INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
Psychological Tests
Psychological testing refers to the administration of psychological tests. A psychological
test is "a structured technique used to generate a carefully selected sample of behavior". The
behaviour sample is used, in turn, to make inferences about the psychological attributes of the
people who have been tested – attributes such as intelligence, self-esteem, etc.
Performance on the items produces a test score. A score on a well-constructed test is
believed to reflect a psychological construct such as achievement in a school subject, ability,
aptitude, emotional functioning, personality, etc. Differences in test scores are thought to reflect
individual differences in the construct the test is supposed to measure. The technical term for the
science behind psychological testing is psychometrics.
Types of tests
Tests have been developed to measure many different human developments. They are
classified as:
1. On the basis of Administration – Group test and individual test
Group test – administered to a large number of persons at the same time.
Individual test – administered by the researcher to one person at a time.
2. On the basis of Behaviour – Ability tests [Intelligence tests and achievement tests],
Personality Tests [structures personality tests, projective techniques and behavioral
analysis]
Ability test – designed to measure capacity or potential rather than actual
achievement.
Personality test – designed to reveal an individual’s characteristics patterns.
3. On the basis of context – Verbal tests, non-verbal tests, performance tests
Verbal test – items are written in some language.
Non-verbal test – items are made of symbols or picture.
Performance test – require movement of objects from their respective places in a
particular order.
Fundamental Concept of Psychological Testing
Proper psychological testing is conducted after vigorous research and development in
contrast to quick web-based or magazine questionnaires that say "Find out your Personality
Color," or "What's your Inner Age?" Proper psychological testing consists of the following:
Standardization - All procedures and steps must be conducted with consistency and
under the same environment to achieve the same testing performance from those
being tested.
Objectivity - refers to the fact that if two or more researchers administer a
psychological test on the same group of people, both of them would come up with
more or less same values for each person in the group.
Test Norms - The average test score within a large group of people where the
performance of one individual can be compared to the results of others by
establishing a point of comparison or frame of reference.
Reliability - Obtaining the same result after multiple testing. It refers to the
consistency of scores obtained by the same person when re-examined with the same
test with different set of questions at another time.
Validity - The type of test being administered must measure what it is intended to
measure.
Application of Psychological testing
a. Detection of specific Behavior
b. Individual Differences
c. To diagnose by the Psychological Test
d. Legal Classification
e. Promoting Self Understanding
f. Program Evaluation
g. Scientific Inquiry or Research
h. Military Selection
i. Industry
j. Education
Difference between test and experiment
Test Experiment
It is standardized instrument used to measure The researcher tries to manipulate the
intellectual and non-intellectual characteristics situation and tries to prove or disapprove a
of an individual through verbal or non-verbal hypothesis
measures
It evaluates certain attributes of an individual. It determines cause and effect relationship
between variables.
It does not have a hypothesis It has a hypothesis.
It is standardized and has norms. It does not have norms and is meant for
verification of various principles.
REFERENCE:
1. Ncert Psychology Textbook
2. Introduction to Psychology – Clifford T. Morgan, Richard A. King, John R.Weisz
and John Schopler
