Introduction to

Psychological
Assessment
Psychological Assessment

The gathering and integration of

data to evaluate a person's
behavior, abilities, and other
characteristics.
 Psychological
assessment is a series of tests
conducted by a psychologist

 Thefindings are used to develop a report of

the person’s abilities and behavior—known as
a psychological report.

 Psychological
Report is used as a basis to
make recommendations for the individual’s
treatment.
The procedures used to create an assessment are:
 Interviews-The interview is a conversation in which you and
other party exchange information.

 Observation- the action or process of observing something or

someone carefully or in order to gain information.

 Writing assessment refers to an area of study that contains

theories and practices that guide the evaluation of a writer's
performance or potential through a writing task.

 Consultation with other mental health professionals

 Formal psychological tests

Psychological assessment is also used in other fields, like:
 Education
 Legal system
 A psychological test is used to measure an individual’s
different abilities, such as their aptitude in a particular
field, cognitive functions like memory and spatial
recognition, or even traits like introvertedness.

Psychological testing covers a number of different areas:

 Mental health assessment
A mental health assessment includes information about a
person’s medical history, their family history, and the current
status of their mental health.
 Adaptive behavior assessments
This measures the social and practical skills of a person, to
determine their ability to function on a daily basis at home,
school or work; and are usually conducted along with cognitive
tests.

 Aptitude testing
An aptitude test measures a person’s ability to perform
different kinds of tasks.
 Cognitive testing
A cognitive test measures a person’s cognitive abilities—
problem solving, reasoning, vocabulary, comprehension, and
memory.
 Educational/achievement testing
Educational testing is conducted to test how much an
individual has progressed in learning a specific subject—like
mathematics, reading comprehension—to identify any
difficulties they may have had in it.
 Forensic psychological testing
Forensic testing is used in the legal field
 Neuropsychological testing
Neuropsychological tests analyze how an individual’s brain works
 Personality assessment
A personality test focuses on the personality traits of an individual.
Psychological tests are not meant to be
interpreted without the context of the person
being tested—
their environment,
socioeconomic status or physical health.
Test
a procedure intended to establish the quality,
performance, or reliability of something,
especially before it is taken into widespread
use.
 Testsare performed by a psychologist who
will evaluate the results to determine the
cause, severity, and duration of your
symptoms.
Tests can either be objective or projective:
 Objective testing involves answering questions with set responses like yes/no or
true/false.
 Projective testing evaluates responses to ambiguous stimuli in the hopes of
uncovering hidden emotions and internal conflicts.
During a psychological evaluation , assessments may also be used to help
diagnose and treat mental health condition psychological evaluation.
Assessments include standardized tests as well as informal tests, such as:
 Surveys
 clinical interviews
 observational data
 medical exams
 previous educational and medical history
 Psychological testing can be recommended for a number of reasons including
diagnosing mental health conditions and identifying troubling behavior.
According to the American Psychiatric Association, the following symptoms may
indicate that a psychological test may be needed:
 increased social withdrawal
 nervousness
 changes in mood
 difficulty completing normal tasks
 a dramatic change in sleep and eating habits
 problems with concentration
Other uses for psychological testing include:
 screening job applicants
 organizational development
 academic placement
 The types of testing available and the most commonly used tests for each category.
Type Tests and Measures

Measure behaviors, emotions, attitude, and behavioral and environmental

characteristics
Personality tests
Test names: Basic Personality Inventory (BPI), 16 Personality Factor
Questionnaire

Measure respondents’ intellectual interests, achievements, and cognitive

abilities
Achievement tests
Test names: Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery, Kaufman Test
of Education Achievement (K-TEA)

Measure views of respondents based on how much they agree or disagree

Attitude tests with a statement
Test names: Likert Scale, Thurstone Scale

Measure capabilities, skill sets, and projection of future success

Aptitude tests
Test names: Visual Reasoning Test, Abstract Reasoning Test

Measure emotional responses such as anger, sadness, happiness, and

Emotional impulsivity
Intelligence tests Test names: Mayor-Salovey-Caruso El Test (MSCEIT), Emotional and Social
Competence Inventory
 Measure mental/developmental learning disabilities
Intelligence tests
Test names: Wechsler Individual Achievement Test, Wechsler Adult Intelligence
Scale, Universal Nonverbal Intelligence

Measure cognitive abilities like memory, language, and executive functioning

Neuropsychological tests
Test names: Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Ammons Quick
Test

Measure feedback from external influences to identify unrealized

emotions/conflicts
Projective tests
Test names: Rorschach Inkblot Test, Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

Measure immediate observable behavior; performed in a laboratory, clinical, or

Observation (direct) tests
natural setting
Types of Psychological Tests
 Personality Test

The two fundamental features of personality:

a. Each person is consistent to some extent
b. Each person is different to some extent
 Intelligence Test
Multiple Intelligence is composed of:
a. Linguistic- the capacity to use words
effectively
b. Logical/Mathematical-the capacity to use
numbers effectively
c. Spatial – the ability to perceive the visual –
spatial world accurately
d. Bodily /kinesthetics- expertise in using
one’s body to express ideas and feelings
e. Musical –the capacity to perceive, discriminate,
transform and express musical forms.
f. intrapersonal- a highly develop, self knowledge
involving accurate knowledge of ones feelings,
motivations and goals
g. interpersonal- the ability to make distraction in
the moods, intentions, motivations and feelings of
others
h. naturalistic- the ability to discriminate among
living things and sensitivity to features of the
natural world.
3. Aptitude Test- this test measures
one or more clearly defined and
relatively homogenous segments of
ability.
4. Achievement test- this test is
designed for the attainment of skills
taught within the schools.
5. Interest test- this test measures
the interest of an individual.
Basic Concepts of Psychological Testing

1. Measurement
2. Evaluation
3. Psychological Measurement and Evaluation
4. Test
5. Test items
6. Neuro psychological test
7. Psychological testing
8 Battery test
9. Standardized test
Purpose and Uses of Psychological Testing

School Setting

 Classification of children for school instruction

 Diagnose of academic failures
 Educational and vocational counselling
 Admission of new students
 Discover learning disabilities of students
 Improve and enhance learning and instructional process
 Understand individual differences
 Help judge an individual’s progress
 Enhance the effectiveness of counselling
 Enhance self understanding and personal development
Industrial Setting

 Selection of qualified applicants

 Promotion of employees
 Training of employees
 Classification/transfer of employees
 Coaching/counseling
 Help management in planning a good training program
 Help management in evaluating the effectiveness of the performance
appraisal program
Clinical Setting

 Detection of intellectual deficiencies

 Examination of emotionally disturbed individuals
 Counseling for emotional stability and effective interpersonal relationship
 Marriage counselling
 Identify emotional disturbances, delinquency and other behavioral deviations
 Guide the psychologist in providing remedial measures
Research

 Identify the psychological traits

 Determine the nature and extent of individual differences
 Determine the strengths and weaknesses of certain
 Psychological testing program
 Help employees in the solution of a wide range of organizational problems