INTRODUCTION TO

PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTING
 PART I:
BASIC CONCEPTS
 WHAT IS A TEST?
 It is a measurement device or technique used to
quantify behavior or to aid in the understanding
and prediction of behavior.

 In every test, there are items or specific stimuli to

which a person responds overtly. The responses
are then scored or evaluated to assess a behavior.
 REMEMBER…
 Tests may not measure the totality of a behavior
because tests only measure a sample of behavior
and error is always associated with the sampling
process.

 Test scores are not perfect measures of a behavior

or characteristic, but they do add significantly to
the understanding and prediction process.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL TEST
 A psychological test is a set of items designed to
measure characteristics of human beings that
pertain to human behavior.

 A psychological test can either measure overt

behavior (e.g. social skills, eating habits, stage
fright) or covert behavior (e.g. thoughts, feelings
and other mental processes).
 OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS
 Scales
 Tools that relate raw scores on test items to
some defined theoretical or empirical
distribution.

So what does it
mean if I got a score
of 85 out of 100 in a
test?
 OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS
 Test administrator or
examiner
 The person giving the
test.

 Test taker or examinee

 The person answering
the test.
 TYPES OF TESTS
A. According to administration
 Individual tests
 These are tests that can only be given to only one person at a
time. Some examples are the Wechsler Intelligence Scales,
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale and Rorschach Inkblot
Test.

 Group tests
 These are tests that can be administered to more than one
person at a time by a single examiner. Some examples are
the Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Myers-Briggs Type
Indicator and Culture-Fair Intelligence Test.
INDIVIDUAL TESTS GROUP TESTS
TYPES OF TESTS
B. According to the type of behavior they measure
 Ability tests
 These are tests which measure skills in terms of
speed, accuracy or both. These are divided into three
classifications:
 Achievement test – measures previous learning .
 Aptitude test – measures the potential for learning or
acquiring a specific skill.
 Intelligence test – measures general potential to solve
problems, adapt to changing circumstances, think abstractly
and profit from experience.
TYPES OF TESTS
B. According to the type of behavior they measure
 Personality tests
 These are tests which measure typical behavior like
traits, disposition, temperament and attitudes. These
are divided into two classifications:
 Structured/Objective personality test – provides self-report
statements which requires the examinee to choose between
two or more alternative responses.
 Projective personality test – provides an ambiguous or
vague stimulus wherein the examinee presents an open-
ended response.
STRUCTURED PROJECTIVE
 WHAT IS PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING?

 It refers to all the possible uses, applications, and

underlying concepts of psychological and
educational tests.

 The main purpose of tests is to evaluate

individual differences, or variations among
individuals.
 PART II:
HISTORY OF TESTING
 EARLY ANTECEDENTS
 The use of tests or test batteries (two or more
tests used in conjunction) started in China during
the Han Dynasty in the form of civil service
testing programs.

 The British government and the US government

adapted the testing programs of China for the
efficient employee selection for government jobs.
 INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
 Sir Francis Galton made several researches which
demonstrate that individual differences exist in
human sensory and motor functioning such as
reaction time, visual acuity and physical strength.

 Galton’s work was extended by the US

psychologist James McKeen Cattell, who coined
the term mental tests.
EXPERIMENTS AND PSYCHOPHYSICS
 Ernst Heinrich Weber created measures in order to
prove the existence of psychological threshold or the
minimum stimulus necessary to activate a sensory
system.

 Wilhelm Wundt set up a laboratory at the University

of Leipzig in 1879.

 Administration of tests under highly standardized

conditions.
 THE EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE
 Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed the
first major general intelligence test (Binet-Simon
Scale) in 1905 in a systematic attempt to evaluate
individual difference in terms of mental ability.

 The test was then revised in 1908 and it

determined a child’s mental age – measurement
of a child’s performance on the test relative to
other children of that particular age group.
 THE EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE
 In 1911, the Binet-Simon Scale was revised by
Lewis Terman and it became widely known as the
Stanford-Binet Scale.

 The Stanford-Binet Scale was further revised in

1916 and 1937.

 In 1939, David Wechsler published the first version

of the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale which
added the performance or non-verbal IQ.
 GROWTH OF PERSONALITY TESTS
 The first structured personality test is the Woodworth
Personal Data Sheet and it was developed during
World War I. Its main purpose is to screen military
recruits.

 The Woodworth Personal Data Sheet represented an

attempt to standardize the psychiatric interview.

 More structured personality tests were created in

1920s.
 WOODWORTH PERSONAL DATA SHEET

ITEMS YES NO
1. I wet the bed.
2. I drink a quart of whiskey each day.
3. I am afraid of closed spaces.
4. I believe I am being followed.
5. People are out to get me.
6. Sometimes I see or hear things that other
people do not see or hear.
7. Sometimes I wish I had never been born.
 GROWTH OF PERSONALITY TESTS
 Interest in structured personality
tests declined by the late 1930s and
early 1940s while the creation of
projective personality tests grew.

 Herman Rorschach published the

Rorschach Inkblot Test in 1921.

 Henry Murray and Christina

Morgan developed the Thematic
Apperception Test (TAT) in 1935.
 Sample item in the Sample item in the Thematic
Rorschach Inkblot Test Apperception Test
 NEW ERA FOR STRUCTURED
PERSONALITY TESTS
 In 1943, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI) began a new era for structured
personality tests by using empirical methods to
determine the meaning of a test response.

 The MMPI has a primary function of assigning

appropriate diagnostic labels to people with
mental illness.
MINNESOTA MULTIPHASIC PERSONALITY
INVENTORY (MMPI)
ITEMS TRUE FALSE
1. My judgment is better than it ever was.
2. I am very strongly attracted by members of
my own sex.
3. I like to read newspaper articles on crime.
4. I seldom worry about my heath.
5. I am an important person.
6. Much of the time my head seems to hurt all
over.
7. My body weight does not change.
 NEW ERA FOR STRUCTURED
PERSONALITY TESTS
 After the creation of MMPI, several personality
tests used the statistical procedure called factor
analysis – a method of finding the minimum
number of dimensions (factors) to account for a
large number of variables.

 By the end of 1940s, Raymond Cattell introduced

the 16 Personality Factor (16PF) Questionnaire
which utilized factor analysis.
DARK AGES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
 Testing underwent a sharp decline in status in the
late 1950s until the 1970s.

 Many feared the intrusive nature of tests and its

tendency to be misused.

 Attacks on testing came from within and without

the profession.
 CURRENT ENVIRONMENT OF TESTING

 During the 1980s and 1990s, several fields of

applied psychology utilized testing to assess the
behavior of individuals – neuropsychology,
health psychology, forensic psychology and child
psychology.

 Psychological testing remains as one of the most

important yet controversial topics in psychology.
 PART III:
USES OF TESTING
 FIVE BASIC USES OF TESTING
1. Classification
2. Diagnosis and Treatment Planning
3. Self-knowledge
4. Program Evaluation
5. Research
I. CLASSIFICATION
 The term classification encompasses a variety
of procedures that share a common purpose:
assigning a person to one category rather than
another.

 Forms of classification:
 Placement
 Screening
 Certification
 Selection
I. CLASSIFICATION
 Placement – sorting of persons into different
programs appropriate to their needs or skills;
examples are qualifying exams in math.

 Screening – refers to quick and simple tests or

procedures to identify persons who might have
special characteristics or needs; examples are
tests that use to screen children with gifted
abilities.
 I. CLASSIFICATION
 Certification – form of classification that has a
pass/fail quality which implies that a person has
at least a minimum proficiency in some
discipline or activity; examples are licensure
exams

 Selection – form of classification that has a

pass/fail quality which confers a person with
privileges; examples are the opportunity to
attend a university or to gain employment
 II. DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
PLANNING
 Diagnosis consists of two intertwined tasks:
 Determining the nature and source of a person’s
abnormal behavior
 Classifying the behavior pattern within an accepted
diagnostic system

 Diagnosis is usually a precursor to remediation or

treatment of personal distress or impaired
performance.
II. DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT
PLANNING
 A proper diagnosis conveys information about
strengths, weaknesses, etiology, and best
choices for treatment.

 Diagnosis is largely useless without treatment

recommendations.

 Psychological tests are also used in follow-ups.

 III. SELF-KNOWLEDGE
 Psychological tests can also supply a potent
source of self-knowledge about an individual’s
intelligence and personality characteristics.

 The feedback a person receives from

psychological test results is so self-affirming that
it can change the entire course of a life.
 TEST RESULTS AS SELF-KNOWLEDGE
 A first-year female college student with exceedingly poor
reading skills and unimpressive high school grades was referred
for learning-disability testing. She came from a poverty-stricken
family: alcoholic father, uninvolved mother and two mentally
deficient older sisters
 Because of this, her high school teachers had labeled her “dumb”
thereby sending her to a self-contained classroom for severely
disabled children. Gradually, she accepted the “dumb” self-
concept and experienced difficulty in her classes and fear that
she would fail.
 Yet when tested, her IQ was 97. She then considered herself as
“learning disabled” and shed the “dumb” self-concept. Though
she did not finish a four-year program, she was optimistic about
the future for the first time in her life.
 IV. PROGRAM EVALUATION
 Another use of psychological tests is the
systematic assessment and evaluation of
educational and social programs.

 Examples of these are the National Achievement

Test and Head Start Program Evaluations
 V. RESEARCH
 Tests also play a major role in both applied and
theoretical branches of behavioral research.

 Examples of this are researches on neuro-

cognitive profile of children with dyslexia and
neuropsychological evaluation of people with
brain damage.
WHO MAY OBTAIN TESTS?
 Test developers, publishers and psychological
examiners generally release psychological tests
only to qualified persons who have a legitimate
need to study or use these materials.

 Who may purchase tests: educational institutions,

government and social agencies, business and
industrial firms, management firms and
consultants, professional psychologists and
counselors.
 REASONS WHY ACCESS TO PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTS ARE RESTRICTED

1. In the hands of unqualified persons,

psychological tests can cause harm.

2. The selection process is rendered invalid for

persons who preview test questions.

3. Leakage of item content to the general public

completely destroys the efficacy of a test.
 ACCESSIBILITY OF TESTS
 The accessibility of tests depends upon the
complexity of the specific test under
consideration.

 The American Psychological Association (APA)

proposed that tests fall into three levels of
complexity: Level A, Level B and Level C –
which require different degrees of expertise
from the examiner.
 LEVEL A
 These instruments are straightforward paper-and-
pencil measures that can be administered, scored,
and interpreted with minimal training. (vocational
proficiency and educational achievement tests)

 Test administrator must have undergraduate

courses in testing or psychometrics, or sufficient
training and experience.
 LEVEL B
 These tests require knowledge of test
construction and training in statistics and
psychology. This category includes aptitude tests
and personality inventories applicable to normal
population.

 Test administrator must have completed an

advanced level course in testing in a college or
university or equivalent training under the
supervision of a qualified psychologist.
LEVEL C
 These tests require substantial understanding of
testing and supporting topics. These instruments
include individual tests of intelligence,
projective techniques and neuropsychological
test batteries.

 Test administrator must have at least a master’s

degree in psychology and at least one year of
experience under professional supervision.
ANY QUESTIONS?
“Mistakes are, after all,
the foundations of truth,
and if a man does not
know what a thing is, it is
at least an increase in
knowledge if he knows
what it is not. ”

- Carl G. Jung

THANK YOU!