2. In this presentation
 You could know that what
a psychological test is.
 Its characteristics.
 Advantages and limitations.
 Why psychological tests were
developed.
 How they can be used to assist
individuals in our societies to prom
better understanding of human
behavior and to make decisions.

3. Why do we need psychological testing?

4. The need to make decisions about people is not a new ch
for the human race. Every day people in our societies are
with the task of making decisions that are important and h
long-term implications for individuals.

5. Which university
course should I
pursue?

6. Who should I appoint for this important positi
in my company?

7. Does my client have a mental disorder?

8. Similarly, human beings have always been
fascinated by their own and others’ behavior

9. Why is this seemingly bright student
underperforming in class?

10. Why do I lack confidence in public speaking

11. Traditionally, we have
relied on a number of
methods (e.g. tradition
supernatural forces,
laws or logic) to assist
us in these processes
For example, in ancien
China, astrology and
numerology were
used to evaluate
the compatibility
between brides and
grooms.

12. For the profession of psychology, personal judgment and c
intuition have been used for a long time to assist psycholo
to arrive at a decision or to understand behavior.

13. For example, psychologists who work in busi
organizations have made decisions about hir
individuals based on interviewing them.

14. Similarly, clinicians have used interviews to decide if some
is suffering from mental illness or brain injury.

15. It has been shown
repeatedly, however, that
human judgment is
subjective and fallible.
Some of the factors that
can influence the outcomes
of human judgment include,
stereotyping, personal
bias, positive and negative
halo effect, and errors of
central tendency

16. Given that most decisions relating to professional psychol
have significant implication for the person involved or the
person who made decision, an error in making the decisio
costly and devastating, and may not be reversible.

17. For example, an erroneous judgment about the mental competency
person can lead to the rights of the person being wrongfully remove

18. As another example, a lot of time and money could be wa
if the wrong person was hired for a job

19. Psychologists consider psychological tests better than per
judgment in informing decision making in many situations
because of the nature and defining characteristics of these

20. What is a psychological test?

21. This seems to be a difficult question to answer when one
examines the plethora of published tests in the market and
that they can differ in so many respects.

22. While some psychological tests take only a few minutes
complete, others can take hours to administer.

23. For some psychological tests, a respondent is required to provide o
simple yes/no answer, other tests are designed in such a way that a
has to navigate and respond in a virtual reality environment.

24. Some psychological tests can be administered to hundreds of peop
one time and scored and interpreted by a computer, but other tests
face-to-face administration and individual scoring and interpretation
require years of training and experience.

25. Despite the above wide-ranging differences, all
psychological tests are considered to have one th
common, that is, they are the tools that psycholog
use to collect data about people

26. More specifically, a psychological test is an objective proc
for sampling and quantifying human behaviour to make an
inference about a particular psychological construct using
standardize stimuli, and methods of administration and sc

27. In addition, to demonstrate its usefulness, a psychological
requires appropriate norms and evidence

28. A psychological test is a sample of behavior that is used t
make inferences about the individual in a significant socia
context. The behavior sample may be considered comple
itself or, as is more often the case, as a sign of an underly
disposition that mediates behaviour.

29. Take, for example, a psychological test that is used to decide whethe
individual will be able to understand instructional material to be used
job training. The test for this purpose may consist of sample passage
the daily newspaper. The test taker’s task is to read each of the pass
and report their meanings. If comprehension of most of the passage
accurate, the test taker can be judged to read well enough for the pu
of the job. As long as the difficulty level of the passages approximate
that of the instructional material, the test provides a basis for inferrin
adequate performance in training.

30. In a clinical setting, a test may provide a sample of the behavior that the client find
disturbing. For example, a client may suffer an irrational fear of an object that is n
actually dangerous, such as harmless spiders. As a result of the fear, the client ca
enter a darkened room or clean out cupboards because of the likelihood of confro
a spider. To assess the magnitude of the irrational fear, the tester may ask the cli
approach a harmless spider being held in a glass case. The distance from the spi
that induces a report of anxiety is taken as an indication of the severity of the clie
avoidance behaviour. This can be used to judge the effectiveness of any subseq
planned intervention to reduce the problem. After the treatment the client should b
to approach the spider more closely that before.

31. In both of these cases, the sample of behavior is complete in itself,
it assesses directly what the tester wants to know; namely, compreh
common passages of English text or avoiding an object of a phobia

32. The samples could be used, however,
the basis for indirect inferences, by
arguing that each in its own way reflect
an underlying disposition that is
responsible for the individual’s behavio
Thus, the comprehension test might be
used to infer the individual’s level of
general mental ability or intelligence
and the avoidance test may be used to
infer the individual’s level of neuroticis
that is, the likelihood that they will suffe
an anxiety disorder. In these cases, the
content of the particular sample is
incidental and can be replaced by a
different sample that is also thought
for the test of verbal comprehension as
a sign of general mental ability, or a se
of questions about episodes of anxiety
and depression may be substituted for
the avoidance test as a sign of the
individual’s level of neuroticism. Such
substitution would make no sense if the
tests were being used as a sample
rather than a sigh.

33. The distinction between tests as samples of behavior or as sig
underlying disposition rests on theoretical differences about th
causes of human behavior. We draw attention to the distinction
for two reasons. First, it is important for the tester to be aware
whether any particular test is being used principally as a samp
behavior or as a sign of an underlying disposition we say ‘princ
’ because the distinction when probed is not hard and fast

34. The other reason for making
the distinction is that tests
used in these two ways are
interpreted differently.
Where the test is a
sample, interpretation
of test performance is
usually in terms of what
has been called
‘criterion referencing’;
where the test is used as
a sign, what is termed a
‘norm referencing’
strategy is usually
adopted.

35. In the case of former, what is effective behavior in the situation in qu
can be specified reasonably objectively and the individual’s perform
is judged against this standard or criterion.

36. Thus, a person might be expected to understand most, if not all, of what th
read in a newspaper if they are to deal with instructional manuals on the jo
person free of a spider phobia can be expected to come close to a harmle
spider, but perhaps not touch it. In the case of norm referencing, on the ot
hand, the performance of the individual is related to the performance of a
of individuals similar to the test taker in important respects (e.g. gender,
educational level and cultural background) How well or badly a person ha
performed is thus assessed against what the average person can do, or w
norm is. Many psychological tests are thought of as signs of underlying
dispositions and as such are norm referenced.

37. The second characteristics of a psycholo
test, similar to other scientific measurem
instruments, is that it is an objective
procedure. It uses the same standardize
material administration instructions, time
and scoring procedures for all test takers
This ensures that there is no bias, uninte
or otherwise, in collecting the information
and that meaningful comparisons can be
made between individuals who are
administered the same psychological tes
Unless two people are treated in the sam
way (e.g. same instruction, same order o
questions and same time limits), it is not
possible to attribute any differences in th
performance to differences between them
The difference in performance could just
well be due to the difference in the ways
they were tested. To ensure uniformity o
test stimuli and procedures, the manual
accompanies a psychological test usuall
includes detailed and clear instructions

38. The objective nature of psychological tests is one the main advanta
they have over other methods for assisting us to understand human
behavior and make decisions about it, not the least because it minim
errors of judgment relating to personal bias or subjectivity.

39. Third, unlike subjective human judgment, the result of a psychologic
is summarized quantitatively in terms of a score or scores. Again, th
characteristic is similar to that of other scientific measurement instru
that use numbers to represent the extent of variables such as weigh
temperature and velocity.

40. The quantification of psychological test results allow
human behavior to be described more precisely an
be communicated more clearly. For example, the u
an IQ score allows psychologists to provide a more
fine-grained description of a person’s intellectual ab

41. Fourth, a psychological test provides an objective referenc
point for evaluating the behavior it measures.

42. Criterion-Referenced Test
In the case of a criterion-referenced test, a standard of performance is
determined in advance by some empirical method, and the test taker’s
performance is compared with this standard in determining whether the
or fail. It may be, for example , the judgment of experts that determines
the standard, but it is open to all to see what the standard is that is bein
set. It is not the personal viewpoint of the person collecting the informa

43. Norm-Referenced Test
In the same way, in a norm-referenced test the performance of a
representative group of people on the test is used in preparing the t
norms and these are used in scoring the test. The individual’s perfo
is thus referred to that of the norming group, a reference point that i
an individual’s judgment.

44. In both cases, the psychological te
allows the comparison between th
individual in question and some so
of standard performance.

45. Fifth, possible the most important defining characteristics of a
psychological test is that it must meet a number of criteria to be a us
information-gathering device. The criteria relate to its quality as mea
device; for example, how accurate and reproducible are the scores
obtained with it how well does it measure what it intends to measure

46. Psychometric Properties
These criteria are referred to as psychometric properties. They are
evaluated in the course of test construction and again subsequently
are reported or made available to test users. This is in fact a proces
quality control to ensure that the test is operating in the way the auth
claim it does. By showing that the psychometric properties of a
psychological test have reached a required standard, we can have
confidence in using the results obtained from the test.

47. Although it is important to know that psychological tests have a num
advantages, it is also necessary to be aware of the limitations of tes
knowing limitations can lead to an over-reliance on, or misunderstan
the psychological test results obtained.

48. The first of these limitations, as mentioned earlier, is that psychological tests are o
As such, they do not and cannot take decisions for test users. Decision making is
responsibility of the person who commissioned the use of the test and to who the
results are made available. the person may be the psychologist who administered
but the two roles should not be confused. The test provides a way of gathering inf
and , if well chosen, will provide accurate and pertinent information, but the use o
information, including a bad decision, is in the hands of the decision maker. Not b
aware of this limitation can lead the test user and the person involved to be depen
the test results and accept them passively. Instead, psychological test results sho
used as a source of data, along with other sources of data such as personal histo
current circumstances, to assist the test user or the individual to arrive at or make
informed decision.

49. Second, psychological tests are often used in an attempt to capture
effects of hypothetical constructs. As in other scientific disciplines,
psychology employs constructs that are not directly observable, rath
their effects can only be inferred. As such, we need to be aware tha
sometimes a gap exists between what the psychologist intends to m
using a psychological test and what a test actually measures

50. For example, although IQ tests were developed to measure intellige
we need to be aware that the value of these tests in telling us about
person’s intelligence depends very much on our understanding of th
construct of intelligence and the type(s) of behaviors included in any
particular test. Not being aware of this issue can lead to the develop
of unwarranted faith in psychological tests and total acceptance of t
test results without being aware of their limitations.

51. Third, because of continual development or refinement of psychological theories,
development of technology and passage of time, psychological tests can become
obsolete. They may no longer be suitable for use because the theory that their co
was based on has been shown to be wrong or because the content of the items is
appropriate because of social or cultural change. In the early part of the twentieth
century, for example, church attendance in Western countries was very much high
is now and a reasonable level of Bible knowledge could be assumed. A test item
draw on this fact. Although useful then it is might now be far too esoteric to be of m
use today. According to the Australian Psychological Society and the American
Psychological Association, tests should be revised or updated regularly and norm
samples should be kept current.

52. Finally, although it may not be the intention of a test developer, som
a psychological test can disadvantage a subgroup of test takers bec
of their cultural experience or language background. A vocabulary te
that usefully discriminates levels of verbal ability among children fro
white, English-speaking, middle class homes may be of no use for t
purpose with children with a different sub-cultural experience or thos
do not have English as their first language. Test are not universally
applicable and to treat them as such may do an injustice to some.

53. For better understanding you can produce your answe
Q: What are some of the ways that psychological tests
have been used to assist individuals in promoting
understanding and making decisions?
Q: What are the five defining characteristics of
psychological test?
Q: The advantages of a psychological test outweigh its
limitations. Discuss.
Q: Some questionnaires (e.g. Am I moody individual? H
your marital relationship?) in popular magazines look lik
but are not psychological tests, Why are they not.