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.

• A psychological test 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, which are also designed to
measure unobserved constructs, but differ in that psychological tests
ask for a respondent's maximum performance whereas a
questionnaire asks for the respondent's typical performance.

• A useful psychological test must be both valid (i.e., there is evidence

to support the specified interpretation of the test results) and
reliable (i.e., internally consistent or give consistent results over
time, across raters, etc.)
 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

• Can be used for 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
• 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
 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.
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
 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.
• 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
 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.

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

could serve as a means of gauging a person’s intellect.

• 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
• 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.
• On his return to America,

Cattell was active both in the

establishment of laboratories
for experimental psychology
and in the spread of testing
movement.
 Cont.
• 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.’

• 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
 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.
 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.

• Shortly after the end of WW I, the army tests were released

 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
• 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.

• 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.
 Projective testing
• Projective techniques represent a third approach to the study
of personality and one that has shown phenomenal growth
▫ In this the individual will project his or her characteristics modes of
response into such a task.

• 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.
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