HISTORY OF

PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTING
Mara Escasinas, RPm, RPsy
AGENDA
❑ Defining/Differentiate Test,
Measurement, Assessment
❑ History of testing

TESTING, MEASUREMENT, ASSESSMENT
Testing
• Systematic procedures for
observing behavior &
describing it with the aid of
numerical scales or fixed
categories (Cronbach, 1990)
• Objective & standardized
measure of a sample of
behavior (Anastasi & Urbina,
2000)
• “How well the individual
performed?”
Measurement
• The process of obtaining a
numerical description of the
degree to which an individual
possesses a characteristic
• “How much?”
• Used to assign numerals to
objects or constructs
according to rules so that
numbers have quantitative
meaning.
Includes: Intelligence, Interest,
aptitudes, values, Scholastic
achievements
3
Assessment
• Process of making judgments
about the quality of student
performance using existing
data or outcomes.
• Process an individual uses to
judge information from one
or more sources. That process
may focus on test data as well
as observations.
 Test
Objective Typically, to obtain some gauge,
usually numerical in nature,
with regard to an ability or
attribute
Process Testing may be individual or
group in nature.
Role of Evaluator The tester is not key to the
process; practically speaking,
one tester may be substituted
for another tester without
appreciably affecting the
evaluation.
Skill of Evaluator Requires technician-like skills.
Outcome Yields a test score or series of
test scores.
Assessment
4
Typically, to answer a referral
question, solve a problem, or
arrive at a decision through the
use of tools of evaluation.
Assessment is typically
individualized.
The assessor is key to the
process of selecting tests and/or
other tools of evaluation as
well as in drawing conclusions
from the entire evaluation.
Requires an educated selection
of tools of evaluation, skill in
evaluation, and thoughtful
organization and integration of
data.
Entails a logical problem-
solving approach that brings to
bear many sources of data
HISTORY OF
TESTING
• China
• Europe
• United States of America
 6

2200 B.C.
• Chinese used competitive exam for civil service positions.
• Civil law, military affairs, agriculture, revenue, and geography
• Testing extremely rigorous
- Confucian classics was emphasized.
• Only 3% of the group became eligible for public office.

test batteries - two or more tests used in conjunction.

 7

TESTING & ERROR

- mid-1800's, Wundt studied mental processes to
formulate general laws of behavior
- could obtain consistent results for each person from
trial to trial
- however, differences between people remained
- viewed these individual differences as error
-> other psychologists viewed individual differences as
important phenomena
- basis for mental tests
 • A relative of Francis Galton
• Published the highly influential
book, The Origin of Species, in
1859.
• Higher forms of life evolved
partially because of differences
among individual forms of life
within a species.
• Believed that those with the best or
most adaptive characteristics
survive at the expense of those who
are less fit and that survivors pass
their characteristics on to the next
generation.
CHARLES DARWIN (UK)
Naturalist (1809-1882)
 • A relative of Charles Darwin
• Thought intelligence “ran” in
families, was heritable.
• Development of statistics
- measure the extent to
which variables are
related
- allows objective
measure of heritability
• Development of assessment of
intelligence
- objective measure of
“genius”
FRANCIS GALTON (UK) Famous for his idea of the “G
Statistician (1822-1911) Factor”
JAMES MCKEEN CATTELL (AMERICAN)
Psychology Professor (1860-1944)

• Studied with Wundt

• Individual differences
• From Galton adopted tests of
sensory/motor function
• Coined term “mental tests”
• Prepared U.S. for acceptance of
psychological tests
 JOHANN FRIEDRICH HERBART
(GERMAN)
Philosopher, Psychologist
(1776-1841)
• Developed a mathematical models
of the mind.
• He used these models as the basis for
educational theories that strongly
influenced 19th century educational
practices.
ERNST HEINRICH WEBER
(GERMAN)
Physician
(1795-1878)
• Attempted to demonstrate the
existence of a psychological
threshold, the minimum stimulus
necessary to activate a sensory
system.
• One of the founders of
“Experimental Psychology”
 GUSTAV THEODOR FECHNER
(GERMAN)
Psychologist (1801-1887)
• One of the co-founders of
Experimental Psychology
• Devised the law that the strength of
a sensation grows as the logarithm
of the stimulus intensity.
WILHELM WUNDT
(GERMAN)
Psychologist (1832-1920)
• Father of Experimental Psychology &
Modern Psychology
• Established the first, “Formal
Psychological Laboratory for research”
in University of Leipzig.
• Was the first person to coined
himself a “Psychologist”.
 ALFRED BINET
(FRENCH)
Psychologist (1857-1911)
• Developed the first intelligence
test to identify MR children.
• Binet - separating MR from
mainstream children
• Measured higher intellectual
processes
Binet’s Assumptions
• 1) Intelligence grows with age
throughout normal childhood
• 2) Best index of intelligence =
verbal ability
Binet-Simon scale - 1905
(revised 1908)
- 30 items in order of difficulty
- memory, judgment, & reasoning
- distinguished younger from
older children
- scores increased with age for
each child
- scores correlated with school
grades & with teacher ratings of
intelligence
- test distinguished MR from
normal children
- mental age
THEODORE SIMON (FRENCH)
Psychologist (1872-1961)

• Worked with Alfred Binet to

develop the Binet-Simon scale, one
of the most widely used scales in
the world for measuring
intelligence.
 LEWIS TERMAN
(AMERICAN)
Psychologist & Author (1872-1961)

• Revised the Binet test for use in the

United States.
• Terman’s revision, known as the
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale.
• It was the only American version of the
Binet test that was flourished.
 ROBERT YERKES
(AMERICAN)
Psychologist (1905-1998)

• He was the president of

American Psychological
Association.
• Headed a committee of
distinguished psychologists
who developed two structured
group tests of human abilities:
The Army Alpha and the
Army Beta.
HERMANN RORSCHACH
(SWISS)
Psychiatrist (1884-1922)

• His education in art

helped to spur the
development of a set of
inkblots.
• David Levy introduced
it introduced it to US.
 HENRY MURRAY CHRISTIANA MORGAN
(AMERICAN) (AMERICAN)
Psychologist (1893-1988) Artist & Lay Psychoanalyst
(1897-1967)

• Developed a theory of • Lay psychoanalyst at Harvard

personality called personology, University.
based on "need" and "press".
 KARL PEARSON LOUIS LEON THURSTONE
(UK) (AMERICAN)
Mathematician (1857-1936) Psychologist (1887-1955)

• Has been credited with • He conceived the approach to

establishing the discipline of measurement known as the law
mathematical statistics. of comparative judgment, and is
well known for his
contributions to factor analysis.
 RAYMOND CATTELL ANNE ANASTASI
(AMERICAN) (AMERICAN)
Psychologist (1905-1998) Psychologist (1908-2001)

• He is credited with developing an • Known as the “test guru”.

influential theory of personality.
• Focused on what she believed to
• Creating new methods for be the appropriate use of
statistical analysis.
psychometric tests
• Responsible for developing the
“theory of fluid and crystallized
intelligence”.