abnormal
PSYCHOLOGY
Third Canadian Edition
Chapter 4
Clinical Assessment
Procedures
Prepared by:
Tracy Vaillancourt, Ph.D.
Reliability and Validity in
Assessment
• Reliability
– Inter-rater reliability
– Test–retest reliability
– Alternate-form
reliability
– Internal consistency
reliability
• Validity
– Content validity
– Criterion validity
– Construct validity
Psychological Assessment
• Clinical Interview
• Structured Interview
• Psychological Tests
– standardized procedures
designed to measure
person’s performance on a
particular task or to assess
personality, or thoughts,
feelings, and behaviour
• Examples
• Personality Inventories
– MMPI-2
• Projective Personality
Tests
– Rorschach Inkblot Test
– Thematic Apperception
Test (TAT)
• Intelligence Tests
MMPI-2
Behavioural and Cognitive
Assessment
• Often a system that involves the assessment of
four sets of variables, is used (SORC)
– S refers to stimuli
• the environmental situations that precede the problem
– O refers to organismic
• physiologicaland psychological factors assumed to be
operating “under the skin
– R refers to overt responses
– C refers to consequent variables
• events that appear to be reinforcing or punishing the
behaviour in question
Assessment cont.
• Observational Methods
– Direct Observation of Behaviour
– Self-Observation
• Self-monitoring
• Ecological momentary assessment
• Interview
• Self-Report Inventories
• Family Assessment
Summary of Psychological
Assessment Methods
Biological Assessment
Brain Imaging
• Computerized axial tomography (CT scan)
– moving beam of X-rays passes into a horizontal
cross-section of brain, scanning it through 360
degrees
– moving X-ray detector on the other side measures
amount of radioactivity that penetrate thus detecting
subtle differences in tissue density
– computer uses information to construct a twodimensional, detailed image of the cross-section
Biological Assessment cont.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
– superior to the CT scan because produces pictures of
higher quality and does not rely on radiation required
by CT scan
– circular magnet causes the hydrogen atoms in the
body to move
– when magnetic force is turned off, the atoms return to
their original positions and thereby produce an
electromagnetic signal
– signals are then read by the computer and translated
into pictures of brain tissue
Biological Assessment cont.
• Positron emission tomography (PET scan)
– more expensive and invasive procedure
– allows measurement of brain function
– brain is labelled with a short-lived radioactive isotope and injected in
bloodstream
– radioactive molecules of the substance emit a positron which collides
with an electron
– pair of high-energy light particles shoot out from the skull in opposite
directions and are detected by the scanner
– computer analyzes millions of such recordings and converts them into a
picture of the functioning brain
• Neurochemical Assessment
– Example— analyzing the metabolites of neurotransmitters that have been
broken down by enzymes
Brain Imaging
Neuropsychological Assessment
• Neuropsychological tests— based on the
idea that different psychological functions
are localized in different areas of the brain.
• Halstead-Reitan Battery
– 1. Tactile Performance Test—Time
– 2. Tactile Performance Test—Memory
– 3. Category Test
– 4. Speech Sounds Perception Test
• Luria-Nebraska Battery
Psychophysiological Assessment
• Activities of the autonomic nervous system are
frequently assessed by electrical and chemical
measurements in attempt to understand the
nature of emotion.
– Heart rate measured with electrocardiogram
– Skin conductance measured with electrodermal
responding
– Brain activity measured by electroencephalogram
(EEG)
Summary of
Biological Assessment Methods
Cultural Diversity and Clinical
Assessment
• Cultural Bias in Assessment
• Strategies to Avoid Cultural Biases in
Assessment
– Example language, Canadian norms, etc.
Copyright
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