1. Psychological Testing
Concepts and Functions

2. What is testing?
Why do we have so many tests?
What are the pros and cons to testing?
How can we use testing to improve . . .?
What types of tests do we take?

3. Psychological Testing
A psychological test is a standardized measure of a sample of a person’s behavior that is used to measure the individual differences that exist among people.

4. Types of Psychological Testing
There are two types of Psychological tests.
Mental Ability tests
Personality tests

5. Why use tests?
Psychological tests are used in research, however, most serve a practical purpose.

6. People involved in testing
Individual and group level:
The test developer
The test user
The test taker
May be a group or and individual
Society at large

7. Why is testing important?
Estimated 200 million achievement and ability tests administered at schools in the US
Can have subtle or profound effects on life – can change lives

8. Dimensions of Test Interest Aptitude Achievement tests
Personality inventories
Intelligence tests
Neurological functioning

9. History of Psychological Testing
Astrology, humorology, phrenology, graphology
20th century advances in assessment due to advances in:
Theories of human behaviour
Statistical methods
Application of psychology in various settings
Treatment of mentally disturbed and retarded people

10. Why look at the past? History influences current practice
Relevance
Evolved and progressed
History is important:
Helps explain current practice
Strengths and weaknesses
Prevent repetitions of the ‘wrongs of the past’

11. Early origins China 2200BC First form of test “fitness for office”
Refined and developed and written exams were introduced 202BC
Civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue and geography

12. The start in psychiatry
1885 German Hubert von Grashey
Physician
Developed the antecedent of the memory drum
Conrad Rieger
Psychiatrist
Test battery for brain damage
100 hours to administer

13. Early testing Brass instrument era Wilhem Wundt (1832-1920)
Mistook simple sensory processes for intelligence
Wilhem Wundt ( )
1st psychological lab in 1879 in Leipzig, Germany

14. Francis Galton ( )
Continued with brass instruments but increased sample size
Clever ways of collecting data
1st battery of tests
Sensory and motor measures
Height, weight, hand length, head breadth, arm span, length of middle finger, strength of hand squeeze, vital capacity of lungs, highest audible tone, reaction time

15. James McKeen Cattell Studied with Galton
“Mental tests and measurements”
Strength of hand squeeze as measured by dynamometer
Rate of hand movement through a distance of 50 centimeters
Two-point threshold for touch
minimum distance at which two points are still perceived as separate
Degree of pressure needed to cause pain
rubber tip pressed against the forehead
Weight differentiation
discern the relative weights of identical-looking boxes varying by one gram from 100 to 110 grams
Reaction time for sound
Time for naming colors
Bisection of a 50-centimeter line
Judgment of 10 seconds of time
Number of letters repeated on one hearing
Clark Wissler (student) aimed to demonstrate test result could predict academic performance

16. Alfred Binet ( )
1904 French commission to identify retardation
1905 Binet-Simon scale
Differed to previous tests
Did not precisely measure a single construct
Brief and practical
Pragmatic view of intelligence
Standardised conditions and norms
1911 Third version of the B-S scale
Adult range
Mental age scoring and later a quotient
1916 Standford-Binet
Introduction of IQ
US use with immigrants

17. 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. The Scale Cont.
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.”
The 1908 scale had 58 problems

19. WWI and group tests
Yerkes created a test to classify and assign new recruits:
Army Alpha.
(1) following oral directions
(2) arithmetical reasoning
(3) practical judgment
(4) synonym–antonym pairs
(5) disarranged sentences
(6) number series completion
(7) analogies
(8) information
Army Beta
Visual perceptual and motor tests for illiterate people

20. The Army Alpha

21. The Army Alpha cont.

22. The Army Beta

23. The Army Beta cont.

24. Timeline

25. South Africa Earliest tests were standardised on whites
Initially used to place white students in special education
Measures of intellectual ability were used to draw distinctions between the races – an attempt to show superiority of one race group
many tests were developed along cultural lines for political purposes

26. Culture Fair Test

27. Internet Testing Better, faster, and cheaper services Easier to update
Easier to score
Relationship and rapport between test taker and administrator
Test security
Bandwidth
Presenting the exact same image

28. Example
BBC
Psychological Research on the Net

29. Mental Ability Tests Includes three subcategories. Intelligence tests
Aptitude tests
Achievement tests

30. Intelligence tests
Measure general mental abilities. They are intended to measure intellectual potential.

31. Examples
Emily is four years old. Her big sister Amy is three times as old as Emily. How old will Amy be when she is twice as old as Emily?
WOLF is to FLOW as 8526 is to:

32. Examples
Hanger is to closet as tree is to: Branch - Bushes - Forest - Ground - Nest
What would be the next number in this series? ?

33. Aptitude tests
Assess talent for specific kinds of learning. (clerical speed, mechanical reasoning, etc.)

34. Examples Are You a Self-Starter?
Climbing the ladder would bring a load of responsibility and pressure that I wouldn't want to carry.
If my boss or supervisor told me I were being promoted, the fact that they had so much confidence in my abilities would:

35. Achievement tests
Gauge a person’s mastery and knowledge of various subjects

36. Examples Who was the 43rd President of the United States?
What is 5x6 divided by 2?
How many branches of Government exist in the U.S.?

37. Personality Tests
Measure aspects of personality, including motives, interests, values, and attitudes.

38. Examples Do you become upset when. . ?
Do you feel like you lose control when. .?
Are you happy when . . ?

39. Test Design
In order for a test to be accurate, it must meet the three standards below.
Standardization
Validity
Reliability

40. Standardization
Standardization refers to the uniform procedures used in administrating and scoring a test.
Test norms: information used to rank scores in relation to other scores on the test.
Can you think of examples

41. Validity
Examples
What psychologist promoted introspection?
Who developed the four mechanisms for dreaming?
What school of psychology does Skinner belong to?
Refers to the ability of a test to measure what it was designed to measure.

42. Reliability
Reliability refers to the measurement consistency of a test (or other techniques).
Example
You take a personality test and are scored as “assertive”. Three weeks later you take the same test and are scored as “passive”. A drastic change is probably a result of an unreliable test.

43. Testing Reliability Test-retest
Comparing subjects’ scores on two administrations of a test.
Correlation Coefficient
A numerical index of the degree of relationship (-1, +1)

44. Visual example

45. Visual example

46. Think! Why do we have so many tests?
How can we use testing to improve . . .?
How does psychological testing apply to school, careers, sports, etc?

47. DIY www.iqtest.com http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~gsaucier/gsau41.htm