Psychological Testing Exam 2
The Rorschach Inkblot Test Description of Test
-10 ink blots: 5 are black and gray; 2 are black, gray and red; 3 contain pastel colors -Individually administered tests -In the free-association phase of the test, the examiner presents each card and asks, "Why might this be?" -In the inquiry phase of the test, the examiner scores the test taker's response -Interpretations are at best tentative hypotheses
Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS)
-2nd most popular among all interest inventories Similar to the CISS and SII in that it has the same approach, uses the criterion-group approach, and has solid evidence of validity and reliability Unique quality: Includes a separate set of scales for college majors
Nonverbal Group Ability Test: Raven Progressive Matrices
-Best known and most popular nonverbal group test -Can be used with individuals from ages 5 to elderly -Research supports it as a measure of general intelligence, or Spearman's g -Stimuli are matrices with a non-verbal response format -Minimizes the effects of language and culture
Advantages of many alternative tests to Wechsler and Binet-Standford Scales
-Can be used for specific populations and special purposes -Not as reliant on verbal responses -Not as dependent on complex visual-motor integration -Useful for screening, supplementing, and reevaluations -Can be administered nonverbally -Correlated less strongly to scholastic achievement
Limitations of Group Tests
-Cannot provide information beyond the test score -Does not allow the examiner to closely observe each test taker's behavior -Does not allow individualized interpretation of test scores -Assumes that each test taker understands the instructions of testing, wants to score well, and is equally motivated and free of distractions
Advantages of Group Tests
-Cost efficient -Minimize professional time for administration and scoring -Require less examiner skill and training -Have more objective and more reliable scoring procedures -Have especially broad application, such as for screening, selection purposes, and assessing -Learning in a particular discipline or subject area
Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)
-Creativity Tests -Creativity is one of the most underdeveloped areas in the field of psychological testing -Measures three aspects of creativity -Fluency (ability to think of as many different solutions to a problem as possible) -Originality (How new or unusual a person's solutions to problems are) -Flexibility (ability to shift directions or try a new approach to problem solving)
What CISS Assess
-Degree of interest in 200 academic and occupational topics -Assess the degree of skill in 120 specific occupations
Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)
-Designed for students in grades 11 and 12 in postsecondary schools -U.S. military schools uses ASVAB results to identify individuals who qualify for entry into the military and to recommend assignments to various occupational training programs -Consists of the following composite scores: academic, verbal, and math ability -Psychometric characteristics are excellent -Since the late 1990s, the ASVAB is administered via computer, called computerized
Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery
-First informally developed by Luria, an early expert on functions of human brain, known for introducing the concept of pluripotentiality (notion that any center in the brain can be involved in several different functional systems) -Golden, from the University of Nebraska, developed standardized version of Luria's procedures, which became the Luria-Nebraska Battery -Can be used with individuals aged 13 and up -Has 10 subsections -Examples of subtests are Motor Functions, Rhythm, Visual, and Memory
Graduate Record Examination (GRE)
-Graduate College Entrance Test -Purports to measure general scholastic ability -Predictive validity is far from convincing -It over-predicts the achievement of younger students while under-predicting the performance of older students -A recent meta-analysis indicated that GRE and undergraduate GPA can be valid predictors of graduate GPA, # of publications authored, and ratings by faculty
Compared to the Rorschach, the TAT....
-Has been relatively well received by the scientific community -Has theoretical foundation: Murray's Theory of Needs -Was created by psychologists who were conservative in their evaluation of the TAT and scientific in their outlook -Was not claimed to be a diagnostic instrument -Has both clinical and nonclinical uses -Is more structured and less ambiguous
Most methods of the TAT interpretation take into account 5 things:
-Hero: character in each picture with whom the test-takers seems to identify -Needs of the hero -- e.g., Achievement, sex, dominance, affiliation -- along with the intensity, duration, and frequency of each need to indicate the importance and relevance of that need -Press the environmental forces that interfere with or facilitate satisfaction of the various needs -Themes (e.g., depression) -Outcomes (e.g., failures, successes)
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) was introduced by who?
-Introduced by Morgan and Murray in 1935
Weakness of MMPI
-Item overlap: many items are on more than one scale -Intercorrelations among the clinical scales is very high -Some scales have an imbalance in the way items are keyed
Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT)
-Paper-pencil intelligence test that is used as an aid in making decisions about employment, placement, and promotion -Time it takes to complete: about 12 minutes -Norm group: Great -Reliability: Very Good -Validity: not too much evidence (what does exist is good) -Has greatest value when vocal validity data are available
David Wechsler
-Psychological examiner in NY with a doctorate degree in testing psychology -Studied under Pearson and Spearman in 1918 - Chief Psychologist at Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital with a PhD in clinical psychology -Created an Intelligence test of adults in 1939 after criticizing 1937 Stanford-Binet
Strengths of the MMPI
-Reliability is generally adequate -Construct validity has ample evidence -Can be effectively use in both diagnosis and treatment -Range of problems that MMPI can help with is impressive (includes eating disorders, soldier reaction in battle, characteristics of child sexual abusers, differentiate criminal types, predicting delinquent behavior, predicting alcohol problems)
College Entrance Tests
-SAT was originally a reasoning test and is unclear today whether the test is intended to measure achievement of aptitude -ACT was created to be (in 1958) and still is an entrance tests -Validity coefficients for both in terms of predicting college GPA are about .80, which means that scores on these tests account for 8% of the variation in first-year GPA
Wechsler's criticisms of 1937 Stanford-Binet
-Scale Items not valid for adults because they were designed for children -Too much emphasis on speed, which handicapped older adults -Mental age norms did not apply to adults -Too much emphasis on intellectual performance
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
-Self-report questionnaire with 567 items and true-false response options -Designed to identify psychological disorders -Clinicians use formulas, patterns of scores, code books and clinical judgment to assess meaning of socres -Test takers need 8th grade reading level and IQ within limits -1st criterion and control group: 8 groups of psychiatric inpatients at UofM Hospital (n=50 in each group), and a control group consisting of primarily relatives and visitors (n=700) -Validity scales: assess whether test taker took a normal and honest approach to the test Clinical scales: 10 total -Very few disturbed test takers show elevation on only a single case
Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) Description
-Stimuli are 30 different pictures that depict a variety of scenes and one blank card -Examiner presents a card the test taker and state something like, "I want you to tell me a story about this picture" -Examiner records test taker's response verbatim and records their reaction time -Numerous interpretive scoring systems for TAT -Most clinicians (97%) reported that they did NOT use any scoring system
TAT Psychometric Properties
-The study of specific variables produces respectably high reliability figures -Test-retest reliabilities appear to fluctuate -Most experts agree that there is content-related validity evidence for using the TAT to evaluate human personality -Criterion-related evidence for validity has been difficult to document
How should group tests be used and interpreted?
-Use as a tool in conjunction with other data -Avoid over-interpreting test scores -Be especially suspicious of low scores -Consider wide discrepancies as a warning signal -When in doubt, refer the test taker for individual testing
Wechsler's Innovations
-Used a point scale - the items are grouped by credit/point rather than age; credit is received for each item passed; and it yields multiple scores -Included an entire scale of nonverbal intelligence, called the Performance Scale - test items required test-taker to do something rater than verbally respond to a question
Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test (BVMGT)
-Visiographic Test -Requires participant to copy various designs -Consist of 9 geometric features that test-takers is asked to copy -Research has shown that errors can occur for people who have a mental age less than 9, brain damage, a nonverbal learning disability, or emotional problems -Reliability of some of the scoring systems is questioned
Disadvantages of many alternatives to Wechsler and Binet-Stanford Scales
-Weaker standardization sample -Less stable -Less documentation on validity -Limitations in test manual -Not as psychometrically sound -Scores are NOT interchangeable with Binet or Wechsler
WAIS-IV
-Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, 4th Edition, 2008 - For individuals age 16-90 - Norm group: age - Reliability: Considerably more confidence than an obtained score represents an individual's true score than we can have for the other indexes - Validity: Rests heavily on its correlation with earlier versions of the test. Considered among the most valid for measuring IQ
WISC-V
-Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children, 5th Edition, 2014 - Individuals age 6-16 years and 11 months
WPPSI-IV
-Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, 4th Edition, 2012 - For individuals age 2.5 through 7 years and 7 months
Criticisms of the Rorschcah
1. It lacks a universally accepted standard of administration, scoring, and interpretation 2. It had never been adequately normed 3. It overpathologizes - Diagnoses from the Rorschach wrongly identify more than half of normal individuals as emotionally disturbed 4. There is a notable absence of proven relationships between the Rorschach and psychological disorders and symptoms 5. Adding the results obtained from the Rorschach to a lager battery of test results does not improve diagnoses or evaluation 6. Validity is questionable - scoring as well as interpretation procedures do not show evidence of criterion validity and are not linked to any theory, which limits evidence of construct validity
Criterion Group
1. Select target group 2. Administer questions to criterion group and control group (general population) 3. Find questions that distinguish criterion from control group 4. Cross-validate with new criterion and control group 5. Conduct additional research to determine what it means when test-takers endorse large number of items on particular scale (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory [MMPI])
Neuropsychological tests are important because....
1. They give neurologists clues about which part of the brain to examine 2. They can detect problems that are often missed with the latest neruopsych technology 3. They can detect brain injury patients who are faking or exaggerating their dysfunction
Major revisions of SCII
1. Used John Holland's theory of vocational choice as theoretical foundation of test, postulating that interests express personality and that people can be classified into one or more of 6 categories according to their interests 2. Included more scales with national samples for each gender group
How many items are on the current version of the WUSCT
36 items
Wexler Memory Test
A popular test used in clinical neuropsychology
Sternberg's Theory
Accepts the idea that there may be many intelligences that fall under the following three types - Analytical Intelligence - Creative Intelligence - Practical Intelligence
Binet's construction was guided by which two principles?
Age Differentiation General Mental Ability
2003 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Age Range: Norm Group: Standard Deviation: Reliability: Validity:
Age: 2-85+ Norm Group: 4800, stratified by many different demographics according to 2001 census Standard Deviation: 15 Reliability and Validity are quite good
Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery Memory Subsection
Assesses verbal and nonverbal memory skills. Items range from simple recall to complex memorization tasks.
What SII assesses
Assessment that helps people match their interests with potential occupations and careers
As neuroimaging advanced, it became clear that behavioral and functional assessments were important. Why?
Because there is remarkable variability among people in the structure of their braings
What demographic was the WUSCT originally intended for?
Both B and C Women & Adolescent girls
Spearman Theory
Came up with the concept of g which was based on phenomenon of positive manifold
1905 Binet-Simon Scale: Consisted of: Age Range: 3 Levels of Intellectual Deficiency: Problems:
Consisted of 30 items in increasing order of difficulty Age: 3-13 years old 3 Levels: Moron (mildest), Imbecile (moderate), and Idiot (most severe) Problems: No measuring unit to express results, poor norm group, poor validity documentation
Achievement tests rely heavily on ________ validity
Content validity
The Rorschach Inkblot Test Psychological test that is the most.....
Controversial and misunderstood Widely used in clinical settings Most referenced in research citations
Two Strategies for constructing structured personality tests
Deductive Empirical
Mental Age
Determined by comparing one's performance on test with average performance of people in specific chronological age group
1916 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Developed under direction of: Age Range: Norm Group: Introduced which concept?
Developed under directio of: L.M. Terman in U.S. Age: 3-14 year old and average/superior adults Norm Group: ~1000, but only white, native-Californian people Introduced: IQ Concept (mental age/chronological age x 100)
Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII)
Developer: D.P. Campbell When used: 1974 to late 1990s
Traditional assessment of learning disabilities:
Diagnosis made only when there was a severe discrepancy between a student's potential to achieve and actual school achievement
Age Differentiation
Differentiating older from younger children by the former's greater capacities Included the idea of mental age
Signs of a learning problem that parents and teachers can look for
Disorganization Careless effort Forgetfulness Refusal to do schoolwork or homework Slow performance Poor attention Moodiness
Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery Rhythm subsection
Evaluates rhythm and pitch skills. Patients must reproduce melodic sounds such as those from the song "Home on the Range." They are also to identify soft and loud sounds and musical patterns.
Pattern Analysis
Evaluating relatively large differences between subtest scaled scores
Information Processing Approach
Examined the processes that underly how we learn and solve problems
For all projective tests:
Examiners can never draw absolute, definite conclusions from any single response to an ambiguous stimulus. Rather, they can only hypothesize what a test response needs
Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery Motor Functions Subsection
Examines basic and complex motor skills. Some items ask patients to perform fine tasks with the right and left hand and with the eyes open or closed. Other items involve mouth, tongue, and speech movements.
Empirical Strategy has two methods. Those are...
Factor analytic Criterion Group
True or False? The items on the WUSCT are ONLY written in first person
False
Content of SII
Five-choice, Likert-type format Core component is the Basic Interest Scale (BIS) 41 content scales to represent difference area 244 occupational scales Focus on careers in business and technology for men and women
Five Categories of general intelligence for Stanford-Binet
Fluid Reasoning Knowledge Quantitative Reasoning Visual/Spatial Reasoning Working Memory
The 1st time an intelligence test was devised for real-world purpose was: Where? When? Product?
France 1904-1905 1905 Binet-Simon Scale
1st modern psychological research of intelligence was done by _________, ___________, and ____________
Galton Cattell Wissler
Criticisms of SVIB
Gender bias, stemming from the fact that different tests were used for men and women No theory associated for the test
Strengths of SVIB
Good normative samples for the criterion groups Solid reliability, both odd-even and short-term test-retest Good construct validity - SVIB predicted job satisfaction well
Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (CISS) and Strong Interest Inventory (SII) Similarities
Have the same standardizations Both use the criterion-group approach Use the same theoretical structure Both have solid evidence of validity and reliability
The Rorschach Inkblot Test Brief History
Herman Rorschach only worked on test for 11 years because he suddenly died He made the test by dropping ink on a piece of paper and folding the paper 5 psychologists played dominant roles in use and investigation
Cognitive Tradition Approach
How humans adapt to real world demands - most in line with previous definition
Even though you lose flexibility, the advantages of structured interviews are:
Increases in reliability Better validity
Galton, Cattell and Wissler theories
Intelligence is based on human sensory and motor functioning rather than complex cognitive tasks Intelligence tests were mostly reaction time, visual activity, and physical strength
Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery Visual Subsection
Investigates visual and spatial skills. Patients are asked to identify objects through pictures and through progressively more difficult items. They are asked to put pieces together or identify objects in overlapping sketches.
The Rorschach Inkblot Test What is the controversial nature?
It is both revered and reviled
Binet Scales looked at these three types of abilities
Judgement Attention Reasoning Abilities
Deductive Strategy has two specific methods. Those are....
Logical-Content: items selected on basis of simple face validity (Personal Data Sheet) Theoretical (Assessment we created)
Advantages of the Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery
Makes fine distinctions in neuropsychological functioning Suggest programs for rehabilitation
1908 Binet-Simon Scale: Introduced the concept of:
Mental Age
NEO Personality Inventory uses ______ approcah
Mixed Approach Incorporates both theoretical approach and factor analysis
Reliability of the Rorschach
Mixed findings
1937 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Norm Group: Reliability: Validity:
Norm Group: Over 3000 people from 11 U.S. States; still all white Reliability: Generally excellent, but varies but age and IQ level (younger and higher IQs have lower reliability) Validity: Generally supported by correlational studies
Job candidates who are interviewed are often rejected because of:
Poor communication skills Lack of confidence Low enthusiasm Nervousness Failure to make eye contact
Aptitude tests evaluate the person's _____ for _______
Potential for learning
CISS Content of Assessments
Produces an 11-page profile and a 2-page report summary Yield a variety of different types of scales. For each, an interest level and a skill score are offered. Offers and academic focus scale
The WUSCT is a __________ test. In other words, it uses a psychometric approach that consists of measuring a person's psychological projection in a quantifiable manner.
Projective test
Psychometric Approach
Psychological measurement Examined the elemental structure of a test Studies the properties of a test Predominate in understanding intelligence
Taylor Identified 3 independent research traditions in studying intelligence. What were they?
Psychometric Approach Information Processing Approach Cognitive Tradition Approach
Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB)
Purpose: to match the interest of a test taker to interests and values of a group of people who were happy in their careers Developer: E.K. Strong When it was used: 1966-1970s used the criterion-group approach Who the criterion group was: individuals from many professions and occupations Control Group: General population
1960 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Rejected what? Instead, added what? Norm Group:
Reject the IQ formula Instead it added Deviation IQ score (every age group has a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 16) Norm Group: added in 1972, finally included nonwhites
Clinical Neuropsychology
Relates brain dysfunction and damage to observable and measurable behavioral functioning
RTI
Response to Intervention A more recent assessment of learning disabilities Intended to address problem early to eliminate an academic failure situation Emphasizes how well a student responds to learning in school
Group Achievement Tests
Stanford Achievement Test (SAT): one of the oldest, most widely used in the US Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT) (Both have outstanding psychometric documentation)
Lawsuit
Stanford University vs. University of MN Why: Strong was a professor at Stanford. Campbell was a grad student and professor at the University of Minnesota. Campbell began working on revision of SVIB in 1960 at U of M. Strong died in 1963, and at that time, Campbell became primary representative of SVIB. So Stanford and University of MN became engaged in a legal dispute over ownership. How it was resolved: In 1988, there was a out-of-court settlement. Stanford received rights to publish the Strong Interest Inventory, while Campbell received rights to most of the cumulative work
Factor Analytic
Statistically reducing large number of items to smaller number of factors (Cattell's 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire)
Is an employment interview structured or unstructured?
Structured
Enduring Dispositions
Tendencies to act, think, or feel in a certain manner in any given circumstance that distinguishes one person from another
Three Types of alternative tests
Tests of Learning Disabilities (Woodcock-Johnson) Visiographic Tests (Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test) Creativity Tests (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking)
The rationale underlying projective tests
The Projective Hypothesis
Incremental Validity
The degree to which a test produces valuable information beyond that obtained in a simpler manner
Binet Scales thought of intelligence as:
The tendency to take and maintain a definite direction, the capacity to make adaptations for the purpose of obtaining a desired end, and the power of auto-criticism
General Mental Ability
The total product of the various separate and distinct elements of intelligence
Gardner's Theories
Theory of multiple intelligences Thought that intelligence is an ability or a set of abilities that permits an individual to solve problems or fashion products that are of consequence in a particular cultural setting Different intelligences were musical, bodily kinesthetic, logical/mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, existential
The Rorschach Inkblot Test Intended purpose
To identify psychological disorders
True or False? When evaluating validity, correlational analyses show that all values are significant at the level p < .001.
True
Gf-Gc Theory
Two basic types of intelligence (g alone is too simple) Fluid (the f in gf): Abilities that allow us to learn and acquire information Crystallized (the c in gc): the actual learning that has already occurred
Where did the developer of the WUSCT, Jane Loevinger, earn her Masters of Science in psychometrics?
University of Minnesota
Verbal and Nonverbal parts of Fluid Reasoning?
V: Analogies NonV: Matrices Tasks
Verbal and Nonverbal parts of Visual/Spatial Reasoning?
V: Positions and directions NonV: Form Board
Verbal and Nonverbal parts of Working Memory?
V: Sentence memory NonV: Block pattern memory
Verbal and Nonverbal parts of Quantitative Reasoning?
V: Verbal Quantitative Reasoning NonV: Quantitative Reasoning
Verbal and Nonverbal parts of Knowledge?
V: Vocabulary NonV: Recognize absurdities in pictures
To make a good first impression in an interview, one should
Wear professional attire Project an aura of competence Give an impression of friendliness BUT be careful not to overdo it
Positive Manifold
When a set of diverse ability tests are administered to large unbiased samples and it is found that almost all of the correlations are positive Uses factor analysis
The Projective Hypothesis
When people attempt to understand an ambiguous or vague stimulus, their interpretation of that stimulus reflects their needs, feelings, experiences, thought processes, and so fourth
Aptitude tests rely heavily on ________-________ ________ for validity
criterion-oriented evidence
1986 Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale Incorporated what theory?
gf-gc theory
Achievement tests evaluate what a person has _______
learned
Most tests today are constructed using _______ strategies
mixed
Research suggests that pattern analysis:
must be done cautiously at best, it should be used to generate hypotheses that can then be either supported or refuted by other sources of data
Objective review of Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery suggest....
that it is important to interpret test results with great caution because several methodological questions still remain
