Chapter 1 Section 1: Psych 310
Which of the following is NOT a typical characteristic of psychological tests?
. standardization to a mean of 100
Currently, ethnic minorities constitute about __________ of the U.S. population.
1/3
In a 50-item multiple choice test with four choices per item, what would be the corrected score for an examinee who answered 32 items correctly, answered 9 items incorrectly, and left 9 items blank?
29
Suppose a young girl answers correctly on 37 questions from a 50-item test but answers erroneously on 9 questions, leaving 2 questions blank. Suppose their are four alternatives per question. Using established principles of probability, what would be her corrected score?
34
___________ tests are often used to measure a person's degree of learning, success or accomplishment in a subject matter.
Achievement
___________ tests are often used to predict success in an occupation, training course, or educational endeavor
Aptitude
_______________ share a common assumption that behavior is best understood in terms of clearly defined characteristics such as frequency, duration, antecedents, and consequences.
Behavioral procedures
Individual tests of intelligence, projective personality tests, and neuropsychological test batteries are examples of Level ___ tests
C
In general, Head Start children show immediate gains in
IQ academic achievement school readiness all of the above
Which test is considered to have better norming?
MMPI-2
What subspecialty of psychology uses specialized tests on people to make inferences about the locus, extent, and consequences of brain damage?
Neuropsychology
Suppose a tester asks "What is a sofa?" and the child looks puzzled. In general, is it acceptable for the tester to rephrase the question, asking "What is a couch?"
No, because the rephrased question is easier and therefore not comparable
The early testing pioneer who studied aboriginal groups in Australia was
Stanley Porteus
______________________ may have the long-term effect of pressuring African American students to "protectively disidentify" with achievement in school and related intellectual domains.
Stereotype threat
The distinction between aptitude tests and achievement tests is based largely upon
The distinction between aptitude tests and achievement tests is based largely upon
Which of the following could be a test, according to the definition offered in the textbook?
a checklist for rating the social skills of a retarded youth a non-timed measure of mastery in adding pairs of three-digit numbers a microcomputer appraisal of reaction time all of the above
A psychometrician is best understood as
a developer and evaluator of psychological tests
On a footprint test, Australian aboriginal peoples scored __________ other racial groups examined.
about the same as
Under what circumstances is it considered ethical to ask a client to take a test such as the MMPI-2 home for completion?
almost never
The ability of a test to predict non-test behavior is determined by
an extensive body of postpublication validational research
According to APA guidelines, who is qualified to use an individual intelligence test?
an individual with a least a master's degree in psychology or an allied field
Psychological assessment is characterized by all of the following EXCEPT:
an objective process based on a single source of information
The ________ test is a multivariate assessment of heart rate, respiration, muscle tone, reflex irritability, and color in newborns
apgar
Regarding a test manual, ethical guidelines indicate that test publishers
are required to publish a manual
Which is the most comprehensive term?
assessing
Appraising or estimating the magnitude of one or more attributes in a person is referred to as
assessment
The term ___________ was invented during World War II to describe a program to select men for secret service assignment in the Office of Strategic Services.
assessment
The single most important principle in the ethics of testing is
best interests of the client
In Moore's adoption study, which group scored higher on IQ tests?
black children adopted into white families
Placement, screening, certification, and selection are all examples of
classification
Measures of ___________ emphasize novelty and originality in the solution of fuzzy problems or the production of artistic works.
creativity
In a(n) _______________ test, the objective is to determine where the examinee stands with respect to very tightly defined educational objectives.
criterion-referenced
The text mentions that the following element(s) can be used to define informed consent from a legal standpoint.
disclosure 2. voluntariness 3. competency 4. ALL THE ABOVE
Putting forth a variety of answers to a complex or fuzzy problem is an example of _________ thinking.
divergent
The Tarasoff case was the impetus for changes in the concept of
duty to warn
The purpose of norms is to
establish an average performance indicate the prevalence of high and low scores determine deviations from expectation all of the above
Regarding the publication of new or revised instruments, the most important guideline is to
exceptions can be made only if withholding information would present a clear danger to client or others
All of the following are common sources of error in group testing EXCEPT:
failure to provide allotted break time
According to the text, which kind of test generally requires the greatest vigilance from the examiner?
group and individual tests require equal vigilance
Most intelligence tests use a _____________ assortment of test items.
heterogeneous
What is the relationship between test anxiety and school achievement?
high anxiety correlates with low achievement
In determining the boundaries of flexible testing procedures, the examiner should consider
how the test was likely administered to the norm sample
With regard to professional ethics, which of the following is NOT true?
if one is conversant with the written professional guidelines, answers to ethical testing issues are always simple and straightforward
Access to psychological tests is restricted because
in the hands of unqualified persons, psychological tests can cause harm 2. the selection process is rendered invalid for persons who preview test questions 3. leakage of item content to the general public completely destroys the efficacy of a test 4. all of the above
Which of the following is a possible sign of hearing loss?
inattentiveness poor articulation difficulty in following oral directions all of the above
Undoubtedly the single greatest source of error in group test administration is:
incorrect timing of tests
An important advantage of _________ tests is that the examiner can gauge the level of motivation of the examinee.
individual
Which of the following does not need to be included in the marketing of tests:
information about potential misuse 2. a balanced presentation of the manuals and guides 3. statistics on reliability, validity, norms, and other relevant technical details 4. all should be included
According to the principle of _________________, test takers or representatives are made aware, in language that they can understand, of the reasons for testing, the type of tests to be used, the intended use and the range of material consequences of the intended use.
informed consent
When test takers are made aware, in language that they can understand, of the reasons for testing, etc., this is called
informed consent
Question By far the most common use of psychological tests is to
make decisions about persons
In the equation X = T + e, what is the best that a test developer can do?
make e very small
Criterion-referenced tests
measure what a person can do
In a(n) _____________ test, the performance of each examinee is interpreted in reference to a relevant standardization sample.
norm-referenced
Tests that use a well-defined population of persons for their interpretive framework are referred to as:
norm-referenced
In light of consent guidelines, what requirement does a psychologist have if they are interested in testing an 18-year-old client with mental retardation?
obtain consent from a legal guardian
What effect does an excessive emphasis on nationally normed achievement tests for selection and evaluation appear to promote?
outright fraud and cheating
When instructions for a task are neutral or nonthreatening, test-anxious subjects
perform just as well as low-anxious subjects
Checklists, inventories, and projective techniques are all examples of ____________ tests.
personality
A consulting psychologist evaluates a candidate for law enforcement and notes a significantly elevated K-scale (defensiveness). What should the psychologist do?
point out that elevated K scores are common in this group
As a group, Native Americans may tend to emphasize ___________ more than European Americans.
present time
According to APA guidelines, who is qualified to use a straightforward paper-and- pencil test of vocational proficiency
psychologists or a responsible nonpsychologist (e.g., business executive
A specialist in psychology or education who develops and evaluates psychological tests:
psychometrician
Conscious faking on psychological tests is thought to be
rare
The necessary prerequisite(s) to administering a new test are:
reading the manual memorizing key elements of instructions rehearsing the test all of the above
When a psychologist tests an individual who she believes to have a brain tumor, in her written report she should
recommend immediate consultation with the appropriate profession (e.g neurology)
A neuropsychologist investigating the hypothesis that low-level lead absorption causes behavior deficits in children would be an example of using psychological testing for __________________.
research
Which of the following is NOT true in relation to psychological tests:
results represent a thing with physical reality
The idea of stereotype threat is essentially a sophisticated version of
self-fulfilling prophecy
Why are tests merely a sample of behavior?
so that the time required for testing is not excessive
Owing to the special nature of this kind of impairment, subjects may receive less credit on a test item than is due.
speech-impaired
Being aware of obsolete tests (i.e. MMPI) and outdated test results are illustrations of _____________________.
standard of care
Uniformity of administration procedures is the definition of
standardization
The norm group is referred to as the
standardization sample
Suppose subjects are matched on overall IQ. On timed subtests from an intelligence scale such as the WAIS, the performance of low-anxious subjects ________________ that of high-anxious subjects.
surpasses
The overly optimistic picture of student achievement is called _______________.
the Lake Wobegon Effect
In a study by Finn, one group of students received feedback about the MMPI-2, whereas another group received an equal amount of supportive, nondirective psychotherapy instead of the feedback. Which group showed greater gains in self- esteem and symptom relief?
the MMPI-2 feedback group
Where is the most reliable source to get directions and instructions for administering specific psychological tests?
the instruction manual that typically accompanies a test
In the selection and testing of a standardized sample, it is crucial that
the sample is representative of the population for whom the test is intended
In most cases, if a test question asks "What shape is a ball?" a correct answer would be recorded if
the subject responds verbally "round" the subject responds verbally "spherical" the subject gestures with his index finger in a circular pattern all of the above
In general, how do test manuals for group standardized tests handle the issue of guessing?
they provide explicit instructions to examinees as to the advantages and potential pitfalls of guessing
It is important that the standardization sample be representative of the population for whom the test is intended because
this allows for the examinee's relative standing to be determined
In Terrell's study, which group of black subjects showed the lowest IQ test results when tested by a white examiner?
those with high cultural mistrust
When testing a person with a mild motor handicap, examiners may wish to omit
timed performance subtests
Which of the following was used as a situational test by the Office of Strategic Services during WWII?
transporting equipment across a raging brook scaling a ten foot high wall surviving a realistic interrogation all of the above
Vernon and Brown (1964) relate the tragic case of a young girl who was put in an institution for the mentally retarded because of a test IQ of 29, when, in fact, it was later shown her real IQ was 113. The original low score was a result of
unrecognized deafness in the girl
Which of the following is an essential step in the standardization of a test?
use of identical stimuli with all examinees precise specification of oral instructions for subtests advice to the examiner as to how to handle queries from the examinee all of the above
If you are a therapist and your client makes repeated death threats against a specific individual, what is your ethical responsibility?
warn the individual who your client is making threats against and notify law enforcement
When testing children, testing should begin
when he/she seems relaxed enough to give maximum effort
In one study reported in the text (Terrell, et al. 1981), mistrustful blacks performed relatively poorly when tested by ______ examiners
white
Which of the examiner characteristics listed below has been found to make a consistent and significant difference in the outcome of individual test results?
white
Test-anxious students have study habits that are _____________ those of other students.
worse than
The test item writer's aim is to make all or nearly all considered guesses _________ guesses.
wrong
Suppose that answering "true" to the question "I drink a lot of water" happens to help predict depression. Would it be wise to include this item on a test used to identify depression?
yes, because the essential characteristic of a good test is that it predicts relevant behaviors
Which age group is most prone to periodic accumulation of fluid in the middle ear during intervals of mild illness?
young subjects
