Fundamentals of Psychological Testing PSYC 4500: Introduction to Clinical Psychology Brett Deacon, Ph.D. October 4, 2012

Announcements Exam #2 is Thursday, October 18 th Schedule: Today: Fundamentals of testing Intellectual assessment Personality assessment I Personality assessment II

From Last Class Clinical interviewing (Chapter 6) Establishing rapport Verbal and nonverbal communication strategies and pitfalls Listening skills Unstructured vs. semi-structured interviews

Basics of Assessment Basic characteristics of psychological tests and how to evaluate them Detailed in Hunsley, Lee, & Wood (2003) chapter

Psychological Testing What is a psychological test? The measurement of a sample of behavior obtained under standardized conditions and that has established rules for scoring or interpreting this sample. (Anastasi, 1988)

When is a Test Really a Test? (1) A sample of behavior is collected in order to generate statements about a person (2) A claim is made that these statements are valid because of how they were collected (i.e., in a standardized manner, with established rules for scoring, etc.), as opposed to the assessors expertise alone

When is a Test Really a Test? Dr. A gives the Rorschach to a patient and administers and interprets the test subjectively using his clinical judgment. Dr. B gives the Rorschach to a patient and administers, scores, and interprets the test according to the published guidelines for the Exner system.

Test Construction and Psychometric Principles Standardization Reliability Validity Norms

Test Construction and Psychometric Principles Standardization – proving detailed instructions about administration, scoring, etc. Necessary to compare scores across assessors and settings In the absence of standardization, a test has no validity

Test Construction and Psychometric Principles Reliability – three types of consistency: (1) Internal consistency (2) Interrater reliability (3) Test-retest reliability Necessary but not sufficient for validity

Test Construction and Psychometric Principles Validity – does the test measure what it purports to measure? (1) Content validity (2) Concurrent and predictive validity (3) Discriminant validity (4) Incremental validity

Test Construction and Psychometric Principles Validity (continued) What if there are multiple scores and scales? What if it is used with different populations? What if there are multiple uses of a test?

Test Construction and Psychometric Principles A test is standardized, reliable, and valid But how do we know what a high or low score means? Norms – population-based scores for purposes of comparison Difficult, labor-intensive process to do properly

Test Construction and Psychometric Principles To evaluate the value of a psychological test, we can examine that tests standardization, reliability, validity, and norms

The Brett Deacon Test of Personality, Intelligence, and Psychopathology

What Might This Be?

Scoring Criteria for Stimulus #1 1. Creativity (0-10; 0 = good, 10 = bad) 2. Absence of gross perceptual distortions (0-10; 0 = good, 10 = bad) 3. Response that seems indicative of psychopathology (0-10; 0 = good, 10 = bad) Score: _____

Make up a short story about this picture

Scoring Criteria for Stimulus #2 1. Creativity (0-10; 0 = good, 10 = bad) 2. Absence of gross perceptual distortions (0-10; 0 = good, 10 = bad) 3. Response that seems indicative of psychopathology (0-10; 0 = good, 10 = bad) Score: _____

Human Figure Drawing On a sheet of paper, draw a picture of yourself and a loved one.

Scoring Criteria for Stimulus #3 1. Response that seems indicative of psychopathology (0-30; 0 = good, 30 = bad) based on signs like line heaviness, big eyes, head size, and whether figures are touching. Score: _____ Total Score: ______ (0-90)

Evaluating the Brett Deacon Test Standardization – administration, scoring? Reliability – internal consistency, inter-rater, test-retest? Validity – content, concurrent/predictive, incremental? Norms?

Most Commonly Used Tests Ball et al. (1994) - survey of 151 practicing clinical psychologists 1. Wechsler IQ Scales2. Rorschach 3. TAT4. MMPI 5. WRAT6. BVMGT 7. Sentence Completion8. Human Figure Drawings 9. House-Tree-Person10. BDI

Most Commonly Used Tests Ball et al. (1994) - survey of 151 practicing clinical psychologists 1. Wechsler IQ Scales2. Rorschach 3. TAT4. MMPI 5. WRAT6. BVMGT 7. Sentence Completion8. Human Figure Drawings 9. House-Tree-Person10. BDI

Projective Personality Assessment Projective vs. objective personality tests Characteristics of projective tests: 1. A person projects some part of themselves onto an ambiguous stimulus 2. Methods are unstructured 3. Purpose is often disguised

Projective vs. Objective Assessment 4. Use a global approach to personality 5. Designed to measure unconscious elements of the personality 6. Often interpreted from psychoanalytic perspective 7. Often interpreted in idiographic manner (i.e., test taker is a unique individual vs. comparing test takers responses to others responses from the normative sample)

Most Commonly Used Tests in *Child Custody Evaluations* Ackerman & Ackerman (1997) - survey of 201 psychologists from 39 states 1. Intelligence tests2. TAT 3. Bricklin Perceptual Scales4. Sentence Completion 5. Achievement Test6. Rorschach 7. Projective Drawings8. MMPI-A 9. House-Tree-Person10. Kinetic Family Drawing

Hunsley et al. Response Paper Questions 1. Why do you think these tests are so commonly used by practicing psychologists? 2. Should these tests be taught to clinical psychology graduate students? 3. Is there sufficient justification for using the Rorschach, TAT, projective drawings, or anatomically detailed dolls in forensic settings?