Chapter 2: Historical, Cultural, And Legal/Ethical Considerations
A Historical Perspective
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Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century
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The Nineteenth Century
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The Twentieth Century
– The measurement of intelligence
– The measurement of personality
– Measurement in various settings
Legal and Ethical Considerations
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The Concerns of the Public
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The Concerns of the Profession
– Test-user qualifications
– Testing people with disabilities
– Computerized test administration, scoring, and interpretation
Cultural Considerations
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How does culture impinge the results of a psychological test?
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Assessment issues concerning linguistic and cultural differences
Definition of group differences
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Culture
– norms, values, symbols of a group
– Who defines what is dysfunctional?
Race
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Physical characteristics of a group
Ethnicity
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Ancestry, language, religious bonds of a group
Two major approaches to cross-cultural testing
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Etic (Universalist)
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Emic (Contextual)
Etic (Universalist)
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Develop a test within a culture and administer it to persons of different cultures
– tests are not be biased toward a specific experience
– conceptualization of the target behavior/traits is the same for all groups
– behavior/traits are adequately reflected in tests
Emic (Contextual)
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Develop different tests (adaptations) within each culture
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Validate within each culture (local norms)
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Designed to accurately measure target domain
Focus of Hypothesis
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Individual differences (within-group) v. between-group differences
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Heterogeneity of groups
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Is there a gold standard for measuring behavior?
Culture-fair vs. Culture-free Test
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No single test is cultural-free (culture-blind)
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Different cultures may emphasize different
abilities or traits as positive or negative
– Social problem-solving approaches
– Test taking styles
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Goal is to take the best of the etic and emic
approach
– Some traits behaviors may be universal
– Others may be culture-specific
Examples
• Crisco is a:
a) patient medicine b) disinfectant
c) toothpaste d) food product
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Christy Matthewson is famous as a:
a) writer b) artist c) baseball player
d) comedian
Methodological Issues with Linguistic Minorities
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Psychometric equivalence
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Sampling
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Examiner Biases
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Differential Predictive Validity
Levels of Psychometric Equivalence
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Metric
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Conceptual
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Linguistic
Metric
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Is there quantitative equivalence in test measurement across cultures?
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Do all cultures respond similarly to the test format?
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Differences in level of exposure to test format and content
Conceptual
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Are the psychological concepts understood differently across different cultures?
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Is there equivalence in conceptualization of behaviors and constructs?
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Are differences in psychological attributes related to differences in values and experiences.
Linguistic
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Is there equivalence in meaning of psychological concepts?
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Is the language and translation appropriate?
Sampling
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Inappropriate standardization samples
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Under representation in standardization samples
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How do we identify groups?
Examiner Biases
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Appropriate verbal and non-verbal communication
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Rapport vs. intimidation
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Culture-based expectancies
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Stereotyping
Differential Predictive Validity
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Do tests accurately predict the same criterion (outcome) - for culture minorities?
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Does the test measure the same concept?
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Are there test related factors?
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Test bias
Improving Assessment with Linguistic Minorities
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Underlying Assumptions should be explicit
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Research reports methodologically explicit
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Sampling, meta-analysis, effect size, and significance
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Multiple measures, multiple methods
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Use of expert consultants
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Pertinent assessment tools
Test-Taker Rights
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The right of informed consent to testing
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The right to be informed of test findings
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The right not to have privacy invaded
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The right to the least stigmatizing label
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The right to have findings held confidential