What do you see?
Chapter 13.4 p. 363-368
Learning Objective: What’s the use of personality tests?
Are Tests Legitimate?

Reliability: Consistency of a test; get the
same results in similar circumstances
 Test-Retest: Re-taking a test after a short time
come up with the same result
 Scorer: Same results when scored at different
times by different people (interscorer)
 Split-half: Randomly divide test items in half and
score each half separately; scores should be
about the same
Test Validity
Measuring what a test is supposed to
measure
 Example: PE class doesn’t measure
your English language skills
 Predictive validity: how well a test
predicts performance

 Must have a clear purpose established
Standardization
1.
2.
Must be administered (given) and
scored the same way every time
Establishing a norm (average score)
amongst a large group of people


Creating a curve
Examples of Standardized tests:



SAT
ACT
Other “High Stakes” tests
Personality Tests

Used to:
 Assess a person’s characteristics
 Identify problems
 Potential psychological disorders
 Predict future behavior
Objective Personality Tests
A person must choose from a number of
possible responses
 Types of tests:

 MMPI
 CPI
 Myers-Briggs

Objective tests should be followed up by
interview/discussion should a problem develop
MMPI-2
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality
Inventory
 Shows habits, delusions, fears, sexual
attitudes, potential psychological
disorders
 In scoring test, look for patterns of
responses
 Best for extreme cases of
psychological disorders

CPI
California Psychological Inventory
 Does NOT measure for psychiatric
illnesses
 DOES check for responsibility, tolerance
 Used FOR: leadership, management,
stress

Myers-Briggs
Checks decision making and encoding
of an individual
 The 16 possible types helps an
individual understand how to relate to
others
 Introvert vs. Extrovert
 Intuition vs. Sensing
 Feeling vs. Thinking
 Perceiving vs. Judging

Projective Personality Tests
Open-ended responses; a person is
supposed to tell a story or give
explanation
 With no prior meaning, projective tests
give an indication to an individuals’ own
wants, needs, and feelings
 Types:

 Rorschach Inkblot
 Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
Rorschach Inkblot Test
Developed 1921 by Hermann
Rorschach
 10 cards with inkblot designs chosen by
emotional appeal to people
1. Hand person a card, ask what they see
2. Ask general questions to discover why
the person gave their initial answers
 Many claim the test lacks validity and
reliability

TAT
20 cards with pictures of suggestive
situations
 Person tells a story based on the picture
(how it developed, who the “characters”
are, how it ends)
 Psychologist focuses on themes of
responses
 Assesses motivation and personality
characteristics

Homework
Use one of the TAT pictures (either use one
of the previous 3 images or find a different
one online) to make up your own story about
it.
 12 sentences long, hand-written or typed.
Be sure to include the build-up to the scene,
what’s happening in the scene, and come up
with an ending.
 Give characters a name, place, time.

Journal

What does it mean to be intelligent? (8
sentences)
Word Bank
Recall
 Confabulation
 Insight
 Schemas
 Syntax
 Mental Set
 Eidetic Memory
 Thinking
 Elaborative Memory
 Metacognition

Memory
 Semantics
 Prototype
 Storage
 Short-Term Memory
 Phonemes
 Algorithm
 Episodic Memory
 Procedural Memory
 Functional Fixedness

Chapter 13.2 & 13.3
Learning Objective: Understanding what intelligence is
and how you can test it
Intelligence
No 100% agreed upon answer
 A definition: ability to acquire new ideas,
new behavior, and adapt to new
situations
 Types of intelligence tests:

 Stanford-Binet
 Wechsler Test
Views Of Intelligence
1.
Two-Factor Theory Of Intelligence- proposes that a
person’s intelligence is composed of a general ability
level and specific mental abilities
2.
L.L. Thurston believed that intelligence is composed of
seven abilities and should not be a measurement of one
factor.
3.
Howard Gardner believed that testing pure logic omits
other skills. He believed in eight intelligences (Verbal,
Logical, Musical, Body, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal,
Naturalist).
Views Of Intelligence Cont.
4. Triarchic Theory- proposes that a person’s
intelligence involves analytical, creative, and
practical thinking skills
5. Emotional Intelligence- interpersonal and
intrapersonal abilities needed to understand
and use knowledge of emotions effectively
Stanford-Binet
Intelligence Scale

Intelligence-Quotient (IQ)- standardized
measure of intelligence based on a
scale in which 100 is average
IQ= (Mental Age/Chronological Age) X 100
Has
since been replaced by more
common Otis-Lennon Ability Test
The Wechsler Tests
Yield percentile scores in several areas
(vocabulary, information, arithmetic,
picture arrangement, etc.)
 Separate IQ scores for different abilities
 Gives a more detailed picture

Uses & Meanings Of
IQ Scores
Measure the ability to solve certain
problem types
 Used to identify learning disabilities
 Do not directly measure the ability to
pose problems or question the validity of
problems

Controversy Over
IQ Testing
Nature Vs. Nurture
 Cultural Bias- an aspect of intelligence
test in which the wording used in
questions may be more familiar to
people of one social group than to
another group

Section 3
Aptitude Tests

Aptitude Tests- estimates the probability
that a person will be successful in
learning a specific new skill
 I.e. ACT, SAT
Achievement Tests

Achievement Tests- measures how
much a person has learned in a given
subject or area, not just their innate
abilities
Interest Inventory

Interest Inventory- measures a person’s
preferences and attitudes in a wide
variety of activities to identify areas of
likely success