2. Define psychological test
Purpose/ objective
Uses and importance
Types of psychological test
Conclusion
Recommendations
3. A psychological test is a systematic procedure for
observing a person’s behavior or performance,
describing it with the aid of a numerical scale or
category system. Mostly tests are used as a way
of measuring differences between people or
differences in the same person over time.
The technical term for the science behind
psychological testing is psychometrics.
Psychometrics is the field of study concerned
with the theory and technique of psychological
measurement, which includes the measurement
of knowledge, abilities, attitudes, personality
traits, and educational measurement.
4. Psychological testing is the administration of
psychological tests, which are designed to be
"an objective and standardized measure of a
sample of behavior."A psychological test is a
standardized measure of a mental or behavioral
characteristics/ attributes that is used to
measure the individual differences that exist
among people.
5. Psychological testing is historically and best defined
as “the process of administering, scoring, and
interpreting psychological tests” (Maloney & Ward,
1976)
Primarily, psychologists use tests to measure
personality characteristics, intelligence and cognitive
(e.g., thinking, attention, memory) characteristics.
There are literally hundreds of psychological tests in
existence. The best known among these are several
tests of intelligence yielding the IQ score (the
Stanford-Binet, and the Weschler tests). These and
other similar tests are commonly used to classify
people into mentally retarded, learning disabled,
normal and gifted categories for school purposes.
6. Some scholars believe that the use of psychological tests can
be traced to 2200 BCE in ancient China.
Most scholars agree that serious research efforts on the use
and usefulness of psychological tests did not begin until the
20th century
Modern mental testing began in France in the 19th century. In
the 21st century, psychological testing is a big business.
There are thousands of commercially available, standardized
psychological tests as well as thousands of unpublished tests.
Tests are published by hundreds of test publishing
companies that market their tests very proactively. Today,
psychological testing is a part of the American culture.
Psychological tests are in use everywhere.
7. In this time there are different tests are developed by
different psychologists for example: French psychologist
Alferd Binet, together with psychologists Victor Henri and
Theodore Simon, after about 15 years of development,
published the Binet-Simon test in 1905, which focused on
verbal abilities. It was intended to identify mental retardation
in school children.
Englishman Francis Galton coined the terms psychometrics,
and developed a method for measuring intelligence based on
nonverbal sensory-motor tests.
One of the earliest modern personality tests was the
Woolworth Personality Data Sheet, a self-report
inventory developed for World War I and used for the
psychiatric screening of new draftees.
8. Various scholars have worked on psychological
tests, described uses and importance of
psychological tests
As Urbina (2014) has studied, essentials & uses
of psychological testing, and described the
significance of psychological tests. According to
her, psychological test is a scientific procedure
for obtaining sample of behavior, relevant to
cognitive, effective or interpersonal functioning
and for scoring and interpreting the behavior
and functioning of an Individual.
9. Psychological tests are used to assess a variety of
mental abilities and attributes, including
achievement and ability, personality, and
neurological functioning. To measure the aspects of
mental ability, aptitude or personality of a person
For children, academic achievement, ability, and
intelligence tests may be used as tools in school
placement, in determining the presence of a
learning disability.
The main purpose of the psychological test is to
obtain critical clinical information about an
individual in a limited amount of time. It used to
measure the individual differences that are different
between abilities of different persons and the
performance of the same person at a different time.
10. Psychological tests are used in research. They may
be used in an educational setting to determine
personality. 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.
11. A psychological test help in identifies
weaknesses and strengths. Also helps in
identifying disabilities: Learning disabilities
can be very hard to identify, but
psychological testing helps in detecting areas
in which students are having difficulties.
12. There are two types of psychological tests.
Mental Ability test
Personality test
Both of these types of tests divided into sub-categories of testing;
Mental Ability test include three sub-categories; Intelligence test
(General), Aptitude test (Specific), Achievement test.
Achievement and Ability tests:
Achievement and ability tests are designed to measure
the level of a child's intellectual functioning and
cognitive ability. Common achievement and ability tests
include the Wechsler intelligence scale for children
(WISC-III) and the Stanford-Binet intelligence scales.
13. Personality tests:
Personality tests and inventories evaluate the thoughts,
emotions, attitudes, and behavioral traits that comprise
personality. The results of these tests can help determine a
child's personality strengths and weaknesses, and may
identify certain disturbances in personality, or
psychopathology. Tests such as the Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory for Adolescents (MMPI-A) and the
Millon Pre-Adolescent Clinical Inventory III (M-PACI), are
used to screen children for specific psychopathologies or
emotional problems.
14. Attitude tests:
Attitude test assess an individual's feelings about an
event, person, or object. Attitude scales are used in marketing to
determine individual (and group) preferences for brands, or items.
Typically attitude tests use either a Thurstone scale or Likert Scale
to measure specific items.
Aptitude tests:
Psychological tests measure specific abilities, such as
clerical, perceptual, numerical, or spatial aptitude. Sometimes these
tests must be specially designed for a particular job. An example of
an occupational aptitude test is the Minnesota Clerical Test, which
measures the perceptual speed and accuracy required to perform
various clerical duties.
15. IQ tests purport to be measures of intelligence,
while achievement tests are measures of the use
and level of development of use of the ability. IQ
tests which contain a series of tasks typically
divide the tasks into verbal or non-verbal (relying
on eye–hand types of tasks, or use of symbols or
objects). Examples of verbal IQ test tasks are
vocabulary and information (answering general
knowledge questions). Non-verbal examples are
timed completion of puzzles (object assembly)
and identifying images which fit a pattern (matrix
reasoning).
16. IQ tests (e.g., WAIS-IV, WISC-V, Cattell Culture Fair
III, Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Cognitive Abilities-IV,
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales V) and academic
achievement tests (e.g. WIAT, WRAT, Woodcock-
Johnson Tests of Achievement-III) are designed to be
administered to either an individual (by a trained
evaluator) or to a group.
17. Psychological test are use in different fields like in
clinical settings, forensic settings, counseling
settings, educational settings and etc.
Psychological tests have its importance because it
is a systematic procedure and it provide authentic
information about a client or on whom test is
applied. Psychological test has validity, accuracy,
reliability, gernalibility and authenticity also.
Psychological test are used in different fields by
psychologist, there are some test are defined which
are commonly used e.g. Achievement test, IQ test,
Intelligence test, Aptitude test, Personality test and
so far.
