Psychological Testing
Unit 3
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Reliability: Is the test consistent? Do you get the same
result under any circumstance? Test-retest
Validity: Does the test measure what it is supposed to?
The longer = more valid
Standardization: (IOWA, LEAP, ACT)
Tests are given and scored the same way every
time
 Establishes a norm, or the average score, made
by a large group of people
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Percentile System: “grading on the curve”
*Scores are placed in order from highest to lowest and
are assigned a percentile
Measurement Tests
1)
2)
3)
Achievement tests
measure people’s skills & the knowledge they have
in specific academic areas
Aptitude tests (taken before training)
measure specific abilities or skills; determine
whether a person is likely to do well in a field ex.
SAT
Interest Inventories
determine whether their interests are similar to
people in line of work
Ex. Kuder Preference Record & Strong-Campbell
Interest Inventory
I. INTELLIGENCE TESTING:
Intelligence: the ability to acquire new
ideas and new behavior and to adapt to
new situations
Gardner’s Theory of Intelligence:
*Came up with 8 types of intelligences
1. Verbal: speaking
2. Logical-mathematical: formulas & theories
3. Spatial: ability to find your way around an
environment
4. Musical: ability to create and perceive pitch and
rhythm patterns
5. Body-kinesthetic: body movement (athletics)
6. Interpersonal: communication with others
7. Intrapersonal: knowledge of oneself
8. Naturalist: a person’s ability to identify and classify
patterns in nature
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IQ Scores (Intelligence Quotient): dividing a
child’s mental age (the average age of those
who also received the same score as that child)
by chronological age (actual age) and
multiplying by 100
IQ = Mental Age
x 100
Chronological Age
*average score is 100; >100 (intelligent); <70
(handicapped)
*2% score @ or above 130
II. PERSONALITY TESTING:
*used to identify personality
characteristics and to identify problems
and psychological disorders
*personality includes a person’s
characteristics, habits, preferences, and
moods
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A) TYPES OF OBJECTIVE TESTS:
forced-choice tests; must select from possible
answers; (-) must rely on a person’s selfreports
(1) MMPI: Minnesota Multiphasic
Personality Inventory (1930s &
1940s)
*this test has 567 statements to which the person
can respond true, false, or cannot say
*EX: I like tall women; I am envied by most
people; I am seldom troubled by headaches
*reveals habits, fears, delusions, and symptoms
of disorders
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(2) Meyers-Briggs Test:
• characterizes personality into 4 scales
• Description
1. Extrovert vs. introvert: out-going or keep
to yourself
2. Intuitive vs. sensing: sensing something
without knowing why or seeing to believing
3. Feeling vs. thinking: heart or mind
4. Judging vs. perceptive: organized,
structured, or flexible
(B) TYPES OF PROJECTIVE TESTS: respond
freely; no written choices to choose from;
presented with ambiguous stimuli or sentence
fragments…ex. “When I see myself in the mirror,
I…”
(+) flexible, relaxed atmosphere
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(1) Rorschach Inkblot Test: 10 cards
with inkblot designs (5 black and gray; 2
with red; 3 mixture of colors)
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show inkblot and person says what they
see; no right or wrong answers
Types of Projective Tests cont.
(2) TAT…Thematic Apperception Test
 Developed by H.A. Murray
 20 figures in ambiguous situations
 p. 469
 One key is to see if the subject identifies
with hero of the story or minor characters
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