Psychological Testing: Introduction

Psychological Testing: Introduction Questions You’ll Encounter
What is a psychological test?
Are there different kinds of psych tests?
For what purposes are the used?
Have psych tests ever been used on me?
How do we know if a test is reliable? Valid?
Statistics AGAIN? 2 Questions You’ll Encounter
What are qualities of “good” test items?
How can testing situations affect responses?
What is an “IQ” anyway?
Does IQ really measure intelligence?
Should schools really care about my SAT? GRE? LSAT? MCAT? 3 1 Questions You’ll Encounter


Can my reaction to some weird inkblot really say something about my personality? Can my response to a bunch of weird T/F questions really indicate that I have a psychopathology? All I want to do is help people, why do I need to submit them to all these torturous tests? 4 Psychological Testing AKA
Psychometrics – field of study concerned with the theory and technique of educational and psychological measurement (Wikipedia)   measurement of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits. It involves two major research tasks 1. 2. the construction of instruments and procedures for measurement the development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement 5 Measurement
In psychology we are interested in either describing the distributions of and/or relationships among abstract concepts: e.g.,     Political conservatism Intelligence Neuroticism Aggression 6 2 Measurement
However, in most cases these constructs are abstractions that can often not be directly observed. Concept of Intelligence Operationalization Measure or Operationalization of Intelligence IQ test 7 Measurement

Note: that the degree to which the operationalization of the abstract concept actually reflects or mirrors the construct is the degree to which the operationalization can be said to be valid (more later). The value of scientific research is completely dependent upon the degree to which the operationalizations are successful or valid. 8 Concepts and Constructs
Concept:   
“An abstraction formed by generalization from particulars” Abstracts are hard to define E.g. intelligence Construct:    A concept with scientific purpose (i.e. operationalized) Can be measured and studied. E.g. IQ 9 3 Terms Review: Variables and Constants
Variable: any condition, event, characteristic or attribute that can take on different values at different times or with different people.    
Age of people Temperature Intelligence Xenophobia Constant:   One value in a given context. Does not change or vary. 10 Terms Review: Independent and Dependent Variables
Independent variable    
we are referring to a variable that the experimenter has some direct control over and can manipulate In Experiments IVs are the “cause” In non-experiments IVs are the “influence i.e., X → Y Dependent Variables   The variable being influenced/predicted The outcome variable 11 Terms Review: Discrete & Continuous Variables
Discrete variables: can only take on a finite or restricted set of values.  
Continuous variables: can take an infinite number of values 
Can only take on whole values (think digital) E.g., number of children per family, Number of students taking 100A E.g., Temperature (10.3 C, 10.24 C, 15.212 C), Weight (102.2lbs., 116.56 lbs.) The difference often limited only by precision 12 4 Psych Testing Basics
Test 
A measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or aid in the understanding and prediction of behavior. • Psychological Test   a set of items designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behavior. Behavior

Overt: observable activity of the individual Covert: takes place within the individual 13 Psych Testing Basics
Scale   Relate raw scores on a test to some defined theoretical or empirical distribution. A method of operationalizing a psychological construct using a multiple item test (e.g. questionnaire) 14 Types of Tests
Individual Tests vs. Group Tests  Individual tests: test administrator gives a test to a single person
 e.g. WAIS-III, MMPI-2 Group tests: single examiner gives a test to a group of people
e.g. SAT, GRE 15 5 Types of Tests
(Human) Ability Tests  Achievement Tests

 Aptitude Tests

 evaluates what an individual has learned measures prior activity evaluates what an individual is capable of learning measures capacity or future potential Intelligence Tests
Measures a person’s general potential to solve problems, adapt to novel situations and profit from experience 16 Types of Tests
Personality Tests: Objective & Projective  Objective Personality Tests
 present specific stimuli and ask for specific responses (e.g. true/false questions) . Projective Personality Tests
present more ambiguous stimuli and ask for less specific responses (e.g. inkblots, drawings, photographs, Rorschach, TAT) 17 History of Psychometrics





Chinese influence Individual Differences: Darwin and Galton Experimental Psychologists The study of mental deficiency Intelligence Testers Personality Testers 18 6 History of Psychometrics: Chinese influence
2000 B.C.E.
206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E.   Scattered evidence of civil service testing in China Han Dynasty in China develops test batteries

two or more tests used in conjunction. Test topics include civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, geography 19 History of Psychometrics: Chinese influence
1368 C.E. to 1644 C.E.   
Ming Dynasty in China develops multistage testing Local tests lead to provincial capital tests; capital tests lead to national capital tests Only those that passed the national tests were eligible for public office 1832  English East India Company copies Chinese system to select employees for overseas duty. 20 History of Psychometrics: Chinese influence
1855  
British Government adopts English East India Company selection examinations. French & German governments follow shortly. 1883   United States establishes the American Civil Service Commission Developed & administered competitive examinations for government service jobs. 21 7 History of Psychometrics: Individual Differences, Darwin and Galton


Individual differences - despite our similarities, no two humans are exactly alike. Why? Darwin some of these individual differences are more “adaptive” than others these individual differences, over time, lead to more complex, intelligent organisms   22 History of Psychometrics: Individual Differences, Darwin and Galton
Galton - cousin of Darwin     “Applied Darwinist”: some people possessed characteristics that made them “more fit” than others. Wrote Hereditary Genius (1869) Sets up an anthropometric laboratory at the International Exposition of 1884 For 3 pence, visitors could be measured with:

The Galton Bar - visual discrimination of length The Galton Whistle (aka “dog whistle” determining highest audible pitch 23 History of Psychometrics: Individual Differences, Darwin and Galton
Galton’s Anthropometric Lab 24 8 History of Psychometrics: Individual Differences, Darwin and Galton
Galton Whistle (circa 1900)
Galton Bar 25 Individual Differences: Darwin and Galton

Galton also noted that persons with mental retardation also tend to have diminished ability to discriminate among heat, cold & pain. Other advances (?) of Galton’s:       Considered by some the founder of psychometrics pioneered rating scales & questionnaires first to document individuality of fingerprints studied efficacy of prayer first to apply statistics in the measurement of humans Founder of eugenics 26 History of Psychometrics: Galton’s Famous Students
Karl Pearson   
Does the name Pearson sound familiar? student of Galton extended Galton’s early work with statistical regression James McKeen Cattell   first to use the term “mental test” U.S. dissertation on reaction time based upon Galton’s work 27 9 History of Psychometrics: Early Experimental Psychologists
Early 19th century scientists, generally interested in identifying common aspects, rather than individual differences.   Differences between individuals was considered a source of error which rendered human measurement inexact. Sounds a lot like things from your past (e.g. ANOVA) and your coming future 28 History of Psychometrics: Early Experimental Psychologists


Johan Friedrich Herbart - mathematical models of the mind; founder of pedagogy as an academic discipline; went against Kant Ernst Heinrich Weber - sensory thresholds; just noticeable difference (JND) Gustav Theodor Fechner - mathematics of sensory thresholds of experience; founder of psychophysics; considered of one founders of experimental psychology; Weber-Fechner Law first to relate sensation and stimulus; considered by some the founder of psychometrics 29 History of Psychometrics: Early Experimental Psychologists
Fechner influenced many prominent psychologists (e.g. Wundt, Freud)   Wilhelm Wundt – considered one of the founders of psychology; first to set up a psych laboratory Edward Titchner – succeeded Wundt; brought Structuralism to America; His brain is still on display in the psychology department at Cornell 30 10 History of Psychometrics: Early Experimental Psychologists
Fechner influenced many prominent psychologists (e.g. Wundt, Freud)   Guy Montrose Whipple – Student of Titchner’s; pioneer of human ability testing; conducted seminars that changed the field of psych testing; APA issued its first set of standards for professional psychological testing because of his criticisms Louis Leon Thurstone – Large contributor to factor analysis; attended Whipple’s seminars; approach to measurement was termed the law of comparative judgment 31 History of Psychometrics: Interest in Mental Deficiency
1805 – Jean-Étienne Esquirol, French Physician   Favorite Student of Philippe Pinel (founder of psychiatry) Manuscript on “mental retardation.”

 Many degrees to mental retardation
 differentiated between insanity & mental retardation insanity had a period of normal intellectual functioning normality to “low-grade idiocy” Attempted to develop system to classify people into these many degrees but found that the individual’s use of language provided the most dependable continuum 32 History of Psychometrics: Interest in Mental Deficiency
1840s - Edouard Seguin, French Physician      Pioneer in training mentally-retarded persons. Rejected the notion of incurably MR 1837: opens first school devoted to teaching MR children. 1848: emigrates to USA, wide acceptance of theories 1866: experiments with physiological training of MR

sense-training / muscle-training still used today leads to nonverbal tests of intelligence (Seguin Form Board) 33 11 History of Psychometrics: Intelligence Testing
Alfred Binet    50 years after Esquirol & Seguin -- 1905 French Society for the Psychological Study of the Child urged French ministers to develop special classes for children who failed to respond to normal schooling. Ministers required a way to identify the children 34 History of Psychometrics: Intelligence Testing
Alfred Binet    First Intelligence Test: Binet-Simon Scale of 1905 30 items of increasing difficulty Standardized administration
 Same instructions & format for ALL children Standardization sample
created norms by which performance one child can be compared with other children. 35 History of Psychometrics: Intelligence Testing
Alfred Binet  Standardization Sample


50 Normal children aged 3-11yrs “Some” mentally retarded children and adults 1908 Binet-Simon Scale    More items (greater reliability) Better standardization sample (300 normal children) Introduction of Mental Age 36 12 History of Psychometrics: Intelligence Testing
Alfred Binet’s legacy  1911 Binet-Simon, minor revision

 Binet dies 1912 Kuhlmann-Binet revision Extends testing downward to 3 months of age 1916 Lewis Madison Terman & Stanford Colleagues revise Binet’s test for use in the United States


More psychometrically sound Introduction of the term IQ Mental Age / Chronological Age = IQ 37 History of Psychometrics: Intelligence Testing
World War I - Robert Yerkes   Need for large-scale group administered ability tests by the army Army commissions Yerkes, then head of the American Psychological Association, to develop two structured tests of human abilities


Army Alpha - required reading ability Army Beta - did not require reading ability Testing “frenzy” hits between World War I and the 1930s. 38 History of Psychometrics: Intelligence Testing
Testing Frenzy of the 1930’s   1937 Revision of the Stanford-Binet includes over 3000 individuals in standardization 1939 Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale



David Wechsler Subcales were “adopted” from the Army Scales Produces several scores of intellectual ability rather than Binet’s single scores (e.g. Verbal, Performance, FullScale) Evolves into the Wechsler Series of intelligence tests (e.g. WAIS, WISC, etc.) 39 13 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing

Rise – 1920s, Fall – 1930s, Slow Rise – 1940s Intended to measure personality traits   Trait: relatively enduring dispositions (tendencies to act, think or feel in a certain manner in any given circumstance) NOT temporary states 40 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing

First Rise and Fall: Structured Tests Woodworth Personal Data Sheet     First objective personality test meant to aid in psychiatric interviews Developed during World War I Designed to screen out soldiers unfit for duty Mistakenly assumed that a subjects response could be taken at face value 41 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing
Woodworth Test Item 1. I wet the bed. Yes No 2. I drink a quart of whiskey each day. 3. I am afraid of closed spaces. 4. I believe I am being followed. 5. People are out to get me. 6. Sometimes I see or hear things that other people do not hear or see. 42 14 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing

Slow Rise: Projective Tests Herman Rorschach inkblot test (1921)   Started with great suspicion; first serious study in 1932. Symmetric colored & b/w inkblots. 43 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing
Rorschach inkblot example 44 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing
Thematic Apperception Test    Henry Murray and Christina Morgan (1935) “Ambiguous” pictures though considerably more structured than the Rorschach Subjects are shown the pictures and asked to write a story including:



what has led up to the event shown what is happening at the moment what the characters are feeling and thinking, and what the outcome of the story was. 45 15 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing
Thematic Apperception Test Example 46 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing


Second coming of the Structured Test Early 1940s – Structured Tests were being developed based on better psychometric properties. Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI; 1943)    Tests like the Woodworth made too many assumptions The meaning of the test response could only be determined by empirical research Most widely used (MMPI-2, MMPI-A) 47 History of Psychometrics: Personality Testing
Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire   Raymond B. Cattell (early 1940s) Based on Factor Analysis – method for finding the minimum number of dimensions (factors) for explaining the largest number of variables 48 16