Psychological Assessment Notes

Intelligence

  • What is Intelligence?
    • Francis Galton:
      • Intelligent individuals possess superior sensory abilities. Intelligence is composed of distinct processes or abilities, evaluated through separate tests.
      • Pioneered research on the heritability of intelligence.
    • Alfred Binet:
      • Intelligence encompasses reasoning, judgment, memory, and abstraction.
    • David Wechsler:
      • Intelligence is the collective capacity to act purposefully, think rationally, and effectively interact with the environment.
      • It consists of diverse abilities, including non-intellective factors such as drive, persistence, and goal awareness.
    • Jean Piaget:
      • Intelligence is a biological adaptation that evolves through interaction with the environment.
      • Cognitive development arises from this interaction.

Perspectives on Intelligence

  • Interactionism:
    • Intelligence development is influenced by the interaction between heredity and environment.
  • Louis L. Thurstone:
    • Intelligence is composed of primary mental abilities:
      • Verbal meaning
      • Perceptual speed
      • Reasoning
      • Number facility
      • Rote memory
      • Word fluency
      • Spatial relations.
  • Spearman’s Two-Factor Theory:
    • Proposes a general intellectual ability factor (g) and specific components (s).
    • The g factor is the best predictor of overall intelligence.
  • Horn & Cattell:
    • Identified two major types of cognitive abilities:
      • Crystallized intelligence (Gc): Acquired skills and knowledge dependent on culture and education.
      • Fluid intelligence (Gf): Nonverbal, relatively culture-free, independent of specific instruction; often referred to as "street smart".
  • Carroll’s Three-Stratum Theory:
    • A hierarchical model with:
      • g (general intelligence) at the top (3rd stratum)
      • Broad abilities (2nd stratum)
      • Narrow abilities (1st stratum).
  • Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Model:
    • Combines Cattell-Horn Theory with the Three-stratum theory.
  • McGrew-Flanagan CHC Model:
    • Features 10 broad stratum abilities and over 70 narrow stratum abilities.
    • Does not include general intellectual ability due to its limited utility in psychoeducational evaluations.
  • E.L. Thorndike:
    • Identified three clusters of intelligence:
      • Social (dealing with people)
      • Concrete (dealing with objects)
      • Abstract (dealing with verbal and mathematical symbols).
  • Aleksandr Luria (Information-Processing View):
    • Focuses on how information is processed:
      • Simultaneous processing (integrated at once)
      • Successive processing (individually processed in sequence).
    • The PASS Model includes Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive processes.

Measuring Intelligence

  • Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales: Fifth Edition (SB-5):
    • Evolved through several revisions (1937, 1960, 1972, Fourth Edition).
    • Administered to ages 2 to 85+.
    • Yields:
      • Full Scale IQ
      • Abbreviated Battery IQ
      • Verbal IQ
      • Nonverbal IQ
      • Five Factor Index scores based on CHC theory (Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial Reasoning, Working Memory).
    • Uses routing tests to direct examinees to optimal difficulty levels, with basal and ceiling levels.
    • Scoring: raw scores → standard scores → composite scores.
    • IQ categories:
      • "Very gifted or highly advanced": 145-160
      • "Moderately impaired or delayed": 40-54
  • Wechsler Tests:
    • Wechsler-Bellevue I (W-B-I): Introduced in 1939, a point scale with verbal and performance subtests.
    • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS):
      • First published in 1955.
      • Yields Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full Scale IQ.
    • WAIS-III (1997):
      • Updated with larger materials for older adults, extended floor for intellectual deficits, and expanded norms.
      • Yielded a Full Scale IQ and four Index Scores (Verbal Comprehension, Perceptual Organization, Working Memory, Processing Speed).
    • WAIS-IV (Current):
      • Composed of core and supplemental subtests.
      • Introduced new subtests like Visual Puzzles, Figure Weights, and Cancellation.
      • Includes General Ability Index (GAI) and Cognitive Proficiency Index (CPI).
  • Short Forms of Intelligence Tests:
    • Abbreviated versions to reduce administration time, such as the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI).
  • Group Tests of Intelligence:
    • Screening tools for larger populations (e.g., Military: Army Alpha/Beta, AGCT; School: California Test of Mental Maturity, Cognitive Abilities Test, OLSAT).

Issues in Assessment

  • Culture and Measured Intelligence:
    • Cultural background can influence test performance.
    • Concepts like "culture-free" and "culture-fair" tests aim to minimize cultural bias.
  • Flynn Effect:
    • Refers to the progressive rise in intelligence test scores over time.

Personality

  • Personality:
    • An individual’s unique constellation of psychological traits that is relatively stable over time.
  • Personality Assessment:
    • Measurement and evaluation of psychological traits, states, values, interests, attitudes, worldview, acculturation, sense of humor, cognitive and behavioral styles, and/or related individual characteristics.
  • Personality Traits:
    • Various definitions depending on the theorist; Gordon Allport described them as "bona fide mental structures".

Clinical

  • Guidance and Counseling:
    • Assessment is similar to educational assessment, focusing on career placement and adjustment to normal problems.
  • Counseling Psychology:
    • Concerned with prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal behavior, focusing on "everyday" concerns like marriage, family, academics, and career.
  • Clinical Psychology:
    • Focuses on prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal behavior.
  • Questions in Clinical Assessment:
    • Diagnosis of mental disorders.
    • Current level of functioning and comparison to peers, including premorbid functioning.
    • Treatment selection, which should be tailor-fit to the patient.
    • Description of personality, including psychopathological aspects.
    • Effectiveness of treatment approaches.
  • Diagnosis of Mental Disorders:
    • Uses the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
  • Biopsychosocial Assessment:
    • Explores biological, psychological, social, cultural, and environmental variables contributing to a presenting problem.
  • Interview:
    • Used for diagnosis, identifying psychotherapy areas, or assessing harm risk.
    • Includes therapeutic contracts.
    • Types:
      • Stress Interview
      • Hypnotic Interview (not always practical)
      • Cognitive Interview (alternative to hypnotic interview).
    • Data Obtained:
      • Demographic data
      • Reason for referral
      • Medical/psychological history
      • Current conditions.
    • Mental Status Exam:
      • Evaluates appearance, behavior, orientation, memory, sensorium, psychomotor activity, state of consciousness, affect/mood, thought content/process, intellectual resources, insight, and judgment.
  • Case History:
    • Biographical data from interviews, records (hospital, school, military, employment).
  • Psychological Tests:
    • Screeners: Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III (MCMI-III), Beck Depression Inventory II, Beck Anxiety Inventory.
    • Test Battery for Clinical Assessment:
      • Includes IQ tests (WAIS, SB, RPM)
      • Personality tests (NEO-PI, 16PF, MMPI/MCMI)
      • Projective personality tests (DAP, KFD, HTP, TAT)
      • Diagnosis-related tests (BDI, BAI)
      • Neuropsychological tests (MMSE, Bender-Gestalt).
  • Cultural Consideration in Assessment:
    • Responsive to issues of acculturation, values, identity, worldview, language, etc.
  • Special Applications of Clinical Assessment:
    • Addiction and Substance Abuse: Katatagan Kontra Droga sa Komunidad (KKDK) in the Philippines.
    • Forensic Psychological Assessment: Clinical psychology applied in legal contexts (annulment, competency, emotional injury, profiling, custody evaluations, suicide assessment).
  • Barnum Effect:
    • Personality descriptions from tests fitting patients due to their triviality (e.g., horoscopes).

Industrial

  • Assessment in Businesses, Careers, and Industry:
    • Measures of Interest: Evaluate testtakers' likes, dislikes, leisure activities, and involvements for vocational assessment and pre-employment counseling. Frequent revision is needed.
    • Career Choice:
      • Strong Interest Inventory: Assesses interests in recreational pursuits, occupations, school subjects, and activities.
      • Self-Directed Search: Explores interests based on Holland's theory of vocational personality types (RIASEC: Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional).
    • Measures of Aptitude and Achievement:
      • Achievement Tests: Measure prior learning and crystallized knowledge (e.g., Wechsler Individual Achievement Test).
      • Aptitude Tests: Tap more informal learning and fluid intelligence (e.g., IQ tests).
    • Measures of Personality:
      • MMPI: Overkill, interpreted only by a psychologist.
      • MBTI and NEO-PI: Normal tests, usable by lower-level professionals.
      • Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey and Edwards Personal Preference Schedule: Measurements tend to relate better to specific variables.
      • Integrity Tests: Predict employee theft, honesty, adherence to procedures, or potential for violence.
      • Personality and Work Performance: Difficult to establish relationship, used to assess compatibility rather than predict performance.
      • Workplace and Personality: High conscientiousness and extraversion correlate with good work performance; high neuroticism with poor work performance.
    • Other Measures:
      • Adaptive Living Skills: Surveys life skills for school-to-work transition, applicable to graduating college students.
      • Cross-cultural Adaptability Inventory: Self-administered, self-scored instrument for assessing adaptability to other cultures.
  • Screening, Selection, Classification, Placement:
    • Screening: Superficial evaluation based on minimal standards.
    • Selection: Accepting or rejecting individuals for a position.
    • Classification: Rating or categorizing based on two or more criteria.
    • Placement: Disposition, transfer, or assignment to a group based on one criterion.
  • Application Process Elements:
    • Resume: Information on work objectives, qualifications, education, and experience.
    • Letter of Application/Cover Letter: Demonstrates motivation, writing skills, and personality.
    • Application Form: Biographical sketches for employers.
    • Letter of Recommendation: Detailed information on past performance and relationships.
    • Interviews: Face-to-face exchange of information.
    • Portfolio Assessment: Evaluation of work samples for screening, selection, classification, or placement.
  • Some Tests (Industrial and Educational Settings):
    • Performance Tests: Require demonstration of skills under specified circumstances.
    • Minnesota Clerical Test: Measures clerical aptitude and skills.
    • Physical Tests: Evaluate somatic health, intactness, sensory and motor abilities (e.g., Drug Testing).
    • Cognitive Abilities: Includes IQ Tests.
  • Productivity:
    • Output or value relative to work effort. Techniques include supervisor ratings, interviews, and undercover employees.
    • Forced Distribution Technique: Distributing assessees into performance categories.
    • Critical Incidents Technique: Supervisor records positive and negative employee behaviors.
  • Motivation:
    • Intrinsic: Driving force from involvement or satisfaction with work.
    • Extrinsic: Driving force from rewards (salary, bonuses) or constraints (job loss).
    • Ideal for employees to have intrinsic motivation, but both are dynamic.
  • Measuring Motivation:
    • Work Preference Inventory: Assesses intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
  • Burnout:
    • Occupational health problem from cumulative occupational stress, a psychological syndrome of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment.
  • Measuring Burnout:
    • Maslach Burnout Inventory 3rd Edition: Contains 22 items with subscales for emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment.
  • Job Satisfaction:
    • Pleasurable or positive emotional state from appraisal of job or job experiences.
  • Organizational Commitment:
    • Person's feelings of loyalty to, identification with, and involvement in an organization.
    • Organizational Commitment Questionnaire: Measures commitment-related attitudes.
  • Organizational Culture:
    • Totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns characteristic of an organization, including structure, leadership style, values, norms, traditions, and interactions.