PYCHOLOGICAL TESTING

1. PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
BSPC 3224
LECTURE NOTES
THIRD YEAR – SEMESTER TWO
Dr. Oluka Robert (PhD)
Clinical Counselling
Psychologist
2022
Welcome

2. Course Description
 This course provides students with a
vital knowledge of psychological tests
used in counselling, their natures and
types, how they are administered and
evaluated.
 The course also examines ethical
considerations, uses, limitations and
tests standardization and the
importance of psychological tests in
the field of counselling.

3. Lecture Objectives
 After completing your study of this
course, you should be able to:
 Define what a psychological test is
and understand that psychological
tests extend beyond personality and
intelligence tests.
 Trace the history of psychological
testing from Alfred Binet and
intelligence testing to the tests of
today.

4.  Describe the ways psychological tests
can be similar to and different from
one another.
 Describe the three characteristics that
are common to all psychological
tests, and understand that
psychological tests can demonstrate
these characteristics to various
degrees.

5.  Describe the assumptions that must be made
when using psychological tests.
 Describe the different ways that
psychological tests can be classified.
 Describe the differences among four
commonly used terms: psychological
assessment, psychological tests,
psychological measurement, and surveys.

6. The Nature of Psychological
Testing
What is meant by the
term Psychological
Testing?

7. Psychological Testing
 Psychological testing is defined as
“the process of administering,
scoring, and interpreting
Psychological tests” (Maloney &
Ward, 1976, p. 9)
 Is the measuring of psychology-
related variables by means of
devices or procedures designed to
obtain samples of behavior

8.  In psychological testing the typical
objective is to measure the
magnitude of some psychological trait
or attribute, such as intelligence. In
assessment, which is always
conducted on a one-to-one basis, the
objective more typically extends
beyond obtaining a number; it could
be to provide a diagnosis for
treatment, to assess a particular area
of functioning or disability.

9.  A test is a standardized procedure for
sampling behavior and describing it using
scores or categories
 Most tests are predictive of some non-
test behavior of interest
 Most tests are norm-referenced = they
describe the behavior in terms of norms,
test results gathered from a large group
of subjects (the standardization sample)
 Some tests are criterion-referenced = the
objective is to see if the subject can
attain some pre-specified criterion.

10.  The term test may be defined simply
as a measuring device or procedure.
• In our context a test is a method of
acquiring a sample of a person’s
behaviour under controlled
conditions.
 Testing is generally used to denote
everything from the administration of
a test to the interpretation of a test
scores

11. The Main Types of Tests
1. Intelligence tests: Assess
intelligence
2. Aptitude tests: Assess capability
3. Achievement tests: Assess
degree of accomplishment
4. Creativity tests: Assess capacity
for novelty / innovation
5. Personality tests: Assess traits

12. 6. Interest inventories: Assess
preferences for activities
7. Behavioral tests: Measure behaviors
and their antecedents/consequences
8. Neuropsychological tests: Measure
cognitive, sensory, perceptual, or motor
functions

13. How do we test?
There are different sorts of testing,
including:
1. Achievement testing.
2. Communicative testing.
3. Competence testing.
4. Diagnostic testing.
5. Integrative testing.
6. Performance testing.
7. Progress testing.
8. Proficiency testing.
9. Psychometric testing

14.  Achievement testing. It is used to
determine whether or not students have
mastered the course content and how they
should proceed. The content of
achievement tests, which are commonly
given at the end of the course, is generally
based on the course syllabus or the course
textbook.
 Progress testing. It is used at various
stages throughout a language course to
determine learners’ progress up to that
point and to see what they have learnt.

15.  Proficiency testing. It is used to measure
learners’ general linguistic knowledge, abilities
or skills without reference to any specific course.
 Some proficiency tests are intended to show
whether students or people outside the formal
educational system have reached a given
level of general language ability.
 Others are designed to show whether
candidates have sufficient ability to be able to
use a language in some specific area such as
medicine, tourism etc. Such tests are often
called Specific Purposes tests.

16.  Diagnostic testing, which seeks to
identify those areas in which a
student needs further help. These
tests can be fairly general, and show,
for example, whether a student needs
particular help with one of the four
language skills; or they can be more
specific, seeking to identify
weaknesses in a student’s use of
grammar.

17.  Psychometric testing, which is
aimed at measuring psychological
traits such as personality,
intelligence, aptitude, ability,
knowledge, skills which makes
specific assumptions about the nature
of the ability tested (e.g. that it is
unidimensional and normally
distributed).

18.  Performance testing, which includes
direct, systematic observation of an
actual student performance or
examples of student performances
and rating of that performance
according to pre-established
performance criteria. Students are
assessed on the result as well as the
process engaged in a complex task or
creation of a product.

19.  A performance test measures
performance on tasks requiring the
application of learning in an actual or
simulated setting. Either the test
stimulus, the desired response, or both
are intended to lend a high degree of
realism to the test situation.

20. The 10 most commonly used
tests (Reading assignment)
1) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children (WISC)
2) Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test
3) Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS)
4) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory (MMPI)
5) Rorschach Ink Blot Test
6) Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

21. 7) Sentence Completion
8) Good enough Draw-A-Person Test
9) House-Tree-Person Test
10) Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
What are these tests, what do they
measure?

22. For whom are tests important?
For almost all the people involved in the
education process:
1. the learner who wants to know how well
s/he is doing, and also wants the 'piece
of paper for professional and education
purposes,
2. the teacher wants to know how the
learner is progressing and whether and
how well s/he herself is succeeding in his
job

23. 3. the parents, who want to make
sure that they’re getting their
money’s worth,
4. educational authorities and
others who have some interest in
the learner's progress or his/her
proficiency level,
5. the potential employer who relies
heavily on what tests tell him/her
about learner proficiency levels

24. Function of Psychological
Testing
 Decision making: psychological tests
cab be used determining promotion
 Placement: place students and
workers to different categories (based
on tests scores)
 Administrative function:
• Diagnosis: identifying psychological
problems, learning difficulties, etc.
• Research: using psychological tests for
research purpose

25. Application of Psychological
Testing
Psychological Testing is Applied in
different Settings:
1. Educational. Tests are used to
identify special children, to test
achievement, and to diagnose
students’ area of deficiency.
2. Clinical. Hospitals and clinics use
tests to screen behavioral disorders,
and to test effectiveness of
interventions.

26. 3. Legal. The legal setting utilizes
results from clinics, psychologists in
determining CTT, etc.
4. Industrial setting. Industries and
organizations heavily rely on tests to
measure job motivation, competence,
and commitment.

27. Course work
CW1:Describe the characteristics that
are common to all psychological tests,
and explain how psychological tests can
demonstrate these characteristics to
various degrees. 20 marks
CW2: Explain the relevance of
Psychological tests to a counselling
Psychologist and a student of
Counselling. 20 marks