Testing-Chapter 5

Ethical Standards for Psychologists' Use of Tests

-Competence: clinicians should be experienced in administration/interpretation of tests that they use to make decisions about a client -Professional/scientific responsibility: should be familiar with the research literature on a test, particularly its reliability, validity, appropriate uses, and limitations -Integrity: should use tests as intended and not make claims about tests or results unless claims are supported by empirical evidence -Respect for rights and dignity: should insure that a test genuinely applies to persons taking the test, such as persons from diff cultures

Ethical Standards for Psychologists' Use of Tests 2

-Concern for others' welfare: should do no harm in using tests with clients, should recognize the potential for harm, especially if test results are inappropriately applies -Social responsibly: should not disseminate test materials or the protected content of tests to unauthorized personnel; should take action to prevent misuse of tests by others -Access to test materials: ethical practice prohibits test developers and users from making public the contents of certain tests; only available to qualified users

Theories of Intelligence-General Intelligence Model

-General intelligence Model (g): favored in psychometric approach; intelligence as a general/global ability/characteristic; proposed by Spearman; g is presumed to be an underlying biological/psychological trait that influences all cognitive abilities; students who are good in one subject are often good at others

Interrater reliability/Content validity/construct validity/Generalization validity/Clinical Utility

-Interrater reliability: similarity of results when multiple raters independently score same tests -Content validity: items on test adequately sample all the imp domains associated with the trait or ability being measured -Construct validity: results of test correlate with other well-established measures of the same construct -Generalization validity: degree to which test results remain valid across diff segments of the population -Clinical Utility: degree to which results clearly point to specific preferred treatments or can reliably measure changes that result from treatment

Theories of Intelligence-Multiple Specific Intelligence Model

-Multiple Specific Intelligence Models: intelligence as a collection of relatively separate abilities; as many as 120 specific intellectual functions; 1. Robert Sternberg's triarchic theory (3 kinds of basic intelligence: analytical, creative, and practical; developed Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test) 2. Howard Gardner (8 intelligences/frames of mind: verbal, math, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalistic); models propose that intelligence is better understood as a collection of separate abilities; Gardner and Sternberg expanded term of intelligence

Norms/Internal consistency reliability/Test-retest reliability

-Norms: measures of central tendency & variability for test obtained from large, representative stand sample that allow meaningful interpretation of scores -Internal consistency reliability: measure of reliability usually accomplished by the split-half method -Test-retest reliability: similarity of results from repeat testings of the same persons

How tests are distinct from other assessment techniques

1. Client's test responses can be quantitatively compared to statistical norms established by responses of others in stand conditions 2. Test can be administered in private so observational assessment might not supplement test data 3. Tests can be administered in groups as well as individually

Projective Personality Tests-Rorschach Inkblot Test

10 colored and black and white inkblots created by Hermann Rorschach; William Stern denounced it as faulty; David Levy brought copy to US and trained Samuel Beck to use it; Beck published it in North America and provided a standardized procedure for administering/scoring the test; a variant of the test is the Holtzman Inkblot Test; became most commonly used test among clinical psych from 1930-1960; popularity declined compared to MMPI and Wechsler; client is shown 10 cards one at a time and is asked what he/she sees; tester records response verbatim, reaction time, how card was held, emotional reactions, other behaviors; after last card, tester goes back and conducts an inquiry or systematic questioning about characteristics of each blot that prompted answers; client's record of responses (protocol) is scored/interpreted using procedure; scoring category: location (whole blot, detail, white space), determinants (characteristics that influence response such as form, color, shading, movement), content (subject matter perceived in blot such as animal, human parts), popularity (hot often this response has been made) and form quality (degree to which specific content reported fits the blot)

Ethical Standards in Testing

APA asks members to adhere to Standards for educational and Psychological Tests (developed by American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, and National Council on Measurement in Education); APA's Guidelines for Test User Qualifications provides additional info; Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures developed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to regulate use of tests as selection techniques; some tests are developed by clinicians and published in professional journals; must contact author to request right to use the test and are obligated to follow ethical principles in using them

The Binet Scales

Alfred Binet (father of intelligence testing); among most influential means of assessing mental ability of children; consisted of 30 questions and tasks (unwrapping a piece of candy..); test score as number of items passed; tasks in binet's test were age graded (younger children expected to pass earlier ones and older expected to pass later ones); Goddard brought it to US and Lewis Terman (Stanford) adopted idea suggested by William Stern for representing numerically relationship between mental and chronological age: Standford-Binet results expressed in intelligent quotient (mental age/chronological age x 100); SB5: built around hierarchical model of intelligence; can obtain a full-scale IQ score (measure of g), as well as verbal & nonverbal IQ scores and ind subtest scores (each has a mean of 10 and SD of 3; factors are fluid reasoning, knowledge/crystallized, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing, working-memory); SB5 has high internal consistency, high test-restest reliability, inter-scorer agreement .90 (high levels of reliability); high in validity when compared to Wechsler Scales; can discriminate among samples of gifted, retarded, and learning-disordered children; age range: 2-85+, 10 core subtests, 45-75 mins

Objective Tests of Personality-Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

Analytically derived based on Jung's psychoanalytic personality-type classification system; 126 forced-choice items used to sort persons into 16 types based on combination of four scales: extraversion/introversion, sensation/intuition, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving; strength factor often overlooked; easily administered and scored; acceptable split-half and rest-resest reliabilities; concerns about validity

Testing in Psychology

Became popular in 1930-1960s but lost its appeal late 1960-1970 because of (a) unflattering results of research on the reliability and validity of many tests (b)awareness of the susceptibility of tests to various biases (c) recognition that tests may place members of certain minority groups at a disadvantage (d) fear that the testing process may invade respondents' privacy (e) worry that tests are too easily misused/misinterpreted; today testing is imp.

Tests Measuring Specific Aspects of Psychopathology

Beck Depression Inventory: 21 items, clients rate on 0-3 scale the degree to which each item describes them; 0-13=no or minimal depression, 29+ =severe depression; measures general expression of depression or cognitive and somatic expressions of depression; Fear Survey Schedule (clients rate objects, persons, situations in terms of fearsomeness; contain 50-122 items and use 1-5 or 1-7 scales of rating); other tests include State-trait anxiety inventory, the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale, the Social Phobia and Anxiety inventory, the PTSD Symptom Scale Self-Report, Bulimia Test-Revised

Projective Personality Tests-Bender-Gestalt Test

Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test: a figure copying test to measure certain aspects of mental ability, particularly neuropsychological functioning; clients shown geometric shapes on 9 cards and asked to draw shapes as accurately as possible; with children, its considered a measure of visual-motor development; also used as projection of personality measure, assuming errors/distortions in copied figures are indicators of a client's personality; more used for neuropsychological screening and visual-motor development than personality assessment

Objective Tests of Personality-California Psychological Inventory

Broad range, empirically constructed, objective; developed for assessing personality in the "normal" population; half of its T/F items come from the MMPI but items are grouped into more diverse and positively oriented scales including sociability, self-acceptance, responsibility, dominance, self-control, etc.; 3 validity scales that serve same purpose as those on MMPI; strength=representativeness of its stand sample and relatively high reliability; used to predict delinquency, parole outcome, academic grades, and likelihood of dropping out of HS; computerized scoring+interpretation services available

Projective Personality Tests-Incomplete sentence tests

Clients must complete sentences; assumption is how client does so reflects imp personality characteristics; among more frequency used for all projective tests; most popular version is the Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank (has 40 sentences and each stem is compared to norms provided in test manual and is rated on a 7 pt scale of adjustment-maladjustments on how much responses deviate from norms; ratings are summed to provide an overall adjustment score; relatively objective scoring procedures associated with Rotter's test and other sentence completion tests

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory II

Clinical scales included hypochondriasis (abnormal concern w/bodily function), depression, conversion hysteria (use physical/mental symptoms as a way of unconsciously avoiding difficult conflicts), psychopathic deviate (disregard for social customs, emotional shallowness, inability to learn from punishing), masculinity-femininity, paranoia, psychasthenia (obsessions, compulsions, abnormal fears, guilt, indecisiveness), schizoprehnia, hypomania (emotional excitement, overactivity, flight of ideas), social introversion (shyness, little interest in others, insecurity); VALIDITY SCALES: ? (cannot say-items left unanswered), lie (good self-report), frequency/infrequency, correction (defensiveness), variable response inconsistency (same question answered differently), true response inconsistency (opposite content answered diff), fake bad (pg. 185)

How are Tests Constructed (Sequential system approach)

Combines aspects of analytic and empirical techniques; decision about which items to try is usually made on analytic grounds (some items are from existing tests while others are those that clinicians believe must be evaluated); if initial test items chosen, testers analytically may examine results statistically to determine which items are correlated with one another; groups of correlated items are then identified as scales which are thought to be relatively pure measures of certain dimensions of personality, mental ability, etc...; test's value as an assessment instrument depends on empirical research demonstrating its reliability and validity

Cultural Fairness and Bias in Psychological Tests

Concerns appeared first in relation to measures of intellectual abilities; Domino+Domino: test-related bias can result from factors occurring before the test (disadvantaged by discriminations, lower-quality education, poverty, stereotyped portrayals, poor role models) or during the test (concepts on test are unfamiliar to them); how to detect source of score differences: collect info about gender/ethnicity of test's standardization sample and analyze responses; "80%" or "four-fifth" rule to label an item as biased; if there is a diff of 20% or more between mean scores of majority/minority scores, item is considered bias; cultural inequality as possible explanation? Anne Anastasia: tests can't compensate for cultural deprivation but rather should reveal such effects so action can be taken; diff result of diff in cultural conditions than bias of tests; tests depend on care with standardization sample and cross-culture generalizability; International Test Consortium formed to promote study of cross-cultural application of tests

Projective Personality Tests-Rorschach Inkblot Test #2

Confusion and interrater reliability led John Exner to propose a Comprehensive System for scoring and interpreting Rorschach; in this, clinician records overall number of responses (productivity), categorizes responses, and looks for recurring patterns of responses across cards to determine disorders/personality

How are Tests Constructed? (Analytic)

Construct tests using analytic (rational approach which asks what are qualities i want to measure and how do i define these qualities? test created based on items that answer these questions; developer analyzes content of a domain and match questions that tap that content; items on this test will strongly reflect tester's theory of what aspects of certain concepts should be tested and how); faster and less expensive than empirical procedures (doesn't require initial administration to determine test items); favored by clinicians evaluating a particular theory; results in items that appear sensible but may or may not work

Reliability and Validity of Projective Tests

Criticized for weak psychometric properties and dependence on psychodynamic personality theory; Rorschach inferior to MMPI in psychometric support (interrater reliabilities in the excellent range but low for variables commonly studied; Exner sought comprehensive system only scores that had reliabilities of .85; certain scores on TAT reliable; evidence for reliability is mixed); (validity: Rorschach can't make diagnoses with acceptable levels of validity other than schizophrenia, bipolar, and 1/2 personality disorders; scales derived from projective tests aren't uniformly inferior; comparisons of validity coefficients for Rorschach and TAT aren't consistently lower than for other personality tests; clinicians find proj tests as providing special info about client and useful for building rapport with clients and confirming what they might already suspect about a client on basis of other assessment data

The Wechsler Scales

David Wechsler developed Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scales; it was aimed at adults age 17+, was a point scale in which client received credit for correct answer; compares points earned by client to those earned by persons of = age in sample; also developed Wechsler Intelligence scale for Children and Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence

Objective Tests of Personality-NEO Personality Inventory Revised

Developed out of personality research program of Costa and McCrea; 243 items measure "big five" dimensions as well as 6 specific facets of each: (1) neuroticism (feel anxious, angry, and depressed in many situations) (2) extraversion (assertive, active, prefer to be w/people) (3) openness (indicating active imagination, curiosity, and receptiveness to many experiences) (4) agreeableness (orientation toward positive, sympathetic, helpful interactions) (5) conscientiousness (tendency to be reliable+persistent in pursing goals); developed as comprehensive measure of nondisordered adult personality but its been used to diagnose psychological disorders, predict progress in psychotherapy, and select optimal forms of treatment for some clients; good internal consistency and test-retest reliability

Projective Personality Tests-Projective Drawings

Draw-a-Person test and the House-tree-person test; drawings as basis for clinicians' interferences about aspects of client's personality and basis of discussion during interview; interpretive inferences guided by projective assumptions that inclusion, exclusion, and characteristics of each body part along with placement, symmetry, organization, size,etc are indicative of client's self-image, conflicts, and perceptions of the world

Avoiding Distortion in Test Scores

Extraneous subtle variables such as temperature, who is in testing room, or who gave the tests may affect scores; some clients tend to respond in particular ways to most items regardless of what the items are (response set, response style, response bias); ex. social desirability bias leads people to respond in socially acceptable ways; ex. acquiescent response styles leads ppl to agree with virtually any self-descriptive test item; defensive, deviant, and exaggerated styles

Objective Tests of Psychopathology

First obj personality test was Personal Data Sheet used during WWI to screen soldiers; asked yes/no questions; items reflected problems/symptoms reflected twice as often by diagnosed "neurotics"; no item was retained if more than 25% of normal sample answered it in unfavorable manner;

The Validity of Psychological Testing Versus Medical Testing

Greg Meyer and colleagues: study commissioned by the Psychological Assessment Work Group, founded by APA's board of Professional Affairs; combining data from more than 125 meta-analyses examining test validity, over a wide range of assessment procedures, validity of psychological testing is indistinguishable from medical testing; both use tests whose results range from being uninformative for identifying a criterion to those that are highly informative

Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory

Has 175 items (shorter than MMPI); MCMI-III yields 28 scales, 4 designed to assess test's validity or modify interpretation; test designed to link up with DSM diagnostic criteria and scales parallel diagnostic groups in the DSM-IV; 10 scales devoted to personality patterns/disorders; interpretation requires knowledge related to psychopathology and thus reliabilities tend to be lower than MMPI

Aptitude and Achievement Tests

Intelligence tests measure aptitude (capacity to acquire knowledge/skill) and achievement (acquired knowledge or skill); some aptitude tests predict success in occupation/educational program by examining effects of educational/living experiences; achievement test scores measure proficiency at a certain task; Ex. The Scholastic Aptitude Test predict HS students potential for college-level work (verbal+quantitative scores); Woodcock-Johnson Cognitive Battery III and Woodcock-Johnson Achievement Battery III (measure general intellectual ability and specific academic achievements for 2-90 yr olds); the Wide Range Achievement Test, Kaufman Test of Educational Achievement, and Wechsler Ind. Assessment Test; tests used to identify learning disorder; Seashore Measures of Musical Talents or Crawford Small Parts Dexterity Test measure specific abilities/aptitudes

Other Intelligence Tests

Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children-ages 3-18; 7-11 core subtests, 25-75 mins; measures: mental processing index, fluid-crystallized index; 5 scales (sequential processing, simultaneous processing, learning ability, planning ahead, knowledge); based on research+theory in cog psychology+neuropsych; defines intelligence as ability to solve new problems (aka fluid intelligence) and also acquire knowledge of facts (aka crystallized intelligence); subtests (18 total, 10 core) grouped into composite scores compatible with a hierarchical model of intelligence; 2 main higher level scores: one for Mental Processing and one for combo of Mental Processing and Acquired knowledge; midlevel factor scores increase with age; stand. sample consisted of 3,025 children who matched US census on several demographic factors; high internal consistency reliabilities, test-restest reliability; sought to produce test free of culture/ethnic bias; high correlations with WISC, school grades, test scores, neuropsych performance; Kaufman brief intellig test-2 estimates crystalized/fluid intelligence in 20 mins;

Projective Personality Tests

Leonardo de Vinci selected pupils based on creativity while finding shapes in ambiguous forms; Binet adopted Blotto, a game to assess passive imagination by asking children to tell what they saw in inkblots; Sir Frances Galton constructed word-association test, and Carl Jung used similar test for clinical assessment; projective tests grew out of psychodynamic approach to clinical psychology; based on Freud's notion that people "project" or attribute to others the unacceptable aspects of their own personality; projective hypothesis: each ind's personality will determine to a degree how he/she interprets and responds to ambiguous stimuli; projective methods encourage clients to display tendency

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory II #2

Major changes: 1. there are 15 new content scales that allow supplementary assessment of personality factors not previously measurable with basic clinical scales (anxiety, obsessiveness, health concerns, fam problems) 2. some new validity scales have been added to supplement the ?, L, F, and K scales 3. Scoring changes to equalize the clinical sig of similar scores on diff scales. also clinically sig scores lowered from 70+ to 65+; paper-pencil taking takes 90 mins for average/above average reading skills (6th grade level); interpretation involves comparing scores to other clients which can be done clinically (recalling) or statistically (referencing to books); 2-code system most used in which client's 2 highest scores on clinical scales are used; MMPI can be administered by computer without compromising results; shortened versions of MMPI are called the "Mini-mult" or "Midi-mult"; MMPI-A is shortened version for adolescents with 478 items; high test-retest reliability; less test-retest correlation with non-English speaking takers

What do Tests Measure?

Mental Measurements Yearbook publication lists over 2,200 stand psychological tests; some possess direct questions while others ask for reactions to certain stimuli; some have correct answers while others ask for opinions; paper-and-pencil or orally; require verbal skill or nonverbal tasks or combination of verbal, numerical, and performance; proliferation of tests caused because tests are hoping to measure clinical constructs in more reliable, valid, and sophisticated ways and also testers' interests are becoming more specific leading to special-purpose tests. Tests three general categories based on whether they seek to measure (a) intellectual or cognitive abilities (b) attitudes, interests, preferences, and values (c) personality characteristics; clinical psychologists mostly use tests of intellectual functioning and personality

Objective Test of psychopathology-Minnsota Multiphasic Personality Inventory

Most influential personality measure developed by Starke Hathaway and McKinley as aid to psychiatric diagnosis of clinical patients; took 1000 times from older personality tests and converted them to statements where clients answered T/F/cannot say; members of diagnostic groups showed statistically diff responses to many items; 8 of these item groups/scales were identified as being associated with a certain diagnostic category and discriminates between normal/abnormal individuals; 2 additional scales identified for male/females and shy/introverts; 4 validity scales designed to help detect various test-taking attitudes or response distortions

Patterns of Test Usage in Clinical Psychology

Most used tests (WAIS, MMPI, Bender-Gestalt Visual Motor Test, Rorschach, TAT, WISC, Peobody Picture, Vocab Test, Sentence Completion Tests, House-Tree-Person Test, Draw-A-Person Test) Test usage can be attributed to empirical evidence-tests that consistently show evidence of higher reliability and validity are used more; also influenced by clinical tradition, social and contextual factors; insurance companies/third-party providers interested in efficiency and like quicker problem-focused assessment techniques over broad ones;

Objective Tests of Personality

One of 1st personality tests based on factor analytic research was Eysenck personality Questionnaire (measures 3 personality factors: phsychoticism, introversion-extraversion, and emotionality-stability) another was Tellegen's Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (measured positive emotionality, negative emotionality, and constraint)

Other Intelligence Tests 2

Others: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised, the Porteus Maze Test, the Leiter International Performance Scale, and the Raven's Progressive Matrices (allow intellectual functioning to be assessed in young clients or those who have other characteristics that impair ability at verbal task, provide back-up when clinician suspects IQ scores may be hampered by anxiety, verbal deficits, cultural disadv...)

Tests of Psychopathology and Personality (objective vs. projective)

Personality as pattern of behavioral and psychological characteristics by which a person is compared with others; many diff definitions of personality; 2 types of personality tests: objective and subjective; objective tests (relatively clear, specific stimuli/statements and client responds with direct answers; most are paper-pencil variety and can be scored arithmetically by computers; some focus on 1 aspect of personality while others provide comprehensive overview of personality dimensions); projective tests (clients respond to ambiguous/unstructured stimuli such as inkblots; responses tend to be complex verbal/graphic productions; responses scored by clinicians as reflection of conscious and unconscious aspects of personality structure and dynamics)

Objective Tests of Personality-Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire

Raymond Cattel; used theory+factor analysis to identify 16 basic factors in personality; 187 items with three choices per item; score on each of 16 factors include dimensions of intelligence, ego, strength, conservative-radical, and schizothymia-affectothymia (reserved-outgoing); high test-retest reliability and acceptable construct validity

Other projective tests

Rosenzweig Picture Frustration Study (24 cartoons showing 1 person frustrating the other; client must say what frustrated person's response would be). Children's Apperception Test (depict animal characters rather than human). Roberts Apperception Test for Children (show children interacting with adults and other children)

Theories of Intelligence-Hierarchical and Factor Analytic Models

Separate and general cognitive abilities are related in a hierarchical fashion; at most elemental level are specific abilities such as vocab knowledge, visual pattern recognition...;specific abilities may correlate because they share a common factor; these higher-order factors are correlated to some degree and that correlation is represented by the common factor, g, that underlies them; Factor Analytic studies measure degree to which various measures are correlated; Carroll reviewed work of Cattell and Horn and summarized 461 factor analysis studies of intelligence

Standardization and Score Interpretation

Standardization-consistency in administration+scoring of a test; can also refer to the sample on which the test was originally developed; scores are compared to this standardization sample (scores provide main interpretive framework for all ind. scores on the test) Norms-numbers that come from standardization sample (means, variances, percentages); benchmarks that allow meaningful interpretations; major tests are renormed every decade; test scores can be interpreted based on criterion established by tester or by himself/herself; ipsative measurement: scores compared to himself/herself

What is a Test?

Systematic procedure for observing & describing person's behavior in standard situation; most important features of test are objectivity (to measure differences) and standardization (to ensure diff in result are from personal diff); Domino+Domino say that obj+subj like experiments aim to eliminate extraneous variables so that results can be attributed to 1 source-characteristic of client; tests are like highly structured interviews and share characteristics with observational assessments by providing opportunity for clinician to watch client in test situation

How are Tests Constructed (Empirical)

Tester lets the content "choose itself" instead of deciding ahead of time what test content should be used to measure particular target; give self-terport test items, performance tasks, inkblots and administer all of them to a large group of people who have already been identified using biological criterion; examine results to see any consistencies based on certain factors (gender); items that discriminate among target groups are usually employed as test items; requires more time and resources; used when attempting to make specific predictions about people; results in items that work but may or may not appear sensible

Clinical Utility and Evidence-based Assessment

Testing first used to make diagnostic classifications and select positions/occupations; treatment became a common application after WWII; treatment utility (aka clinical utility) refers to extent to which tests can be used to select specific treatments or to measure treatment outcomes; Lima and colleagues study reveal that clinicians did not plan or conduct psychotherapy based on MMPI results; Hunsley and Mash: treatment utility of tests should be empirically assessed and not assumed; argue for testings that more clearly points to specific treatments; researchers should identify the most imp treatment variables and then develop tests to measure those variables; ex. The Outcome Questionnaire-45 and the Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale are designed to measure treatment outcomes and both are sensitive to client changes over short time periods; both showed convergent, divergent, and concurrent validity

Interpreting Intelligence Test Scores

Tests like WIAS, WICS, SB allow for description of person's cognitive strengths +weaknesses; allow to develop hypothesis about diagnoses, brain damage, impulsivity, or other personality characteristics by using variability or "scatter" of subtest scores; unequivocal diagnoses can't be made alone because tests weren't made for neuropsych assessment; clinical usefulness of inter-score comparison has not been empirically established

Tests of Attitudes, Interests, Preferences, and Values

These assessment give clinicians a better idea about client's attitudes and encourages clients to engage in self-exploration; ex of preference assessments. Strong Interest Inventory, Campbell Interest and Skill Survey, the Kuder Occupational Interest Survey and the Self-Directed Search; widely used by school counselors to select majors; result in interest profile that can be compared to composite profiles of other professionals; ex. of values assessment: Study of Values (ask takers to choose 1 option in each of 120 pairs of statements representing diff values; results show relative strength in 6 interests: theoretical ("intellectual"), economic, aesthetic, social, political, and religious) and Rokeach Value Survey (suggests that values are diff from attitudes or interests in that values are fewer in # and more central to a person's belief system and psychological functioning; asked to rank-order set of 18 terminal values (health, recognition, world peace) and set of 18 instrumental values (obedient, courageous)); reliability and validity of tests is not as high as those found in cog measures due to forced choice, less confidence in ranking of takers; yet they have relatively wide usage

WISC and WPPSI

WISC originally for children 5-15; now for 6-17; 10 core subtests, 65-80 mins; had 12 subtests (6 verbal, 6 performance); 10 were administered; WISC-IV dropped 3 subtests (pic arrangement, object assembly, mazes) and added 5 others (pic concepts, letter-number sequencing, matrix reasoning, word reasoning, cancellation); abandoned verbal IQ/performance IQ measures but instead used full scale IQ+ 4 composite scores (verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed); Wechsler scales have strong psychometric properties (WISC-IV normed on sampled of 2,200 children 6-17 with good distrib. of sex, race/ethnicity, parental education, geographic region; also strong reliability (high split-half reliability, high test-retest reliabilities, no subjectivity with high interscorer agreement), high in validity (correlate with other tests such as S-B, factor analysis studies show composite index scores represent constructs in measurement of intelligence, strong correlations with school grades, test scores, neuropsych performance; WPPSI reached 4 yr old level; now reaches 2.5-7 yrs

The WAIS

Wechsler Adult Intelligent Scale; most popular adult intelligent test in US; items arranged/presented in order of increasing difficulty within subtests; clinician stops each subtest after a predetermined number of failures then begins next subtest; compute full-scale, verbal, and performance IQs by converting client's point total to stand IQ scores; how it differs from predecessors: extended age range through 89, sample stratified based on age, gender, education, and geographic region; addition of 4 new index scores: Verbal Comprehension, Working Memory, Perceptual Organization, and Processing Speed (midlevel of hierarchy); subtests include info, comprehension, arithmetic, similarities, digit symbol/coding, digit span, vocab, picture completion, block design, pic arrangement, symbol search

Projective Personality Tests-Thematic-Apperception Test

designed by Christina Morgan and Henry Murray at Harvard psych clinic; 30 drawings of people, objects, and landscape; usually 10 of these cards are administered and 1 is blank; subset chosen depends on age, sex, interest of client; ask clients to make up a story about it; what people in pictures are thinking/feeling; for blank card, asked to imagine a drawing describe it, and then construct a story about it; based on idea that client's needs and conflicts will be reflected in one of the story's character; analysis focus on content (what clients describe: ppl, feelings, events outcomes) and structure (how story is told: logic, organization, and use of language, appearance of speech dysfluencies, misunderstanding of instructions/stimuli, and emotional arousal); in elaborative quantitative procedures for scoring, responses are compared to response norms; others make qualitative analyses on themes of story while others combine both; most clinicians prefer scoring systems are are unstructured

How to minimize extraneous variables

tests can minimize by: (a) develop clear, simple instructions for examiners and test takers (b) extensively pilot-testing and studying response tendencies on items (c) enlisting the participation of outside experts in test bias during test development (d) building indicators of response bias or deliberate distortions into the test so that these things can be identified if they occur; testers can minimize by: (a) clearly explaining the purposes of the test and answering any questions the client has, thereby enhancing rapport and client motivation (b) paying careful attention to the circumstances under which testing takes place so that conditions are essentially the same for each client (c) noting and reporting any circumstances in the testing that might compromise the validity of the test results