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Module 2 - Activity

This document contains 5 scenarios involving ethical issues in psychological testing and assessment. The scenarios deal with informed consent and feedback, use of outdated tests, use of translators in testing, obligations to report potential criminal behavior, and privacy of student records.

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Caila Vercaza
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131 views2 pages

Module 2 - Activity

This document contains 5 scenarios involving ethical issues in psychological testing and assessment. The scenarios deal with informed consent and feedback, use of outdated tests, use of translators in testing, obligations to report potential criminal behavior, and privacy of student records.

Uploaded by

Caila Vercaza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Name: Date:

Lab Section:

Activity 2

Case Analysis
Ethical and Professional Quandaries in Testing

Instruction: Read carefully each scenario. Answer the following questions about legal and
ethical issues in psychological assessment as fully and precisely as you can. (10 points each)

1. A consulting psychologist agrees to perform pre-employment screening for psychopathology


in police officer candidates. At the beginning of each consultation, the psychologist asks the
candidate to read and sign a detailed consent form that openly and honestly de- scribes the
evaluation process. However, the consent form explains that specific feedback about the test
results will not be provided to job candidates.
Question: Is it ethical for the psychologist to deny such feedback to the candidates?
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2. A competent counselor who has received ex- tensive training in the interpretation of the
MMPI continues to use this instrument even though it has been superseded by the MMPI-2. His
rationale is simply that there is a huge body of research on the MMPI and, he feels se- cure
about the meaning of elevated MMPI test profiles, whereas he knows very little about the
MMPI-2. He intends to switch over to the MMPI-2 at some undetermined future date, but finds
no compelling reason to do so immediately.
Question: Is the counselor’s refusal to use the MMPI-2 a breach of professional standards?
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3. A consulting psychologist is asked to evaluate a 9-year-old boy of Puerto Rican de- scent for
possible learning disability. The child’s primary language is Spanish and his secondary language
is English. The psychologist intends to use the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV
(WISC-IV) and other tests. Because he knows almost no Spanish, the psychologist asks the

PSYCH 3140 Laboratory Activity Worksheet


child’s after-school babysitter to act as translator when this is re- quired to communicate test
directions, specific questions, or the child’s responses. Question: Is it an appropriate practice to
use a translator when administering an individual test such as the WISC-IV?

4. In the midst of taking a test battery for learning disability, a distraught 20-year-old female
college student confides a terrifying secret to the psychologist. The client has just discovered
that her 25-year-old brother, who died three months ago, was most likely a pedophile. She
shows the psychologist photographs of naked children posing in the brother’s bed- room. To
complicate matters, the brother lived with his mother—who is still unaware of his well-
concealed sexual deviancy.
Question: Is the psychologist obligated to report this case to law enforcement?
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5. Your cousin coaches Little League baseball. He would like information on a student in your
school that he coaches. He is very fond of the young man who seems to be having vision
difficulty. The coach asked the boy’s parents about his problem and the parents dismissed it
with “he can see, he is just uncoordinated.” Your cousin would like for you to look at the vision
screening results in this child’s student record to see if a problem has been noted.
Question: Is there an ethical or legal dilemma here? Explain your answer.
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PSYCH 3140 Laboratory Activity Worksheet

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