CHAPTER 2: HISTORICAL, CULTURAL, AND LEGAL/ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS

A Historical Perspective
Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century
 MANDARINS OF ANCIENT CHINA
o 2200 BCE: Civil Service System
o Instituted by the Chinese emperor to determines if his officials were fit to perform their
governmental duties, determines who would obtain government jobs
o Officials were examined every 3 years
o Developed the essay-type test for selection of what today could be called civil service
employee’s examination
o Vehicle to study individual differences
o Proficiency in music, archery, horsemanship, writing and arithmetic. Also important were
subjects in agriculture, geography, revenue, civil law, and military strategy.
 MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN SOCIETY
o A person's activities were dictated by the class into which he was born providing little freedom
for personal expression on development
 RENAISSANCE
o Charles Darwin
 Discovery of individual differences within a specie and between species theory of natural
selection
o Period during which interest in learning were reawakened
o Birth of individualism
o Flourished with the political & economic stimulation provided by capitalism and democracy
 19TH CENTURY
o Test were based on sound scientific research
o Sir Francis Galton (1869)
 contributed to the development of many contemporary tools of psychological assessment
including questionnaires, rating scales, and self-report inventories
o Wilhelm Max Wundt (1832-1920)
 founded the 1st experiment psychology laboratory in University of Leipzig in Germany
 Formulated a general description of human abilities with respect to variables such as
reaction time, perception, and attention span.
 Focused on questions relating to how people were similar.
o JAMES MCKEEN CATELL
 individual differences in reaction time
 Mental test: University of Pennsylvania
o CHARLES SPEARMAN
 test reliability
 mathematical framework for the statistical technique of factor analysis
o VICTOR HENRI
 Used to measure mental processes of reaction time and sensory discrimination to school
marks
o EMIL KRAEPELIN
 early experimenter with the word association technique as a formal test
o LIGHTNER WITMER
 received his Ph.D. from Leipzig and went on to succeed Cattell as director of the psychology
laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania
  “little-known founder of clinical psychology”
o FRENCH PSYCHOLOGISTS
 on mental disorders influenced the development of clinical assessment techniques and
tests
o AMERICAN SCHOOLS
 attention given to mass written examinations
 lead to the development of standardized achievement test & scales
 THE 20TH CENTURY
o Developed a method for identifying children who could not profit sufficiently from instruction in
regular classes.
The Measurement of Intelligence
o Alfred Binet (1857-1911)
 Binet & Simon, 1905: published 30-item “measuring scale of intelligence” designed to help
identify mentally retarded schoolchildren
 launched the intelligence testing movement & the clinical testing movement
 group intelligence test
o DAVID WECHSLER
 introduced a test designed to measure adult intelligence (1939)
 intelligence was “the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to
think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment”
 Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale, Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
The Measurement of Personality
o ROBERT S. WOODWORTH
 assigned the task of developing a measure of adjustment and emotional stability that could
be administered quickly and efficiently to groups of recruits.
 paper-and-pencil psychiatric interviews
 Personal Data Sheet
 Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory - the first widely used self-report measure of
personality
o Projective Test - one in which an individual is assumed to “project” onto some ambiguous
stimulus his or her own unique needs, fears, hopes, and motivation.
 Rorschach, a series of inkblots developed by the Swiss psychiatrist Hermann Rorschach.
 The use of pictures as projective stimuli was popularized in the late 1930s by Henry A.
Murray, Christiana D. Morgan, and their colleagues at the Harvard Psychological Clinic.
The Academic and Applied Traditions
o development of psychological measurement can be traced along two distinct threads: the
academic and the applied.
o In the tradition of Galton, Wundt, and other scholars, researchers at universities throughout the
world use the tools of assessment to help advance knowledge and understanding of human and
animal behavior.
o Applied tradition, one that dates at least back to ancient China and the examinations developed
there to help select applicants for various positions on the basis of merit.
o Today, society relies on the tools of psychological assessment to help answer important
questions.

o 1908
  Introduced the concept of mental age as a way of expressing an examinee's score on the
test.
 Widespread use of personality & ability test to help in the placement of recruits in the
military
 Arthur Otis
 Paper & pencil
 intelligence
o World War 1
 Army Alpha - for literates, tests were administered on a group basis
 Army Beta - for illiterates - measure the mental abilities of thousands American soldiers
who had no formal schooling
 Personal Data Sheet - a measure of adjustment and emotional stability
 Projective Test
o 1940s to 1950s
 Improvements in testing
 The use of statistical knowledge & its application to test construction
 Statistical methodology
 Technological advances in the preparation and scoring of test and the analysis of test
results.
 Major premise: total picture of individual differences
o Standardized Tests
 objective sample of behavior
 Psychological test are tools for self-understanding
 Philosophy Underlying Appraisal
 Psychological testing movement - World Wars
 1917-US→ Great War } large scale testing programs developed for purpose of selection and
placement of people entering the armed service.
 gather information from students to help them gain meaningful decisions.
o 1960-21st century
 Improvements of the quality of test due to the advent of computers
o Present
 Variety of tests throughout our society has been used. They are broadly classified as formal
or informal tests.

CULTURE AND ASSESSMENT

 Culture
o “the socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, and products of work of a particular
population, community, or group of people”
o Concerns on increasing sensitivity to the role of culture in many different aspects of
measurement.
Evolving Interest in Culture-Related Issues
 Henry H. Goddard
o raised questions about how meaningful such tests are when used with people from various
cultural and language backgrounds
o used interpreters in test administration, employed a bilingual psychologist, and administered
mental tests to selected immigrants who appeared to have intellectual disability to trained
observers.
 Culture-specific tests
o tests designed for use with people from one culture but not from another, soon began to
appear on the scene.
o soon became apparent that the tests were being administered—improperly—to people from
different cultures.
o Today test developers typically take many steps to ensure that a major test developed for
national use is indeed suitable for such use
Some Issues Regarding Culture and Assessment
 Verbal Communication
o Language is sometimes overlooked variable in the assessment process
o the examiner and the examinee must speak the same language.
o The danger of misunderstanding may increase as infrequently used vocabulary or unusual
idioms are employed in the assessment.
o When an assessment is conducted with the aid of a translator, different types of problems may
emerge.
 subtle nuances of meaning may be lost in translation, or unintentional hints to the correct
or more desirable response may be conveyed
 Interpreters may have limited understanding of mental health issues.
o test taker must be able to read and comprehend what is written
o linguistic barriers, the contents of tests lean heavily on a particular culture and are typically
laden with items and materials from that culture
 Nonverbal Communication and Behavior
o the messages conveyed by such body language may be different from culture to culture.
o Culture exerts effects over many aspects of nonverbal behavior.
 Standards of Evaluation
o judgments related to certain psychological traits can also be culturally relative
o prevailing societal standards regarding masculinity and femininity
o applicability of assessment-related findings to specific individuals
o Individualist culture is characterized by value being placed on traits such as self-reliance,
autonomy, independence, uniqueness, and competitiveness
o Collectivist culture value is placed on traits such as conformity, cooperation, interdependence,
and striving toward group goals
Test and Group Membership
o Conflict - when groups systematically differ in terms of scores on a particular test
o test users are sensitive to legal and ethical mandates concerning the use of tests with regard to
hiring, firing, and related decision making.
o Affirmative action - voluntary and mandatory efforts undertaken by federal, state, and local
governments, private employers, and schools to combat discrimination and to promote equal
opportunity for all in education and employment

Psychology, Tests, and Public Policy

o few people are aware of the everyday use of psychological tests in such ways.
o tests and other tools of assessment - instruments that can have a momentous and immediate
impact on one’s life
o Members of the public call upon government policy-makers to protect them from perceived
threats.
Legal and Ethical Considerations
o Laws are rules that individuals must obey for the good of the society as a whole—or rules
thought to be for the good of society as a whole.
o Ethics - body of principles of right, proper, or good conduct.
o Code of professional ethics is recognized and accepted by members of a profession, it defines
the standard of care expected of members of that profession.
o Standard care - the level at which the average, reasonable, and prudent professional would
provide diagnostic or therapeutic services under the same or similar conditions.
o minimum competency testing programs; formal testing programs designed to be used in
decisions regarding various aspects of students’ education.
Test Development and Technical Soundness
1.  the test’s purpose and subject matter
2.  the knowledge and skill the test purpose to measure
3.  procedures for ensuring accuracy in scoring
4.  procedures for notifying test takers of errors in scoring; and
5.  procedures for ensuring the test takers confidentiality
The Concerns of the Public
 Legislation
o Minimum competency testing programs
o Truth-in-testing legislation
1. the test’s purpose and its subject matter
2. the knowledge and skills the test purports to measure
3. procedures for ensuring accuracy in scoring
4. procedures for notifying testtakers of errors in scoring
5. procedures for ensuring the testtaker’s confidentiality
o Quota system - a selection procedure whereby a fixed number or percentage of applicants
from certain backgrounds were selected.
o Discrimination – the practice of making distinctions in hiring, promotion, or other selection
decisions that tend to systematically favor members of a majority group regardless of actual
qualifications for positions
o Reverse discrimination - the practice of making distinctions in hiring, promotion, or other
selection decisions that systematically tend to favor members of a minority group regardless of
actual qualifications for positions.
o Disparate treatment - the consequence of an employer’s hiring or promotion practice that was
intentionally devised to yield some discriminatory result or outcome.
o Disparate impact - the consequence of an employer’s hiring or promotion practice that
unintentionally resulted in a discriminatory result or outcome.
 Litigation
o The court-mediated resolution of legal matters of a civil, criminal or administrative nature
o “judge-made law” - typically comes in the form of a ruling by a court.
The Concerns of the Profession
 Test-user qualifications
o Level A - with the aid of the manual and general orientation to the kind of institution or
organization in which one is working.
o Level B - aids that require some technical knowledge of test construction and use and of
supporting psychological and educational fields such as statistics, individual differences,
psychology of adjustment, personnel psychology, and guidance.
 o Level C - aids that requires substantial understanding of testing and supporting psychological
fields together with supervised experience in the use of these device.
 Testing People with Disabilities
Challenges encountered:
1. transforming the test into a form that can be taken by the testtaker
2. transforming the responses of the testtaker so that they are scorable
3. meaningfully interpreting the test data
o depend on the nature of the disability
o test converted for use with a population for which the test was not originally intended
o choices must inevitably be made regarding exactly how the test materials will be modified
o what standards of evaluation will be applied; and how results will be interpreted.
 Computerized Test Administration, Scoring, and Interpretation
Major Issues
1. Access to test administration, scoring, and interpretation software
2. Comparability of pencil-and-paper and computerized versions of tests
3. The value of computerized test interpretations.
4. Unprofessional, unregulated “psychological testing” online.
 Guidelines with Respect to Certain Populations
o guidelines are designed to assist professionals in providing informed and developmentally
appropriate services

The Right of Testtakers

 The right of informed consent
o right to know why they are being evaluated, how the test data will be used, and what (if any)
information will be released to whom
o In a language the test taker can understand
o Should specify:
1. the general purpose of the testing,
2. the specific reason it is being undertaken in the present case, and
3. the general type of instruments to be administered.
 The right to be informed of test findings
o the right to be informed of the nature of the findings with respects to the test they have taken
o entitled to know the recommendations
 The right to privacy and confidentiality
o The concept of the privacy right “recognizes the freedom of the individual to pick and choose for
himself the time, circumstances, and particularly the extent to which he wishes to share or
withhold from others his attitudes, beliefs, behavior, and opinions”
o test users must take reasonable precautions to safeguard test records.
 The right to the least stigmatizing label
o the least stigmatizing labels should always be assigned when reporting test results.