A Historical Perspective

• The first systematic tests were developed in China as early as 2200 BCE as a means of selecting people for government jobs.

  • Individuals passing the tests were entitled to a number of privileges, which varied depending on the current dynasty.

  • 3 Levels

  • tax exempt

• The Ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman cultures also had specific ideas relating to mental health and personality but no formal means of psychological assessment.

  • Egyptian Priest: healing, arts, philosophy, math

  • Greco-Roman: categorize using personality traits

• Darwin’s interest in individual differences led his half-cousin, Francis Galton, to devise a number of measures for psychological variables.

  • Darwin: individual differences

• In Germany, Wilhelm Wundt started the first experimental psychology lab and measured variables such as reaction time, perception, and attention span.

• James McKeen Cattel, an American who had studies with Galton, coined the term mental test in 1890 and was responsible for launching mental testing in its modern form.

• The 20th century brought the first tests of abilities such as intelligence.

• In 1905, Binet and Simon developed the first intelligence test to identify mentally retarded Paris schoolchildren.

• Before long, psychological tests were being used on a regular basis in schools, clinics, courts, hospitals, and prisons.

• World War 1 and World War 2 brought the need for large-scale testing of the intellectual ability of new recruits.

  • group testing

• After World War 2, psychologists increasingly used tests in large corporations and private organizations.

• By the late 1930’s, over 4000 psychological tests were in print.

• The Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory was the first widely used self-report personality test.

  • Positive: respondents are arguably the best-qualified people to provide answers about themselves.

  • Negative: respondents may have poor insight into themselves. People might honestly believe some things about themselves that in reality are not true.

  • Some respondents are unwilling to reveal anything about themselves that is very personal or points them in a negative light.

• Projective tests, such as the Rorschach Inkblot Test, are tests in which an individual is assumed to “project” onto some ambiguous stimulus his or her own unique needs, fears, hopes, and motivation.

• Psychological assessment has proceeded along 2 lines

  • Academic Tradition

    • Researchers at universities throughout the world use the tools of assessment to help advance knowledge and understanding of human and animal behavior

  • Applied Tradition

    • The goal is to select applicants for various positions on the basis of merit.

• Projective Tests

  • Herman Rorschach 1921 - Rorschach Inkblot Test

  • Henry Murray and Christina Morgan (1935): Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Culture and Assessment

• Culture: the socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, and products of work of a particular population, community, or group of people

• Professionals in assessment have shown a growing sensitivity to cultural issues with every aspect of test development and use.

• Early psychological testing of immigrant populations by Henry Goddard was controversial: He found that the majority of immigrant populations were “feeble-minded”.

  • Goddard’s findings were largely the result of using a translated Stanford-Binet intelligence test that overestimated mental deficiency in native English-speaking populations, let alone immigrant populations.

  • Goddard’s research sparked a nature vs nurture debate: Were IQ results indicative of some underlying native ability or the extent to which knowledge and skills had been acquired?

• In the 1930’s and 1940’s developers of IQ tests devised culture-specific tests and clarified that the tests were not intended for minority culture. Yet, the tests were used on individuals belonging to other cultures.

• Today, developers of intelligence tests take precautions against bias.

Verbal Communication

• some meaning and nuance may be lost in translation

• some interpreters may not be familiar with mental health issues -- pre-training may be necessary

• In interviews language deficits may be detected by trained examiners but may not undetected in written tests

• Assessments need to be evaluated in terms of language proficiency required and the current level of the test-taker.

Non-Verbal Communication and Behavior

• Non-verbal signs or body language may vary from one culture to another

• Psychoanalysis pays particular attention to the symbolic meaning of non-verbal behavior

• Other cultures may complete tasks at a different pace, which may be particularly problematic for timed tests

Standards of Evaluation

• judgments related to certain psychological traits can be culturally relative

• cultures differ in regards to gender roles and views of psychopathology

• cultures also vary in terms of collectivist vs individualist value

  • Collectivist cultures value traits such as conformity, cooperation, interdependence, and striving toward group goals

  • Individualist cultures place value on traits such as self-reliance, autonomy, independence, uniqueness, and competitiveness

Tests and Group Membership

• conflict often ensues groups systematically differ in terms of scores on a particular test

• in vocational assessment, test users are sensitive to legal and ethical mandates concerning the use of tests with regard to hiring, firing, and related decision making

• conflicts may arise from disagreements about the criteria for performing a particular job

• some would argue that if tests are measuring what they are supposed to then group membership should not be an issue, while others seek to “level the playing field” through initiatives such as affirmative action