INTRODUCTION TO

PSYCHOLOGICAL
TESTING
Objectives
• Compare and contrast the following related fields: psychological testing,
psychometrics, and psychological assessment;
• Differentiate psychological tests from other kinds of tests;
• Discuss the different types of psychological tests;
• Identify the major developments in the history of psychological testing
internationally and in the Philippines; and
• Discuss the relevance of psychological tests in educational, community,
business and industrial settings.
 BASIC
CONCEPTS
 What is PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING?

• It refers to all the possible uses, applications, and underlying

concepts of psychological and educational tests.

• The main purpose of tests is to evaluate individual differences, or

variations among individuals.
Psychological Assessment
• Refers to gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose
of making a psychological evaluation, accomplished through a variety of tools,
including individual tests, projective tests, clinical interview and other
psychological assessment tools, for the purpose of assessing diverse
psychological functions including cognitive abilities, aptitudes, personality
characteristics, attitudes, values, interests, emotions and motivations, among
others, in support of psychological counseling, psychotherapy and other
psychological interventions.(“Philippine Psychology Act of 2009”)
Psychometrics
• Is the field of study concerned with the theory and technique of
psychological measurement, which includes the measurement of
knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits.
• 2 major research tasks:
• Construction of instruments and procedures for measurement
• Development and refinement of theoretical approaches to measurement
What is a TEST?
What is a test?
• It is a measurement device or technique used to quantify behavior or to aid in
the understanding and prediction of behavior.

• In every test, there are items or specific stimuli to which a person responds
overtly. The responses are then scored or evaluated to assess a behavior.
Remember…
• Tests may not measure the totality of a behavior because tests only
measure a sample of behavior and error is always associated with
the sampling process.

• Test scores are not perfect measures of a behavior or characteristic,

but they do add significantly to the understanding and prediction
process.
Psychological test
• A psychological test is a set of items designed to measure
characteristics of human beings that pertain to human behavior.

• A psychological test can either measure overt behavior (e.g. social

skills, eating habits, stage fright) or covert behavior (e.g. thoughts,
feelings and other mental processes).
Other important terms
• Scales
• Tools that relate raw scores on test items to some defined
theoretical or empirical distribution.

So what does it
mean if I got a score
of 85 out of 100 in a
test?
Other important terms
• Test administrator or
examiner
• The person giving the test.

• Test taker or examinee

• The person answering the test.
TYPES OF TESTS
A. According to administration
• Individual tests
 These are tests that can only be given to only one person at a time. Some
examples are the Wechsler Intelligence Scales, Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
and Rorschach Inkblot Test.

• Group tests
• These are tests that can be administered to more than one person at a time by a
single examiner. Some examples are the Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Myers-
Briggs Type Indicator and Culture-Fair Intelligence Test.
 INDIVIDUAL TESTS GROUP
TESTS
TYPES OF TESTS
B. According to the type of behavior they measure
• A. Ability tests
• These are tests which measure skills in terms of speed, accuracy or both.
These are divided into three classifications:
• Achievement test – measures previous learning .
• Aptitude test – measures the potential for learning or acquiring a specific
skill.
• Intelligence test – measures general potential to solve problems, adapt to
changing circumstances, think abstractly and profit from experience.
TYPES OF TESTS
B. According to the type of behavior they measure
• Personality tests
• These are tests which measure typical behavior like traits, disposition,
temperament and attitudes. These are divided into two classifications:
• Structured/Objective personality test – provides self-report statements
which requires the examinee to choose between two or more alternative
responses.
• Projective personality test – provides an ambiguous or vague stimulus
wherein the examinee presents an open-ended response.
 STRUCTURED
PROJECTIVE
What is the relevance of Psychological
Tests?
Business and Industry?
Educational Institutions?
 Reliability and Validity
2 most fundamental concepts in Testing
Reliability and Validity
• Reliability
• Accuracy, dependability, consistency, or repeatability of test
results
• Validity
• Meaning and usefulness of test results