Psychological Assessment

Psychological Assessment refers to the act of assessing a person psychologically. It involves determining an individual's worth through various psychological phenomena, including their behavior in their living environment, relationships with others, collaboration in work settings, and their ability to interact with others. It assesses their disposition towards cooperative activities, impacts on others, receptiveness to suggestions, and the value they contribute to those around them.

When conducting a psychological assessment, it is crucial to consider the person in terms of their psychological entities. Primarily, this involves evaluating their intelligence and other forms of relational behavior. Can they comprehend the emotional disposition they display towards others? It is essential to estimate and evaluate their responsiveness to aspects that relate to or with them as individuals.

The main focus is on assessing the individual intellectually. Consequently, the examination includes the assessment of intelligence and other behavioral characteristics embedded in the personality of individuals.

The primary components of intelligence are closely tied to mental processes. The distinction in language lies in the concept of individual differences in their assessment. Individual differences refer to the consistent, stable ways people differ from each other. For example, an intelligence test informs you whether an individual can logically reason better than most others who have taken the test.

Intelligence is an abstract concept that has been defined in various ways. The three most commonly agreed-upon aspects of intelligence are the following:

1. Verbal ability of students
2. Problem-solving skills
3. The ability to learn from and adapt to experiences of everyday life

What is intelligence?

Intelligence is one of our most highly prized possessions, yet its concept is something that even the most intelligent people have failed to agree on. Unlike characteristics such as height, weight, or age, intelligence cannot be directly measured. It is a bit like size, which is a more abstract notion than height or weight. We can estimate size from a set of empirical measures of height or weight.

Similarly, we can only estimate a person's intelligence. We can observe intellectual processes in action. The only way we study the process is indirectly by evaluating a person's intelligent acts. For the most part, psychologists rely on intelligence tests to provide an estimate of these mental abilities.

The primary components of intelligence are closely tied to mental processes. In our discussion of intelligence, we will focus on the concept of individual differences in assessment. Individual differences represent the consistent, stable ways people differ, which can be observed in various domains of psychology, but it is in the area of intelligence that psychologists pay the most attention to individual differences.

An intelligence test informs you whether you can logically reason better than most others who have taken the test.

While some psychologists and laypeople equate intelligence with verbal ability and problem-solving skills, others prefer to define it as a person's ability to learn from and adapt to the experiences of everyday life.

Intelligence encompasses verbal ability, problem-solving skills, and the ability to learn from and adapt to experiences of everyday life.

Test of Intelligence Construction

Any good test of intelligence must meet three criteria—it must be reliable, it must be valid, and it must be standardized.

Standardization:

Standardization involves developing a uniform procedure for administering and scoring the test. It also involves establishing norms for the test.

Reliability:

Reliability is the extent to which a test yields a consistent, reproducible measure of performance.

Validity:

Validity is the extent to which a test measures what it is intended to measure.

Measuring Intelligence and the Nature of Intelligence

Robert Sternberg was terrified of taking IQ tests as a child. He literally froze when the time came to take such tests. Sternberg eventually overcame his anxieties about IQ tests and became much better at them. His fascination with the topic led to considerable attention to Sternberg's theory of intelligence.

The Normal Curve and Stanford-Binet IQ Scores

The distribution of IQ scores approximates a normal curve. Most people in the population fall in the middle range of scores. Extremely high and low scores are very rare.

More than two-thirds of the population falls between 84 and 116. Only about 1 in 50 individuals has an IQ of more than 132, and only about 1 in 50 individuals has an IQ of less than 68.

Types of Tests of Intelligence

The Binet Tests

In 1904, the French Ministry of Education asked psychologist Alfred Binet to devise a method to identify children who were unable to learn in school. School officials wanted to reduce overcrowding by placing those who did not benefit from regular classroom teaching in special schools. Binet and his student, Theophile Simon, developed an intelligence test to meet this request. The test is referred to as the 1905 scale and consisted of thirty questions, ranging from simple tasks like touching one's nose or ear when asked to more complex abilities like drawing designs from memory and defining abstract concepts.

Binet introduced the concept of mental age (MA), which represents an individual's level of mental development relative to others. He reasoned that a mentally retarded child would perform like a normal child of a younger age. Binet developed averages for intelligence by testing 50 normal children from 3 to 11 years of age. The average mental age (MA) corresponds to chronological age (CA), which is the age from birth. A bright child has an MA considerably above CA, while a dull child has an MA considerably below CA.

The term intelligence quotient (IQ) was devised in 1912 by William Stern. IQ consists of an individual's mental age (MA) divided by chronological age (CA) multiplied by 100.

IQ = (MA / CA) * 100

If mental age is the same as chronological age, then the person's IQ is 100. If mental age is below chronological age, the IQ is less than 100. Scores considered above 100 are average, and scores notably below 100 are considered below average. For example, a 6-year-old child with a mental age of 8 would have an IQ of 133, while a 6-year-old child with a mental age of 5 would have an IQ of 83.

The Binet test has been revised many times to incorporate advances in the understanding of intelligence and intelligence testing. These revisions are called the Stanford-Binet tests (named after Stanford University where the revisions were done).

Many of the revisions were carried out by Lewis Terman, who applied Stern's IQ concept to the test, developed extensive norms, and provided detailed, clear instructions for each of the problems on the tests. In an extensive effort to standardize the Binet test, it has been given to thousands of people of different ages selected at random from different parts of the US. By administering the test to large numbers of people and recording the results, it has been found that intelligence measured by Binet approximates a normal distribution. A normal distribution is symmetrical, with a majority of cases falling in the middle of the possible range of scores and few scores appearing toward the extremes of the range.

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale can be used for children from age 3. This test is utilized to assess scholastic aptitude or academic achievement. It is employed as a preliminary screening instrument to be followed by tests of special aptitudes.

There are 15 items chosen to represent four major cognitive areas:

• Verbal reasoning
• Abstract/visual reasoning
• Quantitative reasoning
• Short-term memory

Items are arranged in increasing order of difficulty.

The Wechsler Scales - Verbal and Performance Subscales

Verbal Subscales:

1. Information (29 questions): Covers a wide variety of information.
2. Digit Span: Increasing difficulty with 4 items.
3. Arithmetic (14 problems).
4. Comprehension (16 items): The examinee explains what should be done under certain circumstances, etc.
5. Similarities (14 items): Orally presented list of three to nine digits.
6. Vocabulary (35 words): Items requiring the examinee to state in what way two things are alike.

Performance Scales:

1. Picture Completion: 20 cards, each containing a picture from which some parts are missing. The examinee must tell what is missing from each picture.
2. Picture Arrangement: Each of the 10 items consists of a set of cards containing pictures to be rearranged in the proper sequence to tell a story.
3. Block Design: Uses a set of nine cards containing designs in red and white. The examinee is shown one design at a time, which they must reproduce by choosing and assembling the proper blocks.
4. Objects Assembly: In each of the four parts, cutouts are assembled to make a flat picture of a familiar object.
5. Digit Symbol: The key contains nine symbols paired with the nine digits. The examinee fills in as many symbols as they can under the numbers on the answer sheets. Both speed and correctness of performance influence the score on the Arithmetic, Picture Arrangement, Block Design, Object Assembly, and Digit Symbols subtests.

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)

In the children's version of WISC, there are two sub-scales, which are also replicated in the adult version. The difference lies in the difficulty level of items.

Verbal Subscales:

• Information
• Similarities
• Arithmetic
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension
• Digit Span

Performance Subscales:

• Picture Completion
• Picture Arrangement
• Block Design
• Object Assembly
• Digit Symbol

The Extremes of Intelligence: Mental Retardation and Giftedness

Intelligence tests have been used to discover indications of mental retardation or intellectual giftedness - the extremes of intelligence.

Mental Retardation:

The most distinctive feature of mental retardation is inadequate intellectual functioning. Long before formal tests were developed to assess intelligence, the mentally retarded were identified by a lack of age-appropriate skills in learning and caring for themselves. Once intelligence tests were developed, numbers were assigned to indicate the degree of mental retardation. However, it is not unusual to find two retarded people with the same low IQ, one of whom is married, employed, and involved in the community, and the other requiring constant supervision in an institution. These differences in social competence led psychologists to include deficits in adaptive behavior in their definition of mental retardation.

Note: In contemporary clinical and diagnostic terminology, the terms "Intellectual Disability" or "Intellectual Developmental Disorder" are used instead of "Mental Retardation." These terminologies align with the classifications provided by international standards such as the ICD (International Classification of Diseases) and the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

Mental Retardation

Mental retardation is a condition of limited mental ability in which the individual has a low IQ, usually below 70 on traditional intelligence tests, and has difficulty adapting to everyday life.

Classification of Mental Retardation:

There are different classifications of mental retardation. About 89% of the mentally retarded fall into the mild category with IQs of 55 to 70. Approximately 6% are classified as moderately retarded, with IQs of 40 to 54; these individuals can attain a second-grade level of skills and may be able to support themselves as adults through some type of labor. About 3.5% of the mentally retarded fall into the severe category, with IQs of 25 to 39; these individuals learn to talk and engage in very simple tasks but require extensive supervision. Less than 1% have IQs below 25, falling into the profoundly mentally retarded classification and requiring constant supervision.

Mental retardation may have an organic cause or may be social and cultural in origin. Organic retardation is mental retardation caused by a genetic disorder or brain damage. The term "organic" refers to the tissues or organs of the body, indicating some physical damage in organic retardation. Down syndrome, one form of mental retardation, occurs when an extra chromosome is present, but it may involve the health or age of the female ovum or male sperm. Most people who suffer from organic retardation have IQs that range between 0 and 50.

Mental Retardation

Mental retardation is a condition of limited mental ability in which the individual has a low IQ, usually below 70 on traditional intelligence tests, and has difficulty adapting to everyday life.

Classification of Mental Retardation:

About 89% of the mentally retarded fall into the mild category with IQs of 55 to 70.

Approximately 6% are classified as moderately retarded, with IQs of 40 to 54; these individuals can attain a second-grade level of skills and may be able to support themselves as adults through some type of labor.

About 3.5% of the mentally retarded fall into the severe category, with IQs of 25 to 39; these individuals learn to talk and engage in very simple tasks but require extensive supervision.

Less than 1% have IQs below 25, falling into the profoundly mentally retarded classification and requiring constant supervision.

Mental retardation may have an organic cause or may be social and cultural in origin.

Organic retardation is mental retardation caused by a genetic disorder or brain damage. The term "organic" refers to the tissues or organs of the body, indicating some physical damage in organic retardation.

Down syndrome, one form of mental retardation, occurs when an extra chromosome is present, but it may involve the health or age of the female ovum or male sperm.

Most people who suffer from organic retardation have IQs that range between 0 and 50.

Cultural Familial Retardation

Cultural Familial Retardation is a term referred to as a mental deficit in which no evidence of organic brain damage can be found. Individual's IQs range from 50 to 70. Psychologists suspect that such mental deficits result from normal genetic variation that distributes people along the range of intelligence scores above 50, combined with growing up in a below-average intellectual environment.

The Heredity-Environment Controversy

Arthur Jensen in 1969 sparked off a lively debate when he stated that intelligence is primarily inherited and that environment and culture play only a minimal role in intelligence.

Jensen claimed that genetics account for clear-cut differences in average intelligence between races, nationalities, and social classes. He further stated that lower intelligence probably was the reason that African Americans do not perform as well in schools as whites. This controversial stance led to hate mails and police escorting him to his classes at the University of California.

Today, most researchers agree that genetics do not determine intelligence. For most people, this means that the environment can change their IQ scores considerably. It also means that programs designed to enrich a person's environment can have a considerable impact, improving school achievement and the acquisition of skills needed for employability. While genetic endowment may always influence a person's intellectual ability, the environment influences and opportunities we provide children and adults can make a difference.

Environmental influences are complex. Growing up with all the "advantages," for example, does not necessarily guarantee success. Children from wealthy families may have access to excellent schools, books, travel, and tutoring. However, they may take such opportunities for granted and fail to develop the motivation to learn and achieve. In the same way, being "poor" or "disadvantaged" does not automatically equal "doomed."

Giftedness

There have always been people whose abilities and accomplishments outshine others - the bright kids in class, the star athletes, the natural musicians. Giftedness means having above-average intelligence (an IQ of 120 or higher) and a superior talent for something. When it comes to programs for the gifted, most school systems select children who have intellectual superiority and academic aptitude.

Until recently, giftedness and emotional distress were thought to go hand in hand. Sir Isaac Newton and a few others all had emotional problems, but these are the exceptions rather than the rule.

In general, no relation between giftedness and mental disorders has been found. A number of recent studies support the conclusion that gifted people tend to be more matured and have fewer emotional problems than others.

Culture and Ethnicity

Cultural Bias and Culture-Fair Tests: Many of the early intelligence tests were biased.

Psychological tests have many uses and there is a variety of diversity in them. Some are associated by the general public with the testing of intelligence, while others are designed to detect emotional disorders. These tests represent only a small proportion of the available types of broad cognitive traits, including intelligence tests of separate abilities found in multiple aptitude batteries, tests of special aptitudes, achievement tests, and personality tests. Personality tests are concerned with measures of emotional and motivational traits, interpersonal behavior, interests, attitudes, and other affective variables.

What is a Psychological Test?

It is essentially an objective and standardized measure of a sample of behavior. The diagnostic or predictive values of psychological tests depend on the degree to which they serve as indicators of relatively broad and significant areas of behavior.

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS

Tests of Cerebral Dysfunction

A large number of tests have been specially designed as clinical instruments for assessing neuropsychological impairment. These tests are often indicators of organicity or brain damage.

Most available tests in this category serve broader functions and have been employed to detect intellectual deterioration or impairment arising from various possible causes. Psychological tests of intellectual impairment are generally based on the premise of a differential deficit in different functions. Chief among the functions considered most sensitive to pathological processes are perception of spatial relations and memory for newly learned material.

The assessment of these functions is illustrated by two well-known tests that have been in use for many years - the Benton Visual Retention Test and the Bender-Gestalt Test.

The Benton Visual Motor Retention Test

Utilizing 10 cards, each containing one or more simple geometric figures, the Benton Visual Motor Retention Test exposes each card for about 10 seconds. The respondent is then instructed to draw what was seen on the card after its removal. The test requires spatial perception, immediate recall, and the usual motor reproduction of drawings. Performance is scored in terms of the number of cards correctly reproduced and the total number of errors.

Additional qualitative information can be obtained by classifying the errors as omissions (and additions), distortions, perseverations, rotations, and size errors.

The Bender Gestalt Test

Widely used by clinical psychologists, predominantly for the detection of brain damage, the Bender Gestalt Test consists of nine simple designs presented one at a time on cards. The respondent is instructed to copy each design with the sample before them.

Scoring procedures are similar, with qualitative information classified by errors such as omissions (and additions), distortions, perseverations, rotations, and size errors.

Personality Tests

Personality tests are instruments for the measurement of emotional, motivational, interpersonal, and attitudinal characteristics, distinguished from abilities.

The tests may be in the form of inventories or projective methods of assessing personality. Inventories, for example, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and California Personality Inventory, are the most commonly used.

The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

This is the most widely used personality inventory. It consists of 550 affirmative statements, to which the test-taker gives the responses "True", "False" or "Cannot say". The test is designed for adults from about 16 years of age upward. The MMPI items range widely, covering areas such as health, psychosomatic symptoms, neurological disorders, and motor disturbances; sexual, religious, political, and social attitudes; educational, occupational, family, and marital questions, and many well-known neurotic or psychotic behavior manifestations such as obsessive and compulsive states, delusions, hallucinations, ideas of reference, phobias, and sadistic and masochistic tendencies.

Examples are, "I do not get tired quickly", "Most people will use somewhat unfamiliar means to gain profit or an advantage rather than to lose it", "I am worried about sex", "When I get bored, I like to stir up some excitement", "I believe I am being plotted against".

In its original basic form, the MMPI provides scores on 10 clinical scales listed as:

1. As: Hypochondriasis
2. D: Depression
3. Hy: Hysteria
4. Pd: Psychopathic deviate
5. Mf: Masculinity/Femininity
6. Pa: Paranoia
7. Py: Psychosthenia
8. Sc: Schizophrenia
9. Ma:Hypomania
10. Si: Social introversion

The manual provides how testees are judged or determined which scale he/she is most likely scored.

Projective Techniques

The number of these is large and diversified.

A major distinguishing feature of projective techniques is found in their assignment of relatively unstructured tasks, i.e., tasks that permit an almost unlimited variety of possible responses. The test stimuli are usually vague or ambiguous. The underlying hypothesis is that the way in which the individual perceives and interprets the test materials or "structures" the situation will reflect fundamental aspects of their psychological functioning. It is expected that the test materials will serve as a sort of screen on which respondents will project their characteristic thought processes, needs, anxieties, and conflicts.

Typically, projective instruments also represent disguised testing procedures insofar as test-takers are rarely aware of the type of psychological interpretation that will be made of their responses. Projective techniques are likewise characterized by a global approach to the appraisal of personality. Projective techniques are usually regarded as effective in revealing covert, latent, or unconscious aspects of personality. The more unstructured the test, the more sensitive it is to such covert material. The more unstructured or ambiguous the stimuli, the less likely they are to evoke defensive reactions on the part of the respondent.

Types of Projective Techniques

The Rorschach Inkblots:

One of the most popular projective techniques developed by Swiss Psychiatrist Herman Rorschach. He was the first to apply inkblots to the diagnostic investigation of the personality as a whole. It utilizes 10 cards on each of which are printed bilaterally symmetrical inkblots. Five of the blots are executed in shades of grey and black only, two contain additional touches of bright red, and the remaining three combine several other shades. As the respondent is shown each inkblot, he or she is asked to tell what the blots could represent. Besides keeping a verbatim record of the responses to each card, the examiner notes the time of responses, position(s) in which cards are held, spontaneous remarks, emotional expressions, and other incidental behavior of the respondent during the test session.

The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

The TAT presents more highly structured stimuli and requires more complex and meaningfully organized verbal responses. Interpretation of responses by the examiner is usually based on content analysis of a rather qualitative nature. It was developed by H. Murray and his colleagues at the Harvard Psychological Clinic and has been widely used in clinical practice and research.

Verbal Techniques

The TAT materials consist of 19 cards containing vague pictures in black and white and one blank card. The respondent is asked to make a story to fit each picture, telling what led up to the event shown in the picture, describing what is happening at the moment, and what the characters are feeling and thinking, and giving the outcome. In the case of the blank card, the respondent is instructed to imagine some pictures on the card, describe it, and then tell a story about it.

In interpreting TAT stories, the examiner first determines who is the "hero" - the character of either sex with whom the respondent has presumably identified herself or himself.

The TAT has been used extensively in personality research. Several investigations have been concerned with the assumptions that underlie TAT interpretations, such as self-identification with the hero and the personal significance of uncommon responses.

Word Association Test: The procedure involves simply the presentation of a series of disconnected words, to each of which the individual is told to respond by giving the first word that comes to mind. The clinical application of word association was stimulated largely by the psychoanalytic movement.

Sentence Completion: Series of sentences are left deliberately uncompleted. The patient is expected to provide suitable ideas to make the sentences become reasonable after they are found to be completed.