Personality remains an enigmatic and explored construct

    • Natural curiosity about behavior differences

  • Models of Personality Tests

    • Trait, psychodynamic, situational, interaction, and phenomenological models

    • Each model focuses on different aspects of personality assessment and explanation

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  • Definition of Personality Assessment

    • Measurement and evaluation of various psychological traits, states, values, interests, etc.

  • Objective Personality Testing

    • Utilizes multiple-choice, true/false formats to assess personality aspects

    • Examples: PAI, MBTI, ASI-5

  • Common Objective Personality Tests

    • Assess different aspects of personality for client understanding

    • Highlight nine tests with varying emphases

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  • Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2)

    • Developed in 1942, measures psychopathology and diagnoses

    • Versions: MMPI-2, MMPI-A, MMPI-2-RF

    • Administration options and scoring methods

    • Content scales and extended reports for detailed client analysis

  • Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory, Fourth Edition (MCMI-IV)

    • Based on Dr. Theodore Millon’s personality theory

    • Aids in clinical insights, diagnostics, and treatment decisions

    • Introduces Spectrum of Personality Patterns with three levels of functioning

    • Includes scales for personality disorders, clinical syndromes, and Grossman Facet Scales

Psychological Assessment Objective Personality Tests

Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)

  • Designed for clinical diagnoses, psychopathology screening, and treatment planning.

  • Authored by Leslie Morey, self-administered, measures 22 scales with 344 items.

    • Organized into validity, clinical, treatment, and interpersonal scales.

  • Reliability data reported for community-dwelling adults and undergraduate students.

  • Designed for adults 18+, takes 50-60 minutes to complete, scored using a four-point scale.

  • Results provide validity scales, clinical scales, treatment scales, and interpersonal scales.

  • Raw scores converted to T-scores and percentiles, T ≥ 70 indicates scales needing attention.

Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)

  • Introduced by Aaron Beck in 1961, latest version in 1996.

  • Ranked as the top assessment tool for counselors and counselor educators.

  • Consists of 21 questions rated on a scale from 0 to 3 based on depressive symptoms.

  • Scores interpreted based on scales, useful for measuring client progress.

Psychological Assessment Objective Personality Tests

Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI)

  • Developed by Aaron Beck, assesses anxiety for individuals aged 17 to 80.

  • Self-report instrument with 21 questions, scored on a four-point Likert-type scale.

  • Women and young people tend to score higher, scoring higher than men and older individuals.

  • Developed by combining three anxiety measures, scored by adding total points.

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®)

  • Based on Carl Jung's work, created by Katharine Briggs and Isabel Briggs Myers.

  • Helps in career selection and understanding self and others.

  • Used in various settings like therapists' offices, marriage counseling, business, and career counseling.

  • CPP is the exclusive publisher of the MBTI® assessment since 1975.

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  • MBTI® Instrument

    • Four dimensions:

    • Extraversion vs. Introversion

    • Sensing vs. Intuition

    • Thinking vs. Feeling

    • Judging vs. Perceiving

    • Form M:

      • Takes 15 to 25 minutes to administer

      • Geared towards individuals 14 and older

      • Can be hand scored, computer-scored, or mailed for scoring

      • Has 144 items

    • 16 Personality Factors Questionnaire (16PF)®:

      • Developed based on Raymond Cattell's research

      • Not a measure of pathology but describes human behavior

      • Has 185 items

      • Takes about 45 minutes to administer

      • Provides results in three sections: 16 primary factors, 5 global factors, and 3 validity scales

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  • Big Five Personality Traits

    • Traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism

    • NEO Personality Inventory-3 (NEO-PI-3)™:

      • Measures personality across the five-factor model

      • Updated to lower the reading level for adolescents or adults

      • Associated traits with specific personality qualities

    • NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 (NEO-FFI-3)™:

      • Shortened version with 60 items

      • Can be administered in 10 to 15 minutes

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  • Informal Assessment Methods

    • Subjective nature with unique role in assessment process

    • Advantages listed by Neukrug & Fawcett (2015):

      • Enhance understanding of the individual

      • uAssess specific attributes

      • Provide timely information

      • Nonintrusive and non-threatening

      • Cost-effective and easy to administer

    • Types of Informal Assessment Techniques:

      • Observation: Event sampling and time sampling

      • Rating scales, classification methods, environmental assessment techniques, records, and performance-based assessment.

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Psychological Assessment Objective Personality Tests

  • Time Sampling

    • Observation for a limited time to study behaviors.

    • Example: School counselor observing a student in three 30-minute periods.

    • Advantage: Efficient use of time, but may not capture typical behaviors accurately.

  • Rating Scales

    • Tool to evaluate attributes subjectively.

    • Formal scales go through validation, while informal ones are subjective.

    • Caution needed in interpreting results due to potential errors like the halo effect and generosity error.

    • Example scenarios of errors in rating.

  • Commonly Used Rating Scale

    • Numerical scales for prioritizing issues or assessing progress.

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Psychological Assessment Objective Personality Tests

  • Rating Scales Types

    • Numerical, Likert-Type, and Semantic Differential Scales.

  • Classification Methods

    • Rating scales assess quantity or preferences, while classification methods are all or nothing.

  • Behavior Checklists

    • Identify typical or atypical behaviors easily.

    • Useful for uncovering behavior patterns.

  • Feeling Word Checklists

    • Identify feelings quickly.

    • Important for effective communication in relationships.

  • Other Classification Methods

    • Environmental assessment gathers information from various settings.

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Psychological Assessment Objective Personality Tests

  • Direct Observation

    • Visiting client's settings provides valuable information.

    • Example: Discovering unexpected traits during a home visit.

  • Situational Assessment

    • Uses simulated situations to predict real-life responses.

  • Sociometric Assessment

    • Determines dynamics within a group or organization.

    • Examples of questions for families, employees, and recovering addicts.

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Psychological Assessment Projective Personality Tests

  • Clinical Assessment

    • Involves evaluating clients through methods like clinical interviews, informal assessment techniques, and objective and projective tests.

    • Used for various reasons such as gaining insight, aiding in treatment planning, and making diagnostic decisions.

  • Projective Testing

    • Involves presenting clients with stimuli to interpret personality factors based on their responses.

    • Used to identify psychopathology and assist in treatment planning.

    • Responses in projective testing are open-ended and vague, leading to a wide range of interpretations.

  • Projection

    • Defined by Sigmund Freud as a defense mechanism where one denies their own attributes and ascribes them to others or the outside world.

  • Projective Techniques

    • Use vague, ambiguous stimuli for clients to project their personality, attitudes, and self-concept.

    • Uncover feelings, beliefs, attitudes, motivations, and characteristic modes of perceiving the world.

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Psychological Assessment Projective Personality Tests

  • Projective Test

    • Designed to reveal hidden emotions and internal conflicts through responses to ambiguous stimuli.

  • Design and Structure of Projective Techniques

    • Structured stimuli involve clear answers, while ambiguous stimuli have little structure.

    • Data from projective techniques can be analyzed quantitatively or qualitatively.

  • Projective Techniques

    • Include associative techniques like the Rorschach Inkblot Test and construction techniques like the Thematic Apperception Test.

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Psychological Assessment Projective Personality Tests

  • Sach’s Sentence Completion Test

    • Developed as a semi-structured projective technique to provide insights into attitudes, beliefs, and motivations.

    • Contains 60 sentence stems for respondents to complete, offering information on personality and emotional reactions.Uses and Advantages

  • Used in various settings for personality analysis, attitude assessment, and clinical applications.

    • High face validity and allows for freer responses, aiding in therapeutic rapport and creating inferences for follow-up methods.

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  • Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

    • A projective test with pictures for the examinee to create stories.

    • Reveals dominant drives, emotions, and conflicts of personality.

    • Conceptualized by Henry Murray and Christina Morgan in 1935.

    • Encouraged by the Human Potential Movement for personal growth.

  • General Conditions for TAT

    • Administered in an interpersonal setting.

    • Consists of 20 cards with ambiguous pictures.

    • Subject seated beside the examiner during administration.

  • Instructions and Procedures for TAT

    • Examiner shows pictures one at a time for the subject to create a story.

    • Time measured from picture presentation to story start.

    • Record subject's responses and behavioral observations.

  • Scoring for TAT

    • Evaluates aspects like the hero, needs, environmental factors, themes, and story outcomes.

  • Rorschach Inkblot Test

    • Consists of ten inkblots designed to be ambiguous and conflicted.

    • Appropriate for subjects from age five to adulthood.

  • Method of Administration for Rorschach

    • Subjects are given 10 cards with inkblot designs to interpret.

    • Developed by John E. Exner, Jr. with a standardi

Differential Aptitude

An aptitude test is an instrument utilized to determine and measure an individual's ability to acquire, through future training, some specific set of skills.

  • Verbal reasoning (VR), numerical reasoning (NR), abstract reasoning (AR), perceptual speed and accuracy (PSA), mechanical reasoning (MR), space relations (SR), spelling (Sp), and language usage (LU) are the eight subtests abilities measured

Discrimination Index

Difficulty Index