INTRODUCTION TO

PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
 Contents

• Introduction to psychological testing

• Nature/Principles of Psychological Testing
• Uses of Psychological Tests
• Types of Psychological Tests
• Psychological assessment
• History of psychological testing
 Test

• Measurement instrument

• Blood test, MRI, CT scan etc.

 Psychological Test

“A Psychological Test is essentially an

objective and standardized measure of a
sample of behavior.”
 Cont.
• Psychological testing is a field characterized by the use
of samples of behavior in order to assess psychological
constructs, such as cognitive and emotional
functioning, about a given individual.

• The technical term for the science behind psychological

testing is psychometrics.
 Psychological Testing
• A psychological test is:
▫ An objective and standardized measure of an
individual's mental and/or behavioral characteristics.
▫ Is an instrument designed to measure unobserved
constructs, also known as latent variables.
▫ Psychological tests are typically, but not necessarily, a
series of tasks or problems that the respondent has to solve.
Psychological tests can strongly resemble questionnaires.
▫ tests ask for a respondent's maximum performance
whereas a questionnaire asks for the respondent's typical
performance.
▫ Valid & Reliable
 Principles 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
▫ Objectivity
▫ Test Norms
▫ Reliability
▫ Validity
 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

• Scoring is free of subjective judgments or biases

based on the fact that the same results are
obtained on test from everyone.
 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.

 Validity

• The type of test being administered must

measure what it is intended to measure.
 Uses of Psychological Tests
• One of the earliest problems that stimulated the
development of psychological tests was the identification
of mentally retarded persons. They are still widely used for
the detection of intellectual deficiencies/deficits.

• Psychological tests are used for the examination and

screening of persons with severe emotional disorders
and other types of behavioral problems.
• Selection of applicants for professional schools and
occupational counseling are among the many educational
uses of tests.

• The selection and classification of industrial personnel

represent another major application of psychological testing.

• Legal purposes

• Research purposes.
 Types of Psychological Tests
• IQ and achievement tests

• Employment tests

• Attitude tests

• Neuropsychological tests

• Personality tests

• Interest tests

• Aptitude tests

• Diagnostic Tests

• Clinical Tests
IQ/achievement tests

• IQ tests are measures of intelligence, while

achievement tests are measures of the use and level
of development of the ability.

▫ In these types of tests, a series of tasks is presented to the person

being evaluated, and the person's responses are graded according to
carefully prescribed guidelines.
▫ After the test is completed, the results can be compiled and
compared to the responses of a norm group, usually composed of
people at the same age or grade level as the person being evaluated.
• IQ tests which contain a series of tasks typically divide the
tasks into

▫ Verbal (relying on the use of language) and performance, or

▫ Non-verbal (relying on eye–hand types of tasks, or use of symbols
or objects).
▫ Examples of verbal IQ test tasks are vocabulary and information
(answering general knowledge questions). Non-verbal examples are
timed completion of puzzles (object assembly) and identifying
images which fit a pattern (matrix reasoning).
▫ IQ Tests: WAIS-IV, WISC-IV
▫ Academic achievement tests: Wechsler Individual Achievement
Test (WIAT), WRAT
• The individually administered tests tend to be more
comprehensive, more reliable, more valid and generally
have better psychometric characteristics than group-
administered tests.

• However, individually administered tests are more

expensive to administer because of the need for a trained
administrator (psychologist, school psychologist, or
psychometrician).
 Employment tests

• Industrial/Organizational Psychology tests for

initial employment and advancement
throughout the ranks.

• ISSB, other tests organizations use while hiring

employees.
 Attitude tests

• Attitude test assess an individual's feelings/opinion

about an event, person, or object.

• Attitude scales are used in marketing/consumer behavior

to determine individual (and group) preferences for
brands, or items. Typically attitude tests use Likert
Scales to measure specific items.
 Neuropsychological tests
• These tests consist of specifically designed tasks used to measure a
psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain
structure or pathway.

• Neuropsychological tests can be used in a clinical context to assess

impairment after an injury or illness known to affect
neurocognitive functioning

• Bender Gestalt (BG), Slosson Drawing Coordination Test (SDCT), Quick

Neurological Screening Test (QNST)
 Personality tests

• Psychological measures of personality are

often described as either

▫ Objective tests or

▫ Projective tests
 Objective tests (Rating scale or self-
report measure)
• Objective tests have a restricted response
format, such as allowing for true or false answers,
yes/no or rating using a Likert scale.

• Prominent examples of objective personality tests

include the
▫ Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
▫ Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (or 16PF)
▫ Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)
▫ Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
• Objective personality tests can be designed for
use in business for potential employees, such as
the NEO-PI, the 16PF, and the OPQ
(Occupational Personality Questionnaire)

• They are also used in clinical settings for

diagnostic purposes.
 Projective tests (Free response measures)

• Projective tests allow for a free type of response

• Involves drawing, sentence completion, ambiguous stimuli,
storytelling etc.

• Commonly used projective tests are

▫ Human Figure Drawing (HFD)

▫ House-Tree-Person (HTP)
▫ Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
▫ Rorschach Inkblot Test (ROR)
▫ Incomplete Sentence Blank (ISB)
▫ Word association tests
Cont.
• The use of clinical judgment rather than norms and
statistics to evaluate people's characteristics has convinced
many that projective tests are deficient and unreliable (results
are too dissimilar each time a test is given to the same person).

• However, many practitioners continue to rely on projective

testing, and some testing experts (e.g., Cohen, Anastasi)
suggest that these measures can be useful in developing
therapeutic rapport.
 Interest tests
• These are psychological tests to assess a person’s
interests and preferences.

• These tests are used primarily for career counseling.

▫ Interest tests include items about daily activities from among

which applicants select their preferences.

▫ The rationale is that if a person exhibits the same pattern of

interests and preferences as people who are successful in a
given occupation, then the chances are high that the person
taking the test will find satisfaction in that occupation.
Cont.

• The Strong Interest Inventory (SII)

• Jackson Vocational Interest Survey (JVIS)
• The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey
(KOIS)
• Self-Directed Search (SDS)
 Aptitude tests

• Psychological tests to measure specific abilities, such

as mechanical, clerical or spatial skills.

▫ Differential Aptitude Test (DAT)

 Verbal Reasoning
 Numerical Ability
 Abstract Reasoning
 Clerical Speed & Accuracy
 Mechanical Reasoning
 Space Relations
 Spelling
 Language usage
 Diagnostic Tests
• Used to screen out individuals who might be
vulnerable or in need of some psychological
intervention.

• HFD, MMPI, PAI, HTP, TAT, ROR

• Neurological tests
• IQ tests
 Clinical Tests
• Tests that provide useful clinical information

• E.g. tests designed to check the coping

strategies/responses or cognitive errors of individuals. OR
tests designed to diagnose disorders for treatment
planning and measuring outcomes.

• Coping Responses Inventory (CRI)

• Life Stressors and Social Recourses Inventory (LISRES)
• Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI)
• Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
• MMPI, BG, QNST, HFD, HTP, ROR, WISC, WAIS etc.
 Test Battery
• Collection of tests

• More than one test

• Ideally three to five tests

 Psychological Assessment
• Psychological assessment is similar to psychological
testing but usually involves a more comprehensive
assessment of the individual.

• Psychological assessment is a process that involves

checking the integration of information from multiple
sources, such as
▫ Tests of normal and abnormal personality,
▫ Tests of ability or intelligence,
▫ Tests of interests or attitudes,
▫ as well as information from personal interviews.
Cont.
•Information is also collected about
 personal,
 occupational, or
 medical history,

•Such as from records or from interviews with

parents, spouses, teachers, or previous therapists or
physicians.
•A psychological test is one of the sources of data used
within the process of assessment; usually more than one
test is used.

•Many psychologists do some level of assessment when

providing services to clients or patients, and may use for
example,
▫ simple checklists to design interventions for treatment settings;
▫ to assess a particular area of functioning or disability often for
school settings;
▫ to help select type of treatment or to assess treatment
outcomes;
▫ or to help assess job applicants or employees and provide career
development counseling or training
People involved in psychological testing

• The test developer

• The test user/examiner
• The test taker
▫ Can be group or individual
HISTORY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTING
 History of psychological testing
• 20th century advances in psychological testing due to
advances in:

▫ Theories of human behavior

▫ Statistical methods
▫ Application of psychology in various settings
▫ Treatment of mentally disturbed and retarded people.
 Early Origins
• There have been repeated accounts of the system of civil service
examinations prevailing in the Chinese empire for some 2000
years.

• Among the ancient Greeks, testing was an established adjunct to the

educational process. They were used to assess mastery of physical
as well as intellectual skills.

• In the middle ages (5th to the 15th century), European universities

relied on formal examinations in awarding degrees and honors.
 Classification and training of mentally
retarded persons – 19th century

• The 19th century witnessed a strong awakening of interest in the

humane treatment of mentally retarded and insane
persons.
• Prior to that time, neglect, ridicule and even torture had
been common to these individuals.
• With the growing concern for the proper care of people with
mental problems came a realization that some uniform criteria
for identifying and classifying these cases were required.
Cont.
• For admission in mental institutions some
objective classification was required.

• Distinction was made between insane and

mentally retarded
▫ The former manifested emotional disorders that
might or might not be accompanied by intellectual
deterioration from an initially normal level.
▫ The latter were characterized essentially by
intellectual defect that had been present from
birth or early infancy.
 Esquirol (1838)
• The first explicit statement of this distinction is to be
found in a two-volume work published in 1838 by the
French Physician Esquirol in which more than 100
pages are devoted to what is now termed “mental
retardation”
• He also pointed out that there are many degrees of
mental retardation, varying along a continuum from
normality to ‘low-grade idiocy.’
• In order to classify different degrees and varieties of
retardation, he tried several procedures but concluded that
the individual’s use of language provides the most
dependable criterion of his/her intellectual level.
Cont.

• It is noteworthy that current criterion of mental

retardation are also largely linguistic and that
present day intelligence tests are heavily
loaded with verbal content.
 Seguin (1866/1907)
• Another French Physician who pioneered in the training
of mentally retarded persons.
• Physiological method of training
▫ Sense training and muscle training
▫ Intensive exercise in sensory discrimination and
development of motor control

• 1837: established the first school devoted to the education

of mentally retarded children.
• In 1848, he emigrated to America where his ideas gained
wide recognition
Cont.
• Some of the procedures developed by Seguin for this
purpose were eventually incorporated into performance
on nonverbal tests of intelligence.

• An example is the Seguin Form Board, in which the

individual is required to insert variously shaped blocks
into the corresponding spaces as quickly as possible.
Seguin Form Board
• More than half a century after the work of Esquirol and
Seguin, the French psychologist Alfred Binet urged
that children who failed to respond to normal schooling
be examined before dismissal, and if considered
educable, be assigned to special classes.

• Educable: affected with mild mental retardation and

capable of developing academic, social, and occupational
skills within the capabilities of one with a mental age
between 9 and 12 years - trainable
• With his fellow members of the Society for the
Psychological Study of the Child, Binet encouraged the
Ministry of Public Instruction to take steps to improve the
condition of retarded children.

• A specific outcome was the establishment of a ministerial

commission for the study of retarded children, to which Binet
was appointed.

• This appointment was a momentous event in the history of

psychological testing.
Contributions of Experimental Psychologists
to Psychological Testing

• The early psychological experiments brought out the need for

rigorous control of the conditions under which
observations were made.
▫ For example, the wording of directions given to the
participant in a reaction-time experiment might appreciably
increase or decrease the speed of the person’s response.
▫ Or, the brightness or color of the surrounding field could
markedly alter the appearance of a visual stimulus.
Cont.

• The importance of making observations on all

experimental participants under standard
conditions was thus vividly demonstrated.

• Such standardization of procedure eventually

became one of the special features of
psychological testing.
 Contributions of Francis Galton
• English biologist – research in human heredity.

• He set up an anthropometric laboratory

▫ Visitors could measured in certain physical traits and could
take tests of keenness of vision and hearing, muscular
strength, reaction time, and other simple sensorimotor
functions.
▫ By such methods, the first, large systematic body of data on
individual differences in simple psychological processes was
gradually accumulated.

• It was Galton’s belief that tests of sensory discrimination

could serve as a means of gauging a person’s intellect.
Cont.
• He also noted that persons
with extreme mental
retardation tend to be
defective in their ability
to discriminate among
heat, cold, and pain –
lacking in sensory
discriminative capacity.
 Other contributions of Galton
• Pioneered the application of rating-scale and questionnaire
methods
• Use of free-association technique
• Statistical methods for the analysis of data on individual
differences
• Selected and adapted a number of techniques previously derived
by mathematicians.
• This phase of Galton’s work has been carried forward by many of
his students, the most prominent of whom is Karl Pearson.
 Contributions of James McKeen Cattell

• American Psychologist

• The newly established science of

experimental psychology and the
still newer testing movement
merged in Cattell’s work.
• For his doctorate in Leipzig, he
completed a dissertation on reaction
time, under Wundt’s direction.
 Cont.
• On his return to America, Cattell was active both in the
establishment of laboratories for experimental psychology and
in the spread of testing movement.

• In an article written by Cattell in 1890, the term ‘mental test’

was used for the first time in the psychological
literature.
▫ This article described a series of tests that were being administered
annually to college students in the effort to determine their
‘intellectual level.’
Cont.
• These tests which had to be administered individually
included measures of

▫ Muscular strength
▫ Speed of movement
▫ Sensitivity to pain,
▫ Keenness of vision and of hearing
▫ Weight discrimination
▫ Reaction time
▫ Memory
Cont.

• He shared Galton’s view that a measure of intellectual

functions could be obtained through tests of sensory
discrimination and reaction time.

• His student Clark Wissler aimed to demonstrate that

results of such tests could predict academic performance.
 Alfred Binet and the Rise of Intelligence
Testing
• Binet and his co-workers devoted many
years to active and ingenious research on
ways of measuring intelligence.

• In 1904, French commission

appointed Binet to identify
retardation.

• It was in connection with this

commission that Binet, in collaboration
with Simon, prepared the first Binet
Simon Scale (Binet & Simon, 1905).
 Binet Simon Scale, 1905
• Consisted of 30 problems or tests arranged in ascending
order of difficulty.
▫ The difficulty level was determined empirically by
administering the tests to 50 normal children aged 3-11
years and to some mentally retarded children and adults.
▫ The tests were designed to cover a wide variety of functions,
which special emphasis on judgment, comprehension
and reasoning, which Binet regarded as essential
component of intelligence.
Cont.
• Although sensory and perceptual tests were included, a
much greater proportion of verbal content was found in
this scale.

• The 1905 scale was presented as a preliminary and

tentative instrument, and no precise objective method for
arriving at a total score was formulated.
The 1905 Binet-Simon Scale
1. Follows a moving object with the eyes.

2. Grasps a small object which is touched.

3. Grasps a small object which is seen.

4. Recognizes the difference between a square of chocolate and a square of wood.

5. Finds and eats a square of chocolate wrapped in paper.

6. Executes simple commands and imitates simple gestures.

7. Points to familiar named objects, e.g., “Show me the cup.”

8. Points to objects represented in pictures, e.g., “Put your finger on the

window.”

9. Names objects in pictures, e.g., “What is this?”

10. Compares two lines of markedly unequal length.

11. Repeats three spoken digits.

12. Compares two weights.

13. Shows susceptibility to suggestion.

14. Defines common words by function.

15. Repeats a sentence of 15 words.

16. Tells how two common objects are different, e.g., “paper and cardboard.”

17. Names from memory as many as possible of 13 objects displayed on a board

for 30 seconds.

18. Reproduces from memory two designs shown for 10 seconds.

19. Repeats a longer series of digits than in item 11 to test immediate memory.

20. Tells how two common objects are alike, e.g., “butterfly and flea.”
21. Compares two lines of slightly unequal length.

22. Compares five blocks to put them in order of weight.

23. Indicates which of the previous five weights the examiner has removed.

24. Produces rhymes, e.g., “What rhymes with ‘school’?”

25. A word completion test based on those proposed by Ebbinghaus.

26. Puts three nouns, e.g., “Paris, river, fortune” (or three verbs) in a sentence.

27. Responds to 25 abstract (comprehension) questions, e.g., “When a person has

offended you, and comes to offer his apologies, what should you do?”

28. Reverses the hands of a clock.

29. After paper folding and cutting, draws the form of the resulting holes.

30. Defines abstract words by designating the difference between, e.g., “boredom

and weariness.”
 1908 revision of the scale
• The number of tests/problems were increased to 58.
• Some unsatisfactory tests from the earlier scale were eliminated
• All tests were grouped into age levels on the basis of
performance of about 300 normal children between the ages of
3 and 13 years.
▫ Thus, in the 3 year level were placed all tests passed by 80 to 90%
of normal 3-year olds
▫ In the 4-year level, all tests passed by 4-year olds were placed and
so on to age 13.
• The child’s score on the entire test could then be
expressed as a ‘mental level’ corresponding to the age
of normal children whose performance he or she
equaled.

• A third revision with minor revisions appeared in 1911.

▫ Relocation of specific tests
▫ More tests were added at several year levels
▫ The scale was extended to the adult level.
Cont.
• 1912 – Kuhlmann-Binet revision
▫ Extended the scale downward to the age of 3 months
▫ This scale represents one of the earliest efforts to develop preschool and
infant tests of intelligence.

• 1916 – L. M. Terman and his associates at Stanford revised

the scale making it more extensive and psychometrically refined.
▫ The term intelligence quotient (IQ) was introduced in this version
▫ IQ: ratio between mental age and chronological age
▫ IQ = Mental age / Chronological Age
 Group Testing
• Group testing was also developed to meet a practical need.
• When the US entered the World War I in 1917, a committee
was appointed by the American Psychological
Association to consider ways in which psychology might
assist in the conduct of the war.
• This committee, under the direction of Robert M. Yerkes,
recognized the need for rapid classification of recruits
with respect to general intellectual level.
 Cont.
• Such information was relevant to many administrative decisions,
including
▫ Rejection or discharge from military service,
▫ assignment to different types of service,
▫ or admission to officer-training camps

• It was in this setting that the first group intelligence tests were
developed.
▫ Army Alpha
▫ Army Beta
Cont.
• Army Alpha
▫ Was designed for general routine testing

▫ Required reading ability

• Army Beta
▫ Did not require reading ability

▫ Non-language scale employed with illiterates and with foreign-

born recruits who were unable to take a test in English.

• Both tests were suitable for administration to large groups.

Group testing Cont.
• Army Alpha
▫ following oral directions
▫ arithmetical reasoning
▫ practical judgment
▫ synonym–antonym pairs
▫ disarranged sentences
▫ number series completion
▫ analogies
▫ information
• Army Beta
▫ Visual, perceptual and motor tests for illiterate people
The Army Alpha
The Army Alpha
The Army Beta
The Army Beta cont.
 Group testing cont.
• Shortly after the end of WW I, the army tests were
released for civilian use.

• Soon group intelligence tests were being devised

for all ages and types of persons, from preschool
children to graduate students.
 Personality Testing
• Measure traits
▫ Relatively enduring dispositions (tendencies to act,
think or feel in a certain manner in any given
circumstance)

• Personality testing is concerned with the affective

and nonintellectual aspects of behavior
Cont.

• In the terminology of psychological testing, the

designation personality tests most often refers to
measures of such characteristics as
▫ Emotional states
▫ Interpersonal relations
▫ Motivation
▫ Interests and
▫ Attitudes
 History of personality testing

• An early precursor of personality testing is illustrated by

Kraeplin’s (1856-1926) use of the free association test
with psychiatric patients.
▫ In this test, the examinee is given specially selected stimulus
words and is required to respond to each with the first word
that comes to mind
▫ Sommer (1894) also suggested that the free association test
might be used to distinguish between various forms of
mental disorder.
• Mention should also be made of the work of
Galton, Pearson and Cattell in the
development of standardized questionnaire
and rating scale techniques. Although
eventually devised for other purposes, these
procedures were eventually employed by others
in constructing some of the most common types
of current personality tests.
 First personality test
• The prototype of the personality questionnaire, or self
report inventory is the Personal Data Sheet developed
by Woodworth during WW I

• Woodworth Personal Data Sheet

• First objective personality test.

• Designed as a rough screening device for identifying seriously

disturbed men who would be disqualified for military service
 Woodworth Personal Data Sheet
• The inventory consisted of a number of questions dealing
with common symptoms of psychopathology
• A total score was computed by counting the number of
symptoms reported
• Immediately after the war, civilian forms were prepared ,
including a special form for use with children.
• The Woodworth Personal Data sheet, moreover served as a
model for most subsequent emotional adjustment
inventories.
Woodworth Personal Data Sheet
• Yes No

• I wet the bed.

• I drink a quart of whiskey each day.

• I am afraid of closed spaces.

• I believe I am being followed.

• People are out to get me.

• Does the sight of blood make you sick or dizzy?

• Are you happy most of the time?

• Do you sometimes wish you had never been born?

Cont.
• Another approach to the measurement of personality is
through the application of performance or situational
tests
▫ In such tests, the examinee has a task to perform whose
purpose is often disguised.
▫ Most of these tests simulate everyday-life situations very
closely
▫ The interpretation of such tests is relatively subjective
▫ What-if type scenarios
 Projective testing
• Projective techniques represent a third
approach to the study of personality and one
that has shown phenomenal growth

▫ The assumption underlying such methods is that

the individual will project his or her
characteristics modes of response into such a task.
Cont.
• The previously cited free association test represents one
of the earliest types of projective techniques
• Sentence-completion tests have also been used in this
manner
• Other such tests include
▫ drawing,
▫ arranging toys to create a scene,
▫ extemporaneous dramatic play and
▫ interpreting pictures or inkblots.
• Rorschach inkblot test (1921)

• Thematic Apperception Test (1935)

Internet Testing
• Relationship and rapport
• Better, faster, and
between test taker and
cheaper services
administrator

• Easier to score • Test security

• Reliability and Validity of

results