Psychological tests are formal tools used to measure mental functioning and behaviors. They can be administered in various settings like schools, hospitals, and workplaces to assess abilities, personality, and neurological status. Common uses of tests include education placement, career counseling, diagnosing disorders, and selecting job applicants. Tests vary in their administration method, targeted behaviors, and purpose between ability, personality, and clinical domains. Proper tests are standardized, objective, use norms, and are reliable and valid measures of their intended construct.

2.  They are tools
 and any tool can be an instrument of
good or harm depending on how it is
used

3.  Traditionally, the function of
psychological tests is to measure
the difference between individuals
or between the reaction of the
same individual under different
circumstances

4. 1. Identification of mentally
retarded persons
-To this day, the detection of
intellectual deficiencies remain
an important application of
certain types of psychological
tests

5. 2. Assessment in Education
 Binet Intelligence Test
 Educational Uses of Psychological
Tests
a. Classification of children with reference to
their ability (differentiation of instructions)
b. Identification of outstandingly slow or fast
learners
c. Educational and occupational counseling of
high school and college students
d. Selection of applicants for professional
schools

6. 3. Selection and classification of industrial
personnel
-tests proved helpful in matters such as hiring, job
assignment, transfer, promotion or termination
4. Individual Counseling
-from narrowly defined guidance regarding
educational
and vocational plans to an involvement with all
aspects of a
person’s life
-emotional well-being and effective interpersonal
relation
have become increasingly prominent objectives of
counseling

7. -there is a growing emphasis on the use of tests to
enhance self-understanding and personal
development
-within this framework, test scores are given as an
aids to one’s
decision-making processes
5. Basic research
-precise measurement of individual differences is
made
possible by well-constructed tests that is a
prerequisite in basic research
-it also provides standardized tools for
investigating varied
problems such as life-span development changes

8.  The many kinds of tests designed for these diverse
purposes differ in other major characteristics
1. They vary in the way they are administered
-e.g. individual testing, simultaneous testing of large
group, or the administration of tests by computers
2. They also differ in aspects of behavior they cover
-some concentrate on the assessment of cognitive
traits, or abilities, other tests provide measure of
affective variables, or personality such as emotional
or
motivational traits, interpersonal behavior, interests,
attitudes and values

9.  essentially an objective and standardized measure of a
sample behavior
 are used to assess a variety of mental abilities and
attributes, including achievement and ability,
personality, and neurological functioning
 Personality tests are administered for a wide variety of
reasons, from diagnosing psychopathology (e.g.,
personality disorder, depressive disorder) to screening
job candidates.
 They may be used in an educational setting to determine
personality strengths and weaknesses.

10. Behavior and Sample
 Psychological tests are like the test in any other
science in so far as observations are made on a
small but carefully chosen sample of an
individual’s behavior
 Whether or not the test adequately covers the
behavior under consideration depends on the
number and the nature of items in the sample
 Example: an arithmetic test consisting of only 5
problems or one including only multiplication
items would be a poor measure of the
individual’s computational skills

11.  Diagnoses and Prediction
 The diagnostic or predictive value of a
psychological test depends on the degree to which
it serves as an indicator of a relatively broad and
significant area of behavior
 Measurement of the behavior sample directly
covered by the test is rarely the goal of
psychological testing but instead it is demonstrated
that there is a close correspondence between the
applicant’s score and her performance, if such is the
case, then the tests are serving their purpose
 Prediction commonly connotes a temporal estimate-such
as the individual’s future performance on a job
being forecast from his present test performance

12.  In a broader sense, diagnosis of present
condition such as retardation or emotional
disorder, implies a prediction of what the
individual will do in situations other than
the present test.
 It is logical then to regard all tests as
behavior samples from which predictions
regarding other behavior can be made.
Different types of tests can then be
characterized as variants of this basic
pattern

13.  Psychological tests are formalized measures of
mental functioning.
 Most are objective and quantifiable; however,
certain projective tests may involve some level of
subjective interpretation.
 Also known as inventories, measurements,
questionnaires, and scales, psychological tests are
administered in a variety of settings, including
preschools, primary and secondary schools, colleges
and universities, hospitals, outpatient healthcare
settings, and social agencies.
 They come in a variety of formats, including written,
verbal, and computer administered.

14.  Proper psychological testing is conducted after
vigorous research and development in contrast
to quick web-based or magazine questionnaires
that say "Find out your Personality Color," or
"What's your Inner Age?" Proper psychological
testing consists of the following:
 Standardization - All procedures and steps must
be conducted with consistency and under the
same environment to achieve the same testing
performance from those being tested.

15.  Objectivity - Scoring is free of subjective
judgments or biases based on the fact that the
same results are obtained on test from
everyone.
 Test Norms - The average test score within a
large group of people where the performance of
one individual can be compared to the results
of others by establishing a point of comparison
or frame of reference.
 Reliability - Obtaining the same result after
multiple testing.
 Validity - The type of test being administered
must measure what it is intended to measure