PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING B. Ability tests: Measure skills in terms of speed, accuracy, or both.

 Test− A measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or aid  Achievement: Measures previous learning.
in the understanding and prediction of behavior; Tests are devices used to  Aptitude: Measures potential for acquiring a specific skill.
translate observations into numbers. Because the outcome of a test is  Intelligence: Measures potential to solve problems, adapt to
almost always represented as a score. changing circumstances, and profit from experience.
 Testing− the term used to refer to everything from the administration of a (Note: Achievement, aptitude, and intelligence tests, all three
test to the interpretation of a test score. concepts are encompassed by the term human ability.)
C. Personality tests: Measure typical behavior—traits, temperaments,
 Item− A specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly; this response
and dispositions.
can be scored or evaluated.
 Structured (objective): Provides a self-report statement to
 Psychological test− A set of items that are designed to measure
which the person responds “True” or “False,” “Yes” or “No.”
characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior; Psychological and
 Projective: Provides an ambiguous test stimulus; response
educational tests measure past or current behavior. Some also attempt to
requirements are unclear.
predict future behavior
 Overt behavior− Is an individual’s observable activity.
 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
 Covert—That is, it takes place within an individual and cannot be directly
– First, every third year in China, oral examinations were given to help
observed.
determine work evaluations and promotion decisions.
 Scales−Relate raw scores on test items to some defined theoretical or
– Then, in Han Dynasty the use of test batteries was quite common. Test
empirical distribution.
includes topics on civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, and
 James McKeen Cattell− coined the term mental test.
geography.
 Psychological Assessment − as the gathering and integration of
– During the Ming Dynasty tests had become quite well developed.
psychology related data for the purpose of making a psychological
During this period, a national multistage testing program involved local
evaluation that is accomplished through the use of tools such as tests,
and regional testing centers equipped with special testing booths. Only
interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed
those who passed this third set of tests were eligible for public office.
apparatuses and measurement procedures.
– The Western world most likely learned about testing programs
 Psychological testing− as the process of measuring psychology-related
through the Chinese.
variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of
– After the British endorsement of a civil service testing system, the
behavior
French and German governments followed suit.
 Traits are relatively enduring dispositions (tendencies to act, think, or feel
– Then U.S. government established the American Civil Service
in a certain manner in any given circumstance) that distinguish one Commission, which developed and administered competitive
individual from another. examinations for certain government jobs.
– The most basic concept underlying psychological and educational
 TYPES OF TESTS testing pertains to individual differences.
A. – An important step toward understanding individual difference came
 Individual Tests − Those that can be given to only one person with the publication of Charles Darwin’s highly influential book, The
at a time Origin of Species. Darwin believed that those with the best or most
 Group Test−can be administered to more than one person at a adaptive characteristics survive at the expense of those who are less fit
time by a single examiner, such as when an instructor gives and that the survivors pass their characteristics on to the next
everyone in the class a test at the same time. generation. Through this process, he argued, life has evolved to its
currently complex and intelligent levels.
 – Sir Francis Galton concentrated on demonstrating that individual Mental Age Formula:
differences exist in human sensory and motor functioning, such as
reaction time, visual acuity, and physical strength. In doing so, Galton 𝑀𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑔𝑒
X 100 =Intelligence quotient
initiated a search for knowledge concerning human individual 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑔𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝐴𝑔𝑒
differences, which is now one of the most important domains of
scientific psychology. – In 1911, the Binet-Simon Scale received a minor revision.
– Another major foundation of testing can be found in experimental – By 1916, L. M. Terman of Stanford University had revised the Binet
psychology and early attempts to unlock the mysteries of human test for use in the United States. Terman’s revision, known as the
consciousness. Thus, psychological testing developed from at least Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Terman’s 1916 revision of the Binet-
two lines of inquiry: one based on the work of Darwin, Galton, and Simon Scale contained many improvements. The standardization
Cattell on the measurement of individual differences, and the other sample was increased to include 1000 people, original items were
(more theoretically relevant and probably stronger) based on the work revised, and many new items were added.
of the German psychophysicists Herbart, Weber, Fechner, and Wundt. – By 1937, the Stanford-Binet had been revised again. Among the many
– In 1905, Alfred Binet and a colleague published a test designed to help improvements was the inclusion of a standardization sample of more
place Paris schoolchildren in appropriate classes. than 3000 individuals.
– When the United States declared war on Germany and entered World – 2 years after the 1937 revision of the Stanford- Binet test, David
War I in 1917, the military needed a way to screen large numbers of Wechsler published the first version of the Wechsler intelligence
recruits quickly for intellectual and emotional problems.
scales.
– Seguin Form Board Test earliest tests developed in an effort to
educate and evaluate the mentally disabled. – Unlike the Stanford-Binet test, which produced only a single score
(the so-called IQ, or intelligence quotient), Wechsler’s test yielded
 THE EVOLUTION OF INTELLIGENCE AND STANDARDIZED ACHIEVEMENT several scores, permitting an analysis of an individual’s pattern or
TESTS combination of abilities.
– Alfred Binet developed the first Intelligence Test known as the Binet- – In 1986, the Binet test was drastically revised to include performance
Simon Scale, was published in 1905. subtests. More recently, it was overhauled again in 2003.
– Contained 30 items of increasing difficulty and was designed to
identify intellectually subnormal individuals.
 WORLD WAR I
– In developing the test Binet’s standardization sample consisted of 50
children. – The war created a demand for large-scale group testing because
– By 1908, the Binet-Simon Scale had been substantially improved. relatively few trained personnel could evaluate the huge influx of
Include nearly twice as many items as the 1905 scale. Even more military recruits. However, the Binet test was an individual test.
significantly, the size of the standardization sample was increased to – The army requested the assistance of Robert Yerkes, who was then
more than 200. The1908 Binet-Simon Scale also determined a child’s the president of the American Psychological Association. Yerkes
mental age− a measurement of a child’s performance on the test headed a committee of distinguished psychologists who soon
relative to other children of that particular age group; refers to how old
developed two structured group tests of human abilities: the Army
your brain feels. (Ex: 5 years old ka lang tapos yung resulta ng mental
ability mo pang 15 years na). Alpha and the Army Beta. The Army Alpha required reading ability,
whereas the Army Beta measured the intelligence of illiterate adults.
– Chronological Age/ Biological Age− the number of years you’ve lived.
 PERSONALITY TESTS: 1920–1940 they can all be accounted for or subsumed under a single dimension
– The first structured personality test, the Woodworth Personal Data (or factor) such as extroversion.
Sheet, was developed during World War I and was published in final
form just after the war.
– The earliest personality tests were structured paper-and-pencil group
tests. These tests provided multiple-choice and true-false questions
that could be administered to a large group.
– During the brief but dramatic rise and fall of the first structured
personality tests, interest in projective tests began to grow. In
contrast to structured personality tests, which in general provide a
relatively unambiguous test stimulus and specific alternative responses,
projective personality tests provide an ambiguous stimulus and
unclear response requirements. Furthermore, the scoring of projective
tests is often subjective.
– The Rorschach test first published by Herman Rorschach of Switzerland
in 1921. Rorschach test contained completely ambiguous inkblot
stimuli which asked the subject to explain what the inkblot might be.
– Adding to the momentum for the acceptance and use of projective
tests was the development of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
by Henry Murray and Christina Morgan in 1935. Its stimuli consisted
of ambiguous pictures depicting a variety of scenes and situations,
such as a boy sitting in front of a table with a violin on it. TAT required
the subject to make up a story about the ambiguous scene. The TAT
purported to measure human needs and thus to ascertain individual
differences in motivation.
– In 1943, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
began a new era for structured personality tests.
– Just about the time the MMPI appeared, personality tests based on
the statistical procedure called factor analysis began to emerge.
Factor analysis is a method of finding the minimum number of
dimensions (characteristics, attributes), called factors, to account for a
large number of variables. We may say a person is outgoing, is
gregarious, seeks company, is talkative, and enjoys relating to others.
However, these descriptions contain a certain amount of redundancy.
A factor analysis can identify how much they overlap and whether