PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
FINALS
10: ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION
THE ROLEOF TESTING AND
ASSESSMENT IN EDUCATION
 Educators are interested in answers to
diverse questions as students progress
through school.
 A small sampling of those questions
might be:
o How well have students learned the
curriculum?
o How well can students apply what
they have learned to novel situations?
o Are students ready to move on to the
next level of learning?
o Which students have the skills
necessary for independent living?
o What is preventing an individual
student from meeting learning goals?
o How effective are teachers in
assisting students to master specific
curriculum goals?
o Do passing test scores on a
curriculum-specific test genuinely
reflect the fact that the testtakers
have mastered the curriculum?
DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT
 Although originally developed for use with
children, a dynamic approach to
assessment may be used with testtakers
of any age. It is an approach to
assessment that departs from reliance on,
and can be contrasted to, fixed (socalled
“static”) tests.
 Dynamic assessment encompasses an
approach to exploring learning potential
that is based on a test-intervention-retest
model. The theoretical underpinnings of
this approach can be traced to the work
of Budoff (1967, 1987), Feuerstein (1977,
1981), and Vygotsky (1978)
BUDOFF
 explored differences between deficits
identified by standardized tests that
seemed to be due to differences in
education versus mental deficiency He did
MODULE 10-14
Goodluck!!!
this by determining whether training
could improve test performance.
FEUERSTEIN’S
 efforts focused on the extent to which
teaching of principles and strategies (or
mediated learning) modified cognition.
Based on this research, he and his
colleagues developed a dynamic system
of assessment tasks called the Learning
Potential Assessment Device. The LPAD
was designed to yield information about
the nature and amount of intervention
required to enhance a child’s
performance.
VYGOTSKY
 introduced the concept of a zone of
proximal development - “the distance
between the actual developmental level
as determined by individual problem-
solving, and the level of potential
development as determined through
problem-solving under adult guidance or
in collaboration with more capable peers”
 The “zone” referred to is, in essence, the
area between a testtaker’s ability as
measured by a formal test and what
might be possible as the result of
instruction, “guidance,” or related
intervention
ACHIEVEMENT TESTS
 Achievement tests are designed to
measure accomplishment. Achievement
tests are designed to measure the degree
of learning that has taken place as a
result of exposure to a relatively defined
learning experience.
 “Relatively defined learning experience”
may mean something as broad as what
was learned from four years of college, or
something much narrower, such as how
to prepare dough for use in making pizza.
 In most educational settings,
achievement tests are used to gauge
student progress toward instructional
objectives, compare an individual’s
accomplishment to peers, and help
 determine what instructional activities
and strategies might best propel the
students toward educational objectives.
MEASURES OF GENERAL ACHIEVEMENT
 Measures of general achievement may
survey learning in one or more academic
areas. Tests that cover a number of
academic areas are typically divided into
several subtests and are referred to as
achievement batteries.
WECHSLER INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT
TEST–THIRD EDITION (WIAT-III)
 popular instrument appropriate for use
with persons ages 4 through adult (age
50 is the age limit)
MEASURES OF ACHIEVEMENT IN
SPECIFIC SUBJECT AREAS
 Whereas achievement batteries tend to
be standardized instruments, most
measures of achievement in specific
subject areas are teacher-made tests.
Every time a teacher gives a quiz, a test,
or a final examination in a course, a test
in a specific subject area has been
created.
 Tests of English proficiency or English as
a Second Language (ESL)
ACHIEVEMENT TEST ITEMS
 Achievement test items may be
characterized by the type of mental
processes required by the testtaker to
successfully retrieve the information
needed to respond to the item
FACT-BASED ITEMS
1. One type of item that could be used in an
achievement test is an item that requires
a. remote memory
b. rote memory
c. memory loss
d. mnemonic loss
CONCEPTUAL ITEMS
2. According to the diathesis-stress model
which of the following would be most
likely to develop a psychological disorder?
a. Gary: His mother and aunt were
clinically addicted to gambling,
greatly affecting the extent to which
he was financially able to go to
school.
b. Red: He was adopted as a 5-year-old
when both of his parents were
arrested for distribution of illegal
drugs, using him as a front for
distribution.
c. Marcie: Her grandmother has PTSD
due to her experiences during WWII.
She did not receive reparations nor
social assistance from the
government.
d. Pat: They have an uncle living with
them who has generalized anxiety
disorder. Pat ran away from home
after multiple heated arguments with
their father regarding Pat’s academic
dismissal
APTITUDES TESTS
 The primary difference between
achievement tests and aptitude tests is
that aptitude tests tend to focus more on
informal learning or life experiences
whereas achievement tests tend to focus
on the learning that has occurred as a
result of relatively structured input
3. A correlation of .7 between variables X
and Y in a predictive validity study
accounts for what percentage of the
variance?
a. 7%
b. 70%
c. .7%
d. 49%
e. 25%
4. o is to O as x is to
a. /
b. %
c. X
d. Y
 The label achievement or aptitude for a
test may depend not simply on the types
of items contained in the test but also on
the intended use of the test. It is possible
for two tests containing the same or
similar items to be called by different
names: one could be labeled an aptitude
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 test while the other is labeled an
achievement test
 Aptitude tests, also referred to as
prognostic tests, are typically used to
make predictions. Some aptitude tests
have been used to measure readiness to:
o enter a particular preschool program
o enter elementary school
o successfully complete a challenging
course of study in secondary school
o successfully complete college-level
work
o successfully complete graduate-level
work, including a course of study at a
professional or trade school
DIAGNOSTIC TESTS
 Today a distinction is made between tests
and test data used primarily for
evaluative purposes and tests and test
data used primarily for diagnostic
purposes.
 Evaluative information tests or test
data that are used to make judgments
(such as pass–fail and admit–reject
decisions).
 Diagnostic information as used in
educational contexts (and related phrases
such as diagnostic purposes) is typically
applied to tests or test data used to
pinpoint a student’s difficulty, usually for
remedial purposes.
 Diagnostic test - a tool used to identify
areas of deficit to be targeted for
intervention.
 Diagnostic tests do not necessarily
provide information that will answer
questions concerning why a learning
difficulty exists.
 Other educational, psychological, and
perhaps medical examinations are needed
to answer that question.
 In general, diagnostic tests are
administered to students who have
already demonstrated their problem with
a particular subject area through their
poor performance either in the classroom
or on some achievement test. For this
reason, diagnostic tests may contain
simpler items than achievement tests
designed for use with members of the
same grade.
READING TESTS
THE WOODCOCK READING MASTERY
TESTS–THIRD EDITION (WRMT-III;
WOODCOCK, 2011)
 paper-and-pencil measure of reading
readiness, reading achievement, and
reading difficulties takes between 15 and
45 minutes to administer the entire
battery. can be used with children as
young as 4½, adults as old as 80, and
most everyone in between
SOME SUBSETS OF THE WRMT-III ARE:
 Letter Identification: Items that
measure the ability to name letters
presented in different forms. Both cursive
and printed as well as uppercase and
lowercase letters are presented.
 Word Identification: Words in isolation
arranged in order of increasing difficulty.
The student is asked to read each word
aloud.
 Word Attack: Nonsense syllables that
incorporate phonetic as well as structural
analysis skills. The student is asked to
pronounce each nonsense syllable.
 Word Comprehension: Items that
assess word meaning by using a four-part
analogy format.
 Passage Comprehension: Phrases,
sentences, or short paragraphs, read
silently, in which a word is missing. The
student must supply the missing word.
 Three subtests new to the third
edition are Phonological Awareness,
Listening Comprehension, and Oral
Reading Fluency.
 All of the subtests taken together are
used to derive a picture of the testtaker’s
reading-related strengths and
weaknesses, as well as an actionable plan
for reading remediation when necessary.
 The test comes in parallel forms, useful
for establishing a baseline and then
monitoring postintervention progress.
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MATH TESTS
 The Group Mathematics Assessment
and Diagnostic Evaluation (GMADE)
and the KeyMath 3 Diagnostic
System (KeyMath3-DA) are two of
many tests that have been developed to
help diagnose difficulties with arithmetic
and mathematical concepts. Items on
such tests typically test everything from
knowledge of basic concepts and
operations through applications entailing
increasingly advanced problem-solving
skills.
KEYMATH 3 DIAGNOSTIC SYSTEM
(KEYMATH3-DA)
 A standardized test that may be
administered to children as young as 4½
and adults as old as 21.
 The test’s development included “a
review of state math standards and
National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics publications,” which led to
the creation of “a comprehensive
blueprint reflecting essential mathematics
content, existing curriculum priorities,
and national math standards”
 The test comes in two forms, each
containing 10 subtests.
 Test protocols can either be hand-scored
or computer-scored. KeyMath3-DA is
individually administered.
GROUP MATHEMATICS ASSESSMENT
AND DIAGNOSTIC EVALUATION
(GMADE)
 A standardized test that can provide
useful diagnostic insights with regard to
the mathematical abilities of children just
entering school to just entering college.
 The test is available in different forms, is
amenable for group administration.
 The test was designed to measure math
skills listed by the National Council of
Teachers and Mathematics, including
Number and Operations, Algebra,
Geometry, Measurement, and Data
Analysis and Probability.
 In addition to these content areas, the
GMADE measures several mathematics
process abilities including Problem
Solving, Reasoning and Proof,
Communication, Connection, and
Representation.
 Test protocols are scored using software.
PSYCHOEDUCATIONAL TEST
BATTERIES
 Psychoeducational test batteries are test
kits that generally contain two types of
tests: those that measure abilities related
to academic success and those that
measure educational achievement in
areas such as reading and arithmetic.
 Data derived from these batteries allow
for normative comparisons (how the
student compares with other students
within the same age group), as well as an
evaluation of the testtaker’s own
strengths and weaknesses—all the better
to plan educational interventions.
 Many psychoeducational batteries also
measure specific subject knowledge in
the sciences, social studies, and the
humanities.
 Psychoeducational batteries are designed
not only to measure academic skills and
knowledge but also more fundamental
abilities that might explain why a student
performs well or poorly in school.
 These cognitive abilities include aspects
of attention, perception, memory,
reasoning, language, and knowledge.
THE KAUFMAN ASSESSMENT BATTERY
FOR CHILDREN, SECOND EDITION
NORMATIVE UPDATE (KABC-II NU)
 the KABC-II NU was designed for use
with testtakers from age 3 through age
18.
 The original K-ABC had two primary
scales designed to measure individual
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 differences in simultaneous and
successive processing of information.
Because the test minimized the need for
verbal knowledge, test score differences
between ethnic and racial groups were
smaller on the K-ABC than they were for
other standardized tests of intelligence
(Wilson et al., 1989).
 This feature of the K-ABC was particularly
attractive to examiners who worked with
students from diverse backgrounds.
 When the KABC-II was revised, it
borrowed from PASS theory to measure
planning and attention, in addition to
simultaneous and successive processing
abilities.
 In addition, the KABC-II was aligned to
the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) theory of
cognitive abilities. PASS theory and CHC
theory have many similarities such that,
roughly speaking, planning ≈ fluid
intelligence, attention ≈ processing
speed, sequential processing ≈ working
memory, and successive processing ≈
visual-spatial processing.
 This dual theoretical foundation provides
the examiner with a choice as to which
model of test interpretation is optimal for
the particular situation.
THE WOODCOCK-JOHNSON IV (WJ IV)
 The WJ IV consists of three co-normed
test batteries measuring broad cognitive
abilities, oral language skills, and
academic achievement.
 The WJ IV tests measuring language and
verbal knowledge can be given in English
or Spanish.
 According to the WJ IV manual, the
battery may be used with persons as
young as 2, and as old as 90 (or older).
 Based on the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC)
theory of cognitive abilities, the WJ IV
yields a multitude of measures including
o a measure of general intellectual
ability (GIA),
o a measure of fluid abilities (Gf),
o a measure of crystallized abilities
(Gc),
o and a fluid/ crystallized composite
(Gf-Gc).
 Using the Achievement, Cognitive, or Oral
Language batteries, the examiner has the
flexibility to administer either a standard
or extended battery.
 In general, the extended battery will be
used to obtain the most comprehensive
and detailed evaluation of an assessee’s
strengths and weaknesses or educational
progress.
 The standard battery will typically be the
measure of choice for brief screenings,
periodic re-evaluations, and relatively
pinpointed assessments designed to
address specific issues related to
instruction, performance level, or RtI.
OTHER TOOLS OF ASSESSMENT
PERFORMANCE, PORTFOLIO AND
AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT
 Performance Tasks – a work sample
designed to elicit representative
knowledge, skills, and values from a
particular domain of study.
 Performance Assessment - an
evaluation of performance tasks
according to criteria developed by experts
from the domain of study tapped by
those tasks.
 Portfolio – synonymous with work
sample in the language of psychological
and educational assessment
 Portfolio Assessment - refers to the
evaluation of one’s work samples
 Authentic Assessment – also known as
performance-based assessment. In
educational contexts, this refers to
evaluation of relevant, meaningful tasks
that may be conducted to evaluate
learning of academic subject matter but
that demonstrate the student’s transfer of
that study to real-world activities.
Authentic assessment is thought to
increase student interest and the transfer
of knowledge to settings outside the
classroom.
 Peer Appraisal Techniques Peer
Appraisal – a method of obtaining
information about an individual by asking
5
 that individual’s peer group to make the
evaluation. Peer appraisals can help call
needed attention to an individual who is
experiencing academic, personal, social,
or work-related difficulties—difficulties
that, for whatever reason, have not come
to the attention of the person in charge.
Peer appraisals allow the individual in
charge to view members of a group from
a different perspective: the perspective of
those who work, play, socialize, eat
lunch, and walk home with the person
being evaluated.
MEASURING STUDY HABITS,
INTERESTS, AND ATTITUDES ACADEMIC
 performance is the result of a complex
interplay of a number of factors. Ability
and motivation are inseparable partners
in the pursuit of academic success. A
number of instruments designed to look
beyond ability and toward factors such as
study habits, interests, and attitudes have
been published.
 For example, the Study Habits Checklist,
designed for use with students in grades
9 through 14, consists of 37 items that
assess study habits with respect to note
taking, reading material, and general
study practices.
THE SURVEY OF STUDY HABITS AND
ATTITUDES (SSHA) AND THE STUDY
ATTITUDES AND METHODS SURVEY
 combine the assessment of attitudes with
the assessment of study methods. The
SSHA, intended for use in grades 7
through college, consists of 100 items
tapping poor study skills and attitudes
that could affect academic performance.
 Two forms are available, Form H for
grades 7 to 12 and Form C for college,
each requiring 20 to 25 minutes to
complete.
 Students respond to items on the
following 5-point scale: rarely,
sometimes, frequently, generally, or
almost always.
 Test items are divided into six areas:
Delay Avoidance, Work Methods, Study
Habits, Teacher Approval, Education
Acceptance, and Study Attitudes.
 The test yields a study skills score, an
attitude score, and a total orientation
score
11: PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT: AN
OVERVIEW
PERSONALITY AND PERSONALITY
ASSESSMENT
 Personality
o An individual’s unique constellation of
psychological traits that is relatively
stable over time.
 Personality Assessment
o the 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, TYPES, STATES
 Traits
o Any distinguishable, relatively
enduring way in which one individual
varies from another.
 States
o is indicative of a relatively temporary
predisposition
 Types
o Define as a constellation of traits that
is similar in pattern to one identified
category of personality within a
taxonomy of personalities
o Ex: MBTI (Extroverted, Sensing,
Thinking, Judging, Introverted,
Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving),
Type A & Type B Personality, MMPI
PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT: SOME
BASIC QUESTIONS
1. For what type of employment is a person
with this type of personality best suited?
2. Is this individual sufficiently well adjusted
for military or police officer service?
3. What emotional and other adjustment-
related factors may be responsible for
6
 this student’s level of academic
achievement?
4. What pattern of traits and states does
this psychotherapy client exhibit, and to
what extent may this pattern be deemed
pathological?
5. How has this patient’s personality been
affected by neurological trauma?
PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT IN THE
FOLLOWING PERSPECTIVES:
 Military Organizations
o Leadership is a sought-after trait, and
personality tests help identify who
has it.
 Health Psychology
o There are number of personality
variables such as perfectionism, self-
criticism, dependency, and
neuroticism that have been linked to
physical and psychological disorders.
 Corporate World
o Personality assessment is a key tool
of the human resources department,
relied on to aid in hiring, firing,
promoting, transferring, and related
decisions.
WHO?
 Who is being assessed, and who is doing
the assessing?
 Some methods of personality assessment
rely on the asesse’s own self-report
 By contrast, other methods of personality
assessment rely on informants other that
the person being assessed to provide
personality-related information
1. The self as the primary referent
a. Self-report
b. Self-concept
c. Self-concept measure
d. Self-concept differentiation
2. Another person as the referent
a. Leniency error or Generosity error
b. Severity error
c. Halo effect
d. Error of Central Tendency
3. The cultural background of assesses
a. Cultural Diversity
THE SELF AS THE PRIMARY REFERENT
SELF-REPORT
 A process where information about
assesses is supplied by the assessees
themselves
 In some cases the information sought by
the assessor is so private that only the
individual assessees themselves are
capable of providing it
 Ex. When researchers investigated the
psychometric soundness of the Sexual
Sensation Seeking Scale with a sample of
college students, only the students
themselves could provide the highly
personal information needed.
SELF-CONCEPT
 may be defined as one’s attitudes,
beliefs, opinions, and related thoughts
about oneself. Inferences about an
assessee’s self-concept may be derived
from many tools of assessment
SELF-CONCEPT MEASURE
 is an instrument designed to yield
information relevant to how an individual
sees him- or herself with regard to
selected psychological variables
 Ex. In the Beck Self-Concept Test (BST;
Beck & Stein, 1961), named after senior
author, psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck,
respondents are asked to compare
themselves to other people on variables
such as looks, knowledge, and the ability
to tell jokes.
SELF-CONCEPT DIFFERENTIATION
 Refers to the degree to which a person
has different self-concepts in different
roles (Donahue et al., 1993).
 People characterized as highly
differentiated are likely to perceive
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 themselves quite differently in various
roles.
 Ex. A highly differentiated businessman in
his 40s may perceive himself as
motivated and hard-driving in his role at
work, conforming and people-pleasing in
his role as son, and emotional and
passionate in his role as husband.
ANOTHER PERSON AS THE REFERENT
 In some situations, the best available
method for the assessment of
personality, behavior, or both involves
reporting by a third party such as a
parent, teacher, peer, supervisor, spouse,
or trained observer.
 Ex. The assessment of a child for
emotional difficulties. The child may be
unable or unwilling to complete any
measure (self-report, performance, or
otherwise) that will be of value in making
a valid determination concerning that
child's emotional status.
 Raters may vary in the extent to which
they are,or strive to be, scrupulously
neutral, favorably generous, or harshly
severe in their ratings.
 Generalized biases to rate in a particular
direction are referred to in terms such as
leniency error or generosity error and
severity error.
 Error of central tendency
o A general tendency to rate everyone
near the midpoint of a rating scale.
 In some situations, a particular set of
circumstances may create a certain bias.
 Ex. A teacher might be disposed to
judging one pupil very favorably because
that pupil's older sister was teacher's pet
in a prior class. This variety of favourable
response bias is sometimes referred to as
a halo effect.
NUMEROUS OTHER FACTORS
CONTRIBUTE O BIAS IN A RATER’S
RATING
 The rater may feel competitive
with,physically attracted to, or physically
repelled by the subject of the ratings.
 The rater may not have the proper
background,experience, and trained eye
needed for the particular task.
 Judgments may be limited by the rater's
general level of conscientiousness and
willingness to devote the time and effort
required to do the job properly.
 The rater may harbor biases concerning
various stereotypes.
 Subjectivity based on the rater's own
personal preferences and taste may also
enter into judgments.
DIFFERENT RATERS MAY HAVE
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE
INDIVIDUAL THEY ARE RATING
BECAUISE OF THE CONTEXT IN WHICH
THEY TYPICALLY VIEW THAT PERSON.
 A parent may indicate on a rating scale
that a child is hyperactive, whereas the
same child's teacher may indicate on the
same rating scale that the child's activity
level is within normal limits. Can they
both be right?
 Different informants may have different
perspectives on the subjects being
evaluated. These different perspectives
derive from observing and interacting
with the subjects in different contexts.
THE CULTURAL BACKGROUND OF
ASSESSEES
 Regardless whether the self or another
person is the subject of study, one
element of any evaluation that must be
kept in mind by the assessor is the
cultural context.
 Test developers and users have shown
increased sensitivity to issues of cultural
diversity. A number of concerns have
been raised regarding the use of
personality tests and other tools of
assessment with members of culturally
and linguistically diverse population
WHAT?
 What is assessed when a personality
assessment is conducted?
1. Primary Content Area Sampled
2. Testtaker Response Styles
3. Impression Management
8
1. PRIMARY CONTENT AREA SAMPLED Overly positive Claim extreme
 Personality measures are tools used to virtue through
gain insight into a wide array of thoughts, self-presentation
feelings, and behaviors associated with all in a superlative
aspects of the human experience. manner (Butcher
 Some tests are designed to measure & Han, 1995)
particular traits (such as introversion) or 3. IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT
states (such as test anxiety), whereas  A term used to describe the attempt to
others focus on descriptions of behavior, manipulate others' impressions through
usually in particular contexts. “the selective exposure of some
 Ex. An observational checklist may information (it may be false information)
concentrate on classroom behaviors coupled with suppression of [other]
associated with movement in order to information"
assess a child's hyperactivity.  Responding to a personality test in an
inconsistent, contrary, or random way, or
2. TESTTAKER RESPONSE STYLES attempting to fake good or bad, may
 Response Style affect the validity of the interpretations of
o Refers to a tendency to respond to a the test data.
test item or interview question in  Because a response style can affect the
some characteristic manner validity of the outcome, one particular
regardless of the content of the item type of response style measure is
or question. referred to as a validity scale
o Ex. An individual may be more apt to  Validity Scale
respond yes or true than no or false o we may define a validity scale as a
on a short-answer test. This subscale of a test designed to assist
particular pattern of responding is in judgements regarding how
characterized as acquiescent. honestly the testtaker responded and
TEST RESPONSE STYLES whether observed responses were
products of response style,
Response Style Explanation: A
Name Tendency to… carelessness, deliberate efforts to
Socially desirable Present oneself in deceive, or unintentional
responding a favourable misunderstanding
(socially
acceptable or WHERE?
desirable) light  Where are personality assessment
Acquiescence Agree with conducted?
whatever is o Schools
presented o Clinics
Nonacquiescense Disagree with o Hospitals
whatever is o Academic Research Laboratories
presented o Employment Counseling
Deviance Make unusual or o Offices of Psychologist and
common Counselors
responses
Extreme Make extreme, as HOW?
opposed to
 How are personality assessment
middle, ratings on
structured?
a rating scale
1. Scope and Theory
Gambling/cautiousness Guess-or not
guess-when in 2. Procedures and Format
doubt 3. Frame of Reference

9
4. Scoring and Interpretation
5. Issues in Personality Test Development
and Use
01 SCOPE AND THEORY
 The scope of an evaluation may be very
wide, seeking to take a kind of general
inventory of an individuals personality.
 The California Psychological
Inventory (CPI 434) is an example of
an instrument with a relatively wide
scope. This test contains 434 true-false
items.
 It was originally conceived to measure
enduring personality traits across cultural
groups and predict the behavior of
generally well functioning people (Boer
et.al., 2008)
 Locus of Control - Locus ( meaning
"place or "site") of control is a persons
perception about the source of things
that happen to him or her.
 Internal Locus of Control
 External Locus of Control
02 PROCEDURES AND ITEM FORMATS
 Personality may be assessed by many
different methods, such as face to face
interview, computer administered tests,
behavioral observation, paper and pencil
test,evaluation of case history
data,evaluation of portfolio data and
recording of psychological responses.
 Measures in personality vary in terms of
the degree of structure built into them.
For example, personality may be
assessed by means of an interview,but it
may also be assessed by a structured
interview.
 Aggressive may be defined in ways
ranging from hostile and assaultive( as in
the "aggressive inmate" ) to hold and
enterprising (" aggressive salesperson).
03 FRAME OF REFERENCES
 Frame of reference-may be defined as
aspects of the focus of exploration such
as the time frame as well as the other
contextual issues that involves
people,places and events.
 Q-sort technique-originally developed
by Stephenson (1953 ) is an assessment
technique in which the task is to sort a
group of statements,usually in perceived
rank order ranging from most descriptive
to least descriptive.
 One of the best known application of Q-
sort methodology in clinical and
counseling setting was advocate by the
personality theorist and psychotherapist
Carl Rogers (1959)
04 SCORING AND INTERPRETATION
 Personality measures differ with respect
to the way conclusions are drawn from
the data they provide. For other
measures, a computer programmed to
apply highly technical manipulation of the
data is required for purposes os scoring
and interpretation.
 Nomothetic approach-assessment is
characterized by efforts to learn howna
limited number of personality traits can
be applied to all people.
 Idiographic approach-assessment is
characterizer by efforts to learn about
each individuals unique constellation of
personality traits, with no attempt to
characterized each person according to
any particular set of traits.
 The idiographic approach to personality
assessment was describe in detail by
Allport ( 1937; Allport & Odbert 1936).
 Normative approach- a testtakers
responses and the presumed strength of
a measured trait are interpreted relative
to the strength of that trait in a sample of
a larger population
 Ipsative approach - a testtakers
responses, as well as the presumed
strength of measured traits are
interpreted relativeto the strength of
measured traits for that same individual.
05 ISSUES IN PERSONALITY TEST
DEVELOPMENT AND USE
 Many of the issues inherent in the test
development process mirror the basic
questions just discussed about personality
asssessment in general.
10
 As previously noted, personality  To aid in the identification of the
assessment that relies exclusively on self- minimum number of variables or factors
report is a two eyed sword. that account for the intercorrelations in
 Building validity scales into self-report observed phenomena.
tests is one way that test developers  Example: “the most important individual
have attempted to deal with the potential differences in human transactions”
problems.  How many primary factors of personality
 In arguing the case of the inclusion of are there?
validity scales, it has been asserted that" o Raymond Bernard Cattell (1940s)-16
detention of an attempt to provide factors
misleading information is a vital and o Surface traits-personality elements
absolutely necessary component of the that can be directly observed
clinical interpretation of test results and o Source traits-must be inferred
that using any instrument without validity through statistical methods.It is the
scales runs counter to the baic tenets of building blocks or sources of human
clinical assessment(Ben-Porath & Waller personality.
1992). o Sixteen Personality Factor (16
PF) Questionnaire-Raymond Cattell
DEVELOPING INSTRUMENTS TO ASSESS (1949)
PERSONALITY o Eysenck(1991) -three
1. Logic and Reason primary factors
2. Theory o Church and Burke(1994) - maybe
3. Data Reduction Methods four,five, or six factors
4. Criterion Groups o Waller and Zavala(1993) -seven-
factor model
01 LOGIC AND REASON
o Costa and McCrae (1992) -five-
 Content or content-oriented approach
factor models
o Example:True-False Test of
Extraversion THE BIG FIVE COMPARED TO CATTELL’S
o “I consider myself an outgoing FIVE
person" The Big Five Cattell’s Five
 Personal Data Sheet (circa 1960)
o Robert S.Woodworth (1917) Extraversion Introversion/
o Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory Extraversion
o Contained items designed to elicit Neuroticism Low Anxiety/High
self-report of fears,sleep Anxiety
disorders,and other problems deemed Openness Tough-Mindedness/
symptomatic of a pathological Receptivity
condition referred to then as Agreeableness Independence/
psychoneuroticism. Accommodation
Conscientiousness Low Self-Control/
02 THEORY High Self-Control
 Personality measures differ in the extent 04 CRITERION GROUPS
to which they rely on a particular theory  May be defined as a standard on which a
of personality in their development as judgement or decision can be made
well as their interpretation.  Empirical Criterion Keying
o scoring or keying of items has been
03 DATA REDUCTION METHODS
demonstrated empirically to
 Include several types of statistical
differentiate among groups of test
techniques collectively known as factor
takers.
analysis or cluster analysis.

11
PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT AND
CULTURE
ACCULTURATION AND RELATED
CONSIDERATION
 ACCULTURATION - is an ongoing
process by which an individual's thoughts,
behavior, values, worldview, and identity
develop in relation to the general
thinking,behavior,customs,and values of a
particular cultural group.
 The process of Acculturation begins at
birth.
 Agents of Acculturation -this are the
individuals or institutions who serve as
source of consumer information and/or
model of Consumption behavior.
 VALUES-are that which an individual
prizes or the ideas an individual believes
in.
 ROKEACH (1973) - differentiated what
he called instrumental from terminal
values
SOME SAMPLE QUESTIONS TO ASSESS
ACCULTURATION
 Describe yourself.
 Describe your family. Who lives at home?
 Describe roles in your family, such as the
role of mother, the role of father, the role
of grandmother, the role of child, and so
forth.
 What traditions,rituals, or customs were
passed down to you by family members?
 What traditions,rituals,or customs do you
think it is important to pass to the next
generation?
 With regard to your family situation, what
obligations do you see yourself as
having?
 What obligations does your family have to
you?
 What role does your family play in
everyday life?
 How does the role of males and females
differ from your own cultural perspective?
 What kind of music do you like?
 What kinds of foods do you eat most
routinely?
 What do you consider fun things to do?
When do you do these things?
 Describe yourself in the way that you
think most other people would describe
you. How would you say your own self
description would differ from that
description?
 Describe yourself in the way that you
think most other people would describe
you. How would you say your own self
description would differ from that
description?
Instrumental Terminal Values
Value
Are guiding Are guiding
principles to help principles and a
one attain some mode of behaviour
objectives. that is an endpoint.
Ex. Imagination, Ex. Comfortable life,
ambition, and exciting life,
cheerfulness accomplishment,
self-respect.
Ex. Happiness is a terminal value, where as
being ambitious to earn a million dollars is a
way to get happiness for some people.
 Personal Identity-is intimately tied to
the concept of Acculturation.
 IDENTITY - is defined as a set of
cognitive and behavioral characteristics
by which individuals define themselves as
member of a particular group.
 IDENTIFICATION - a process by which
an individual assumes a pattern of
behavior characteristics of other people
and referred to it as one of the “central
issues that ethnic minority groups must
deal with.
 WORLDVIEW - the unique way people
interpret and make sense of their
perceptions as a consequence of their
learning experience, cultural background,
and related variables.
12
12: PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT
METHODS
OBJECTIVE METHODS
 Objective methods of personality
assessment typically:
o Are administered by the means of
paper-and-pencil or computer
o Contain short-answer items for which
the assessee’s task is to select one
response from the two or more
responses provided
o Are scored according to set
procedures (with little to no judgment
from the scorer involved)
o May include items written in a
multiple-choice, true-or-false, or
matching format
NOT ACTUALLY OBJECTIVE
 There are no right or wrong answers
 But a true response is referred to as
indicative of the presence of a particular
trait
 Involves self-reports / selfperceptions
(which make them largely subjective)
 Some respondents may lack the insight to
respond in what could reasonably be
described as an objective manner.
OBJECTIVE IN WHAT SENSE?
 They employ a short-answer (typically
multiple-choice) format
 Scoring in these tests leave little room for
emotion, bias, or favouritism
 The selection of a particular choice from
multiple-choice items provides
information relevant to something about
the testtaker—such as the presence,
absence, or strength of a personality-
related variable
ADVANTAGES
 Economical
 Relatively simpler to score and administer
 Gives the appearance of objectivity and
provides higher reliability
DISADVANTAGES
 The same score in a test may have
several interpretations
 Likelihood of faking responses
 Necessitates ample self-knowledge
 The forced choice approach leaves no
space for elaboration or contextualization
PROJECTIVE METHODS
PROJECTIVE HYPOTHESIS
 The projective hypothesis holds that an
individual supplies structure to
unstructured stimuli in a manner
consistent with the individual’s own
unique pattern of conscious and
unconscious needs, fears, desires,
impulses, conflicts, and ways of
perceiving and responding.
PROJECTIVE METHOD
 A projective method is a technique of
personality assessment in which some
judgment of the assessee’s personality is
made on the basis of performance on a
task that involves supplying some sort of
structure to unstructured or incomplete
stimuli.
 Providing structure to unstructured or
ambiguous stimuli Wilhelm Stern’s Cloud
Picture Test, in which subjects were
asked to tell what they saw in pictures of
clouds, was one of the earliest projective
measures
NATURE OF PROJECTIVE METHODS
 The stimulus material is unstructured
 The method is indirect
 There is freedom of response
 Response interpretation deals with more
variables
THEY ARE INDIRECT METHODS OF
PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT
 Assessees aren’t being directly asked to
disclose information about themselves
 Their task is to talk about or depict
something else (like inkblots or pictures)
 Through such indirect responses the
assessor draws inferences about the
personality of assessees Minimizing risks
in personality assessment
 The ability and inclination of individuals to
fake responses are minimized
 Reliance on verbal language is limited
due to the use of other kinds of stimuli
13
 Proponents of projective measures argue
that a major advantage of such measures
is that they tap unconscious as well as
conscious material
o “The most important things about an
individual are what he cannot or will
not say” –Lawrence K. Frank
 In contrast to methods of personality
assessment that focused on the individual
from a statistics -based, normative
perspective, projective techniques were
once the technique of choice for focusing
on the individual from a purely clinical
perspective —a perspective that
examined the unique way an individual
projects onto an ambiguous stimulus “his
way of seeing life, his meanings,
significances, patterns, and especially his
feelings”
INKBLOTS AS PROJECTIVE STIMULI
THE RORSCHACH
 Developed by Hermann Rorschach
 “form interpretation test”
 consists of 10 symmetrical inkblots
printed on separate cards
 Five inkblots have only shades of gray.
 Two inkblots are black, white, and red.
 The remaining three inkblots are
multicolored.
 The test comes with the cards only; there
is no test manual or any administration,
scoring, or interpretation instructions
 The system most widely used is the
“comprehensive system” devised by John
Ernest Exner, Jr.
GENERAL ADMINISTRATION:
 The inkblot cards are initially presented to
the testtaker one at a time
 They are then asked a question like
“What must this be?”
 Testtakers have a great deal of freedom
with the Rorschach. They may, for
example, rotate the cards and vary the
number and length of their responses to
each card
 All relevant information are recorded:
verbatim responses, non-verbal gestures,
length of time before responding, position
of the card etc.
 The examiner does not engage in any
discussion concerning the testtaker’s
responses during the initial administration
of the cards.
 Every effort is made to provide the
testtaker with the opportunity to project,
free from any outside distractions.
 After the entire set of cards has been
administered once, a second
administration, referred to as the inquiry,
is conducted.
 During the inquiry, the examiner attempts
to determine what features of the inkblot
played a role in formulating the
testtaker’s percept (perception of an
image).
 A third component of the administration,
referred to as testing the limits, may also
be included.
 If, for example, the testtaker has utilized
the entire inkblot when forming percepts
throughout the test, the examiner might
want to determine if details within the
inkblot could be elaborated on.
 Other objectives of limit-testing
procedures are
1. to identify any confusion or
misunderstanding concerning the
task,
2. to aid the examiner in determining if
the testtaker is able to refocus
percepts given a new frame of
reference, and
3. to see if a testtaker made anxious by
the ambiguous nature of the task is
better able to perform given this
added structure.
 In general, Rorschach protocols are
scored according to several categories,
including
o Location - the part of the inkblot
that was utilized in forming the
percept
o Determinants - the qualities of the
inkblot that determine what the
individual perceives, including form,
color, texture, shading, and
movement
14
 o Content - the type of object the 2. the clinician’s notes about the way or
individual perceives in the response the manner in which the examinee
o Popularity - the frequency with responded to the cards, and
which a certain response has been 3. the clinician’s notes about extra-test
found to correspond with a particular behavior and verbalizations.
inkblot  Interpretation of TAT usually incorporates
o Form - how accurately the Henry Murray’s concepts of need, press,
individual’s perception matches or fits and thema
the corresponding part of the inkblot  Need - determinants of behavior arising
from within the individual
PICTURES AS PROJECTIVE STIMULI
 Press - determinants of behavior arising
 Apperception - the process of making
from within the environment
sense of a current perception by
 Thema - a unit of interaction between
assimilating it into previously acquired
needs and press In general, the guiding
ideas and beliefs.
principle in interpreting TAT stories is that
THE THEMATIC APPERCEPTION TEST the testtaker is
(TAT)  identifying with someone (the
 Developed by Christiana D. Morgan and protagonist) in the story and that
Henry A. Murray • originally designed as  the needs, environmental demands, and
an aid to eliciting fantasy material from conflicts of the protagonist in the story
patients in psychoanalysis are in some way related to the concerns,
 Consists of 31 cards with one card being hopes, fears, or desires of the examinee.
blank
 The 30 picture cards are all printed in
black-and-white, containing a variety of
scenes designed to present the testtaker
with “certain classical human situations”
 20 cards is the recommended number for
presentation
 • Testtakers are introduced to the
examination with the cover story that it is
a test of imagination in which it is their
task to tell
o what events led up to the scene in
the picture,
o what is happening at that moment,
and
o what the outcome will be.
 Testtakers are also asked to describe
what the people depicted in the cards are
thinking and feeling.
 If the blank card is administered,
examinees are instructed to imagine that
there is a picture on the card and then
proceed to tell a story about it.
 The raw material used in deriving
conclusions about the individual
examined with the TAT are
1. the stories as they were told by the
examinee,
15
WORDS AS PROJECTIVE STIMULI
 Projective techniques that employ words
or open-ended phrases and sentences are
referred to as semistructured techniques
because, although they allow for a variety
of responses, they still provide a
framework within which the subject must
operate.
 Word Association Tests
 Sentence Completion Tests
WORD ASSOCIATION TEST
 Word Association - a task that may be
used in personality assessment in which
an assessee verbalizes the first word that
comes to mind in response to a stimulus
word.
 A semistructured, individually
administered, projective technique of
personality assessment that involves the
presentation of a list of stimulus words,
to each of which an assessee responds
verbally or in writing with whatever
comes immediately to mind first upon
first exposure to the stimulus word.
Responses are then analyzed on the basis
of content and other variables
 Jung (1910) maintained that, by selecting
certain key words that represented
possible areas of conflict, word
association techniques could be employed
for psychodiagnostic purposes.
 Jung’s experiments served as an
inspiration to the creators of the Word
Association Test developed by Rapaport
et al. (1945–1946) at the Menninger
Clinic.
 Word Association Test by Rapaport et al.
 Consisted of 60 words (some were
“neutral,” some were characterized as
“traumatic”)
 Consisted of three parts:
o Initial presentation
o Second presentation
o Inquiry
 Neutral words included: chair, book,
water, dance, taxi
 Trauma-related: “words that are likely
to touch upon sensitive personal material
according to clinical experience, and also
words that attract associative
disturbances” (e.g., love, girlfriend,
boyfriend, mother, father, suicide, fire,
breast, and masturbation
SENTENCE COMPLETION TESTS
 Sentence Completion - a task in which
the assessee is asked to finish an
incomplete sentence or phrase
 a semistructured projective technique of
personality assessment that involves the
presentation of a list of words that begin
a sentence and the assessee’s task is to
respond by finishing each sentence with
whatever word or words come to mind.
 Sentence completion tests may contain
items that are quite general and
appropriate for administration in a wide
variety of settings.
 Alternatively, sentence completion stems
(the part of the sentence completion item
that is not blank, but must be created by
the testtaker) may be developed for use
in specific types of settings (such as
school or business) or for specific
purposes.
ROTTER INCOMPLETE SENTENCE
BLANK
 Testtakers are instructed to respond to
each of the 40 incomplete sentence items
in a way that expresses their “real
feelings.”
 The manual suggests that responses on
the test be interpreted according to
several categories:
o family attitudes,
o social and sexual attitudes,
o general attitudes, and
o character traits.
16
 Each response is evaluated on a seven-
point scale that ranges from need for
therapy to extremely good adjustment
 These tests may tap interests,
educational aspirations, future goals,
fears, conflicts, needs—just about
anything the testtaker cares to be candid
about. These tests have a high degree of
face validity.
 Sentence completion tests are perhaps
the most vulnerable of all the projective
methods to faking on the part of an
examinee intent on making a good—or a
bad— impression.
THE PRODUCTION OF FIGURE METHODS
FIGURE DRAWING TESTS
 a projective method of personality
assessment whereby the assessee
produces a drawing that is analyzed on
the basis of its content and related
variables.
DRAW-A-PERSON TEST
 The examinee is given a pencil and a
blank sheet of 8½-by-11-inch white
paper and told to draw a person.
 Inquiries on the part of the examinee
concerning how the picture is to be
drawn are met with statements such as
“Make it the way you think it should be”
or “Do the best you can.”
 Immediately after the first drawing is
completed, the examinee is handed a
second sheet of paper and instructed to
draw a picture of a person of the sex
opposite that of the person just drawn
 Subsequently, many clinicians will ask
questions about the drawings, such as
“Tell me a story about that figure,”
“Tell me about that boy/girl, man/lady,”
“What is the person doing?”
“How is the person feeling?”
“What is nice or not nice about the
person?”
 Responses to these questions are used in
forming various hypotheses and
interpretations about personality
functioning.
 The rapist’s drawing may be so large and
imposing, that it practically violates the
“rules, limits, and boundaries” of an 8½-
by-11 sheet of paper.
 The drawings of male pedophiles may be
relatively small and childlike, with
features representative of inadequacy. As
illustrated in Drawing B, there seems to
be an incapability of rising to an adult
role.
HOUSE TREE PERSON TEST (HTP)
 the testtaker’s task is to draw a picture of
a house, a tree, and a person
 In much the same way that different
aspects of the human figure are
presumed to be reflective of psychological
functioning, the ways in which an
individual represents a house and a tree
are considered symbolically significant.
17
THE CONS AND PROS (OR CONS manuscripts
REBUTTED) OF PROJECTIVE METHODS undergo critical
Lilienfeld et al. Hibbard (2003) in review and may be
(2000) on the Rebuttal selected or rejected
Cons for publication), and
Projective Lilienfeld et al. none of these three
techniques tend not presented an studies are bona
to provide outmoded fide test-retest
incremental validity caricature of reliability studies
above more projection and then With regard to the This assertion is
structured proceeded to attack TAT, there is no incorrect because
measures, as is the it. Dosajh has not point in aggregating “each subunit of an
argument of published on any of scores into a scale aggregated group of
proponents of the the coding systems in the absence of predictors of a
projective targeted for applying internal construct could be
hypothesis as stated criticism. None of consistency unrelated to the
by Dosajh (1996) the authors who reliability criteria. other, but when
developed cod ing found in
systems that were combination, they
attacked espouse a might well predict
view of projection important variance
similar to Dosajh’s. in the construct” (p.
Some of the 264).
criticized authors TAT test-retest “. . . higher retest
have even reliability estimates reliability would
positioned their have been accrue to motive
systems as “notoriously measures if the
nonprojective. problematic” (p. retest instructions
The norms for Evidence is 41). permitted
Exner’s inconclusive as to participants to tell
Comprehensive error in the norms. stories with the
System (CS) are in Observed same content as
error. They may discrepancies may previously” (p. 265).
overpathologize have many Various validity Lilienfeld et al.
normal individuals explanations. studies with (2000)
and may even harm Overpathologization different TAT misinterpreted some
clients may be a result of scoring systems can studies they cited
“drift” similar to that be faulted on and did not cite
observed in the methodological other studies. For
measurement of grounds. example, a number
intelligence (Flynn of relevant validity
effect). studies in support of
There is limited More cross-cultural Cramer’s (1991)
support for the studies do need to Defense Mechanism
generalizability of be done, but the Manual coding
the CS across same could be said system for the TAT
dif ferent cultures for most major were not cited.
tests.
Four studies are Only three of the BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT METHODS
cited to support the four studies cited  The emphasis in behavioral assessment is
deficiency of the are in refereed on what a person does in situations
test-retest reliability journals (for which rather than on inferences about what
of the CS submitted

18
 attributes the person has more globally
49
 Behavior is the focus of assessment in
behavioral assessment— not traits,
states, or other constructs presumed to
be present in various strengths—just
behavior.
 Behavioral Observation – this
technique involves watching the activities
of targeted clients or research subjects
and, typically, maintaining some kind of
record of those activities
 Self-monitoring – the act of
systematically observing and recording
aspects of one’s own behavior and/or
events related to that behavior. Self-
monitoring is different from self-report.
 Analog Study – a research investigation
in which one or more variables are similar
or analogous to the real variable that the
investigator wishes to examine.
 Situational Performance Measure – a
procedure that allows for observation and
evaluation of an individual under a
standard set of circumstances. (e.g.,
leaderless group technique)
 Role Play – acting an improvised or
partially improvised part in a simulated
situation
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL METHODS
 Biofeedback – a generic term that may
be defined broadly as a class of
psychophysiological assessment
techniques designed to gauge, display,
and record a continuous monitoring of
selected biological processes such as
pulse and blood pressure.
o Plethysmograph – a biofeedback
instrument that records changes in
the volume of a part of the body
arising from variations in blood
supply.
o Polygraph – (lie detector) not
commonly associated with
psychological assessment but is the
best-known of all psychophysiological
measurement tools
13: CLINICAL AND COUNSELING
ASSESSMENT
CLINICAL AND COUNSELING
PSYCHOLOGY
 is the branch of psychology that has as
its primary focus on the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of abnormal
behaviour
CLINICAL ASSESSMENT MAY BE
UNDERTAKEN FOR VARIOUS REASONS
AND TO ANSWER A VARIETY OF
IMPORTANT QUESTIONS:
1. Does this patient have a mental disorder?
and If so, what is the diagnosis?
2. What is this person’s current level of
functioning? How does this level of
functioning compare with that of other
people of the same age?
3. What type of treatment shall this patient
be offered?
4. How can this person’s personality best be
described?
5. Which treatment approach is most
effective? or What kind of client tends to
benefit most from a particular kind of
treatment?
THE DIAGNOSIS OF MENTAL
DISORDERS
 Reference: DSM by the American
Psychiatric Association or the ICD of the
World Health Organization
 Incidence rate: the rate of new
occurrences of a particular disorder or
condition in a particular population for a
given timeline
 Prevalence rate: the proportion of
individuals in a given population at a
given point in time who have been
diagnosed or otherwise labeled with a
particular condition or disorder.
 Diagnosis must be weighed between its
advantages and disadvantages
BIOPSYCHOSOCIAL ASSESSMENT
 is a multidisciplinary approach to
assessment that includes exploration of
relevant biological, psychological, social,
cultural, and environmental variables for
19
 the purpose of evaluating how such
variables may have contributed to the
development and maintenance of a
presenting problem.
THE INTERVIEW IN CLINICAL
ASSESSMENT
TYPES OF INTERVIEWS
 Stress interview
 Hypnotic interview
 Cognitive interview
 Collaborative interview
 Mental status examination (MSE)
STRESS INTERVIEW
 objective is to place the interviewee in a
pressured state for some reason.
HYPNOTIC INTERVIEW
 conducted while the interviewee is under
hypnosis
COGNITIVE INTERVIEW
 rapport is established and the interviewee
is encouraged to use imagery and
focused retrieval to recall information.
COLLABORATIVE INTERVIEW
 allows the interviewee wide latitude to
interact with the interviewer.
MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATION
 used to screen for intellectual, emotional,
and neurological deficits.
 MSE typically includes questioning or
observation with respect to the following
area:
o Appearance
o Behavior
o Orientation
o Memory
o Sensorium
o Psychomotor activity
o State of consciousness
o Affect
o Mood
o Personality
o Thought content
o Thought processes
o Intellectual resources
o Insight
o Judgment
 Regardless of the specific type of
interview conducted, certain “standard”
questions are typically raised, during the
initial intake interview, regarding several
areas
 Demographic data: Name, age, sex
and gender, religion, family composition,
race and ethnicity, occupation or grade
level in school, relationship status,
socioeconomic status, address, telephone
numbers.
 Reason for referral: Why is this
individual requesting or being sent for
psychological assessment? Who is the
referral source?
 Past medical history: What events are
significant in this individual’s medical
history?
 Present medical condition: What
current medical issues does this individual
have? What medications are currently
being used?
 Familial medical history: What chronic
or familial types of disease or other
medical conditions are present in the
family history?
 Past psychological history: What
traumatic events has this individual
suffered? What psychological problems
(such as disorders of mood or disorders
of thought content) have troubled this
individual?
 History with medical or
psychological professionals: What
similar contacts for assessment or
intervention has this individual had? Were
these contacts satisfactory in the eyes of
the assessee? If not, why not?
 Current psychological conditions:
What psychological problems are
currently troubling this person? How long
have these problems persisted? What is
causing these problems? What are the
psychological strengths of this individual?
CASE HISTORY DATA
 Biographical and related data about an
assessee may be obtained by
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 interviewing the assessee and/or
significant others in that person’s life.
 Additional sources of case history data
include hospital records, school records,
military records, employment records,
and related documents.
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS
 Test battery: a group of tests
administered together to gather
information about an individual from a
variety of instruments.
 Standard battery: is a group of tests
including one intelligence test, at least
one personality test, and a test designed
to screen for neurological deficit
CULTURALLY INFORMED
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
 an approach to evaluation that is keenly
perceptive of and responsive to issues of
acculturation, values, identity, worldview,
language, and other culture-related
variables as they may impact the
evaluation process or the interpretation of
resulting data.
 When an interview is conducted in
preparation for counseling or
psychotherapy, it may be useful to
explore a number of culture-related
issues.
 The misspelled ADRESSING (age,
disability, religion, ethnicity, social status,
sexual orientation, indigenous heritage,
national origin and gender) is an easy-to-
remember acronym that may help the
assessor recall various sources of cultural
influence when assessing clients.
SPECIAL APPLICATIONS OF CLINICAL
MEASURES
ASSESSMENT OF ADDICTION AND
SUBSTANCE ABUSE
 Exploration of personal history with drugs
and alcohol may be accomplished by
means of questionnaires or face-to-face
interviews. However, such direct
procedures are highly subject to
impression management and all the other
potential drawbacks of a self-report
instrument.
21
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
FINALS
FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGICAL
ASSESSMENT
 Forensic means “pertaining to or
employed in legal proceedings,”
 Forensic psychological assessment
can be defined broadly as the theory and
application of psychological evaluation
and measurement in a legal context.
 It is important to note that there are
major differences between forensic and
general clinical practice
 in the forensic situation, the clinician may
be the client of a third party (such as a
court) and not of the assessee
 the patient may have been compelled to
undergo assessment
 it is imperative that the assessor rely not
only on the assessee’s representations
but also on all available documentation,
such as police reports and interviews with
persons who may have pertinent
knowledge
USE OF FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGICAL
ASSESSMENT
 Lethality Assessment – assessing one’s
dangerousness to oneself or others.
 Competency Assessment -
Competency in the legal sense has many
different meanings. For example, of
competence to make a will, enter a
contract, commit a crime, to stand trial,
waive constitutional rights, consent to
medical treatment
 Criminal Responsibility – determining
level of guilt in a criminal case in relation
to presence of mental disorder
 Parole Readiness or Probation –
measuring the risk of reoffending
 Test of Sanity
o M’Nagthen Standard – is the
defendant able to determine what is
right or wrong?
o Durham Standard – is the unlawful
act was the product of mental
disorder?
o American Law Institute (ALI)
Standard – at the time of the crime,
MODULE 10-14
Goodluck!!!
the person is insane as a result of
mental disorder, lacks substantial
capacity to appreciate the criminality
of his conduct, or to conform his
conduct to the requirements of the
law.
 Test: Roger’s Criminal
Responsibility Assessment Scale
(RCRAS)
DIAGNOSIS AND EVALUATION OF
EMOTIONAL INJURY
 Emotional Injury (psychological harm or
damage)
 is a term sometimes used synonymously
with mental suffering, pain and suffering,
and emotional harm.
 In cases involving charges such as
discrimination, harassment, malpractice,
stalking, and unlawful termination of
employment, psychological assessors may
be responsible for evaluating alleged
emotional injury.
PROFILING
 A crime-solving process that draws upon
psychological and criminological expertise
applied to the study of crime scene
evidence
CUSTODY EVALUATIONS
 A crime-solving process that draws upon
psychological and criminological expertise
applied to the study of crime scene
evidence
EVALUATION OF THE PARENT
 The assessor might begin with open-
ended questions, designed to let the
parent ventilate some of their feelings,
and then proceed to more specific
questions tapping a wide variety of areas,
including:
 the parent’s own childhood: happy?
abused?
 the parent’s own relationship with
parents, siblings, peers
 the circumstances that led up to the
marriage and the degree of forethought
that went into the decision to have (or
adopt) children
 the adequacy of prenatal care and
attitudes toward the pregnancy
 the parent’s description of the child
 the parent’s self-evaluation as a parent,
including strengths and weaknesses
 the parent’s evaluation of their spouse in
terms of strengths and weaknesses as a
parent
 the quantity and quality of time spent
caring for and playing with children
 the parent’s approach to discipline
 the parent’s receptivity to the child’s peer
relationships
EVALUATION OF THE CHILD
 The court will be interested in knowing
whether the child in a custody proceeding
has a preference with respect to future
living and visitation arrangements.
CHILD ABUSE AND NEGLECT
 Abuse refer to the creation of conditions
that may give rise to abuse of a child by
an adult responsible for the care of that
person. The abuse may be in the form of
physical injury, emotional impairment, or
sexual offense
 Neglect refer to a failure on the part of
an adult responsible for the care of a
child to exercise a minimum degree of
care in providing the child with food,
clothing, shelter, education, medical care,
and supervision.
SIGNS OF ABUSE AND NEGLECT
 Physical Signs
 Emotional and behavioural signs
HOW TO ASSESS SEXUAL AND
PHYSICAL ABUSE
 Anatomically Detailed Dolls (ADDs)-
Dolls with accurately represented
genitalia
 Sexually abused children may, on
average, engage ADDs in more sexually
oriented activities than other children
 Human-figure drawings are also used to
assess sexual and physical abuse
SUICIDE ASSESSMENT
 Some warning signs of suicide:
o Talking about dying by suicide.
o Referring to a plan for dying by
o suicide.
o One or more past suicide attempts.
PSYCHOLOGICAL REPORT
 An archival document describing or
reporting the findings of
 psychological testing or assessment
ELEMENTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
REPORT
 Demographic data
 Reason for referral
 Tests administered
 Findings
 Recommendations
 Summary
14: ASSESSMENT, CAREERS, AND
BUSINESS
CAREER CHOICE & CAREER
TRANSITION
TESTS HELP IN VARIOUS PHASES OF
CAREER CHOICE
 to survey interests, aptitudes, skills, or
special talents.
 to measure attitudes toward work,
confidence in one’s skills, assumptions
about careers, perceptions regarding
career barriers, even dysfunctional career
thoughts.
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 Historically, one variable considered
closely related to occupational fulfillment
and success is personal interests.
 It stands to reason that what intrigues,
engages, and engrosses a person would
be something good to work at.
THE STRUCTURE OF VOCATIONAL
INTERESTS
 In the same way that the Big Five has
emerged as a consensus model of
personality, Holland’s (1959, 1997)
RIASEC model has been the consensus
model of vocational interests for many
decades
 Six clusters in the classification of broad
patterns of interest: Realistic,
Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising,
and Conventional (RIASEC)
MEASURES OF INTEREST
 Interest measure – instrument
designed to evaluate testtakers’ likes,
dislikes, leisure activities, curiosities, and
involvements in various pursuits for the
purpose of comparison with groups of
members of various occupations and
professions.
 Employers can use information about
their employees’ interest patterns to
formulate job descriptions and attract
new personnel
 The Strong Interest Inventory –
started as Strong Vocational Interest
Blank (SVIB), consisted of 420 test items
– by Edward K. Strong Jr. – Test items
probe personal preferences in a variety of
areas such as occupations, school
subjects, and activities.
 Newest version (SII Revised Edition
2004) added new items to reflect
contemporary career interests such as
those related to computer hardware,
software, and programming.
 Respondents answer each of these
questions on a five-point continuum that
ranges from “strongly like” to “strongly
dislike.”
MEASURES OF ABILITY AND APTITUDE
 General mental ability tests predict a
variety of job performance criteria such
as supervisor ratings, production records,
work sample tests, instructor ratings, and
grades
 Although aptitude tests are fairly strong
predictors of on-the-job performance,
fewer employers use them today than
was common in the past
THE WONDERLIC PERSONNEL TEST
 measures general mental ability
 brief (12-minute) test
 assesses spatial skill, abstract
 thought, and mathematical skill
 useful in screening individuals for jobs
that require both fluid and crystallized
intellectual abilities
DIFFERENTIAL APTITUDE TESTS FOR
PERSONNEL AND CAREER
ASSESSMENT
 published by Pearson
 measures verbal reasoning, numerical
ability, abstract reasoning, mechanical
reasoning, space relations, and language
usage– assesses spatial skill, abstract
thought, and mathematical skill
 test scores predict the kinds of job-
related tasks the person would likely find
easy or difficult
O*NET ABILITY PROFILER
 freely available aptitude test developed
by the U.S. Department of Labor –
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 consists of nine job-relevant ability tests:
verbal ability, arithmetic reasoning,
computation, spatial ability, form
perception, clerical perception, motor
coordination, finger dexterity, and manual
dexterity
BENNET MECHANICAL
 Comprehension Test
o paper-and-pencil measure
o measure of a testtaker’s ability to
understand the relationship between
physical forces and various tools
(e.g., pulleys and gears) as well as
other common objects (carts, steps,
and seesaws).
MEASURES OF PERSONALITY
 Personality tests, such as the Guilford-
Zimmerman Temperament Survey and
the Edwards Personal Preference
Schedule, may be preferred because the
measurements they yield tend to be
better related to the specific variables
under study
 Other personality tests like the MMPI-2-
RF which is more widely used in clinical
settings, may have limited application in
the context of career counseling.
MEASURING PERSONALITY TRAITS
 Personality assessment in the context of
employment-related research or
counseling might begin with the
administration of a test designed to
measure Costa and McCrae’s (1992) Big
Five
 Integrity Test
o specifically designed to predict
employee theft, honesty, adherence
to established procedures, and/or
potential for violence.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
PERSONALITY AND WORK
PERFORMANCE
 studying work performance with regard
to Big Five traits has led to some useful
findings.
 Generally,
o high Conscientiousness scores were
correlated with good work
performance
o high Neuroticism scores were
correlated with poor work
performance
o Extraversion was also positively
correlated with good work
performance
SCREENING, SELECTION,
CLASSIFICATION & PLACEMENT
 Screening – a relatively superficial
process of evaluation based on certain
minimal standards, criteria, or
requirements
o For example, a municipal fire
department may screen on the basis
of certain minimal requirements for
height, weight, physical health,
physical strength, and cognitive
ability before admitting candidates to
a training program for firefighters.
 Selection – a process whereby each
person evaluated for a position will be
either accepted or rejected for that
position.
 Classification – by contrast, does not
imply acceptance or rejection but rather a
rating, categorization, or “pigeonholing”
with respect to two or more criteria.
o The military, for example, classifies
personnel with respect to security
clearance on the basis of variables
such as rank, personal history of
political activity, and known
associations.
 Placement – a disposition, transfer, or
assignment to a group or category that
may be made on the basis of one
criterion
o If, for example, you took a college-
level course while still in high school,
the score you earned on the
advanced placement test in that
subject area may have been the sole
criterion used to place you in an
appropriate section of that college
course upon your acceptance to
college.
25
MOST COMMON TOOLS OF ASESSMENT
IN PRE-EMPLOYMENT
 For more everyday types of employment
decision making (and especially at the
preemployment stage) some of the most
common tools of assessment include:
o letter of application
o résumé,
o job application form,
o letter of
o recommendation,
o and the interview.
PORTFOLIO ASSESSMENT
 In portfolio assessment, the assessor may
have the opportunity
1. to evaluate many work samples
created by the assessee,
2. to obtain some understanding of the
assessee’s work-related thought
processes and habits through an
analysis of the materials from rough
draft to finished form, and
3. to question the assessee further
regarding various aspects of his or
her work-related thinking and habits.
PERFORMANCE TESTS
 A performance test requires assessees to
demonstrate certain skills or abilities
under a specified set of circumstances.
The typical objective of such an exercise
is to obtain a job-related performance
sample.
 Examples include the Bennett
Stenography Proficiency Test and the
Minnesota Clerical Test
PHYSICAL TEST
 In its most general sense, a physical test
entails the evaluation of one’s somatic
health and intactness, and observable
sensory and motor abilities.
 Aside from physical fitness, or physical
strength, also included under the heading
of physical tests are tests of sensory
intactness or impairment, including tests
to measure color blindness, visual acuity,
visual depth perception, and auditory
acuity
 A drug test an evaluation undertaken to
determine the presence, if any, of alcohol
or other psychotropic substances, by
means of laboratory analysis of blood,
urine, hair, or other biological specimens.
 This is often undertaken in relation to
ease concerns regarding employees’ drug
use
COGNITIVE ABILITY, PRODUCTIVITY,
AND MOTIVATION MEASURES
MEASURES OF COGNIIVE ABILITY
 Selection decisions regarding personnel,
as well as other types of selection
decisions such as those regarding
professional licensure or acceptance for
academic training, are often based (at
least in part) on performance on tests
that tap acquired knowledge as well as
various cognitive skills and abilities.
 In general, cognitive-based tests are
popular tools of selection because they
have been shown to be valid predictors of
future performance
PRODUCTIVITY
 Productivity – the output or value yielded
relative to work effort made.
 The term is used here in its broadest
sense and is equally applicable to workers
who make products and to workers who
provide services.
 Measures of productivity help to define
not only where a business is but also
what it needs to do to get where it wants
to be.
 A productivity evaluation can help identify
the factors responsible for sagging
performance of certain employees
 The most common method of evaluating
worker productivity or performance is
through the use of rating and ranking
procedures by superiors in the
organization
FORCED DISTRIBUTION TECHNIQUE
 type of ranking procedure used when
large numbers of employees are assessed
 involves distributing a predetermined
number or percentage of assessees into
various categories that describe
26
 performance (such as unsatisfactory,
poor, fair, average, good, superior).
NUMBER OF ABSENCES WITHIN A GIVEN
PERIOD
 another index of on-the-job performance
 typically reflects more poorly on an
employee to be absent on, say, 20
separate occasions than on 20
consecutive days as the result of illness.
CRITICAL INCIDENTS TECHNIQUE
 involves the supervisor recording positive
and negative employee behaviors
 The supervisor catalogues the notations
according to various categories (e.g.,
dependability or initiative) for ready
reference when an evaluation needs to be
made.
MOTIVATION
 Motivation may be conceptualized as
stemming from incentives that are either
primarily internal or primarily external in
origin.
 Intrinsic Motivation – the primary
driving force stems from things such as
the individual’s involvement in work or
satisfaction with work products
 Extrinsic Motivation – the primary
driving force stems from rewards, such as
salary and bonuses, or from constraints,
such as job loss.
 Work Preference Inventory (WPI) –
a scale designed to assess aspects of
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation –
contains 30 items rated on a four-point
scale based on how much the testtaker
believes the item to be self-descriptive.
BURNOUT AND ITS MEASUREMENT
 Burnout – an occupational health
problem associated with cumulative
occupational stress – “a psychological
syndrome of emotional exhaustion,
depersonalization, and reduced personal
accomplishment that can occur among
individuals who work with other people in
some capacity”
 emotional exhaustion: an inability to
give of oneself emotionally to others,
 depersonalization: distancing from
other people and even developing cynical
attitudes toward them
 The potential consequences of burnout
range from deterioration in service
provided to absenteeism and job
turnover. The potential effects of burnout
on a worker suffering from it range from
insomnia to alcohol and drug use.
Burnout has been shown to be predictive
of the frequency and duration of sick
leave
MASLACH BURNOUT INVENTORY (MBI)
 the most widely used measure of burnout
 developed by Christina Maslach and her
colleagues
 contains 22 items divided into three
subscales: Emotional Exhaustion (9
items), Depersonalization (5 items), and
Personal Accomplishment (8 items)
 testtakers respond on a scale ranging
from 0 (never) to 6 (every day)
JOB SATISFACTION, ORGANIZATIONAL
COMMITMENT, AND ORGANIZATIONAL
CULTURE
 An attitude may be defined formally as a
presumably learned disposition to react in
some characteristic manner to a
particular stimulus.
WORKPLACE-RELATED ATTITUDES:
 Job Satisfaction – “a pleasurable or
positive emotional state resulting
from the appraisal of one’s job or job
experiences”
 Organizational Commitment – a
person’s feelings of loyalty to,
identification with, and involvement
in an organization.
27
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
FINALS
ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE
 also known as “corporate culture”
 the totality of socially transmitted
behavior patterns characteristic of a
particular organization or company,
including:
o the structure of the organization and
the roles within it;
o the leadership style;
o the prevailing values, norms,
sanctions, and support mechanisms;
o and the past traditions and folklore,
methods of enculturation, and
characteristic ways of interacting with
people and institutions outside of the
culture (such as customers, suppliers,
the competition, government
agencies, and the general public)
OTHER TOOLDS AND ASSESSMENT
CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY
 branch of social psychology that deals
primarily with the development,
advertising, and marketing of products
and services
 Consumer psychologists can be found
working closely with professionals in
fields such as marketing and advertising
to help answer questions such as the
following:
MODULE 10-14
Goodluck!!!
o Does a market exist for this new
product?
o Does a market exist for this new use
of an existing product?
o Exactly who—with respect to age,
sex, race, social class, and other
demographic variables—constitutes
the market for this product?
o How can the targeted consumer
population be made aware of this
product in a cost-effective way?
o How can the targeted consumer
population be persuaded to purchase
this product in the most cost-effective
way?
o What is the best way to package this
product?
THE MEASURMENTS OF ATTITUDES
 Attitudes formed about products,
services, or brand names are a frequent
focus of interest in consumer attitude
research.
 Attitude is typically measured by self-
report, using tests and questionnaires.
 A limitation of this approach is that
people differ in their ability to be
introspective and in their level of self-
awareness.
 People also differ in the extent to which
they are willing to be candid about their
attitudes. In some instances, the use of
 an attitude measure may, in essence,
create an attitude where none existed
before.
 In such studies, the attitude measured
may be viewed as an artifact of the
measurement procedure
IMPLICIT ATTITUDE
 a nonconscious, automatic association in
memory that produces a disposition to
react in some characteristic manner to a
particular stimulus.
 “gut-level” reactions
 Implicit Attitude Test (IAT)
o a computerized sorting task by which
implicit attitudes are gauged with
reference to the testtaker’s reaction
times
o based on the premise that subjects
will find it easier (and take less time
to make categorizations) when they
perceive the stimuli presented to
them as being strongly associated
o a special type of panel wherein
respondents must keep a record of
products they purchased, coupons
they used, or radio stations they
listened to while in the car
MOTIVATION RESEARCH METHODS
 Motivation Research
o in consumer psychology and
marketing is so named because it
typically involves analyzing motives
for consumer behavior and attitudes.
 Motivation Research Methods
o include individual interviews and
focus groups
o used to examine, in depth, the
reactions of consumers who are
representative of the group of people
who use a particular product or
service.

SURVEYS
 Surveys
o In consumer psychology, a survey is
a fixed list of questions administered
to a selected sample of persons for
the purpose of learning about
consumers’ attitudes, beliefs,
opinions, and/or behavior with regard
to the targeted products, services, or
advertising.
 Poll
o a specialized type of survey
o an instrument to record votes and
usually contains questions that can
be answered with a simple yes/no or
for/against response.
 Consumer Panel
o Commercial research firms maintain a
list of a large number of people or
families who have agreed to respond
to questionnaires that are sent to
them. Those included in the list are
also considered to be a part of their
consumer panel
 Diary Panel

29