Psychological Testing

Some of the most interesting things about people cannot be seen easily by a casual
observer. In fact, most of the psychological qualities such as attitudes, personality characteristics,
abilities etc. of an individual cannot be viewed directly. However, we can systematically observe
peoples behavior and draw inferences about the psychological qualities of people which
stimulate behavior. Psychological tests help us to do such things.
What is psychological testing?
Psychological testing can be defined as a structured, systematic process of generating
carefully selected samples of behavior to be used for making inferences about the psychological
qualities of people being tested. Psychological tests can be defined as a structured, systematic
technique of generating sample of human behavior.
Tests are not magical or even very mysterious. They are merely standard ways of
generating samples of peoples behavior. However, behavior samples generated from
psychological tests are far more informative and useful than those generated from random
observations. Following qualities of a psychological test make it more accurate than casual
observations: (i)

Uniform/Standardized: The process of using the test is precisely defined so that different
people follow the same steps every time they use the test. It implies that the test
performances of different people (or the performance of same person at different points of
time) can be compared directly.

(ii)

Objective: The rules of scoring are clearly spelled out, like the rules for use of test. Thus,
the subjective input of the individual test administrator is minimized and the potential
impact of personal biases on the test results is controlled.

It is important to highlight that merely putting together a series of questions is not

psychological testing. Many popular magazines, books publish a series of questions and
individuals rate themselves as good, bad, excellent on these questions. But be careful these are
not psychological tests.
Classification of Psychological Tests
Psychological tests may be categorized into various groupings depending upon the
particular purpose of the classification system. There are at least four major ways of classifying
psychological tests: (i)

Type of psychological attribute they measure- Probably the most frequently used way of
classifying psychological tests is on the basis of the psychological quality/attribute they
intend to measure. Therefore, there could be as many types of tests as there are

psychological qualities. Such as intelligence tests, personality tests, leadership tests,

creativity test etc.
(ii)

Achievement vs Aptitude tests- Another way of distinguishing between various

psychological tests is whether they are achievement test or aptitude test. An achievement
test is designed to measure the current level of a persons skills/abilities in a given area. In
contrast, aptitude tests are supposed to measure a persons potential in that area. This
classification system is little problematic because sometimes a test may be bothachievement as well as aptitude test.

(iii)

Paper pencil vs performance tests- A psychological test could also be differentiated on the
basis of whether it is a paper-pencil test or performance test. Paper pencil tests usually
contain a test paper or printed booklet containing the test questions, and the person being
tested responds to the question in some written manner. On the other hand, performance
tests do not require written answers. Instead, they involve some sort of manipulation
activity in a given situation.

(iv)

Verbal vs nonverbal tests- There are certain psychological tests which require knowledge of
a particular language (English, Hindi etc.) in order to understand the test instructions,
questions etc. All such tests are called verbal tests because performance on them partially
depends upon the language ability. Because most of the psychological functions exist
independently of language, it is important to design tests for people who are illiterate or do
not have language competence. In such tests, no language skills are required by the person
being tested.

Characteristics of a good psychological test

As there are thousands of tests available, it is important for the test takers to make a fair
distinction between an authentic psychological test and any other psychological test. There are
three important characteristics which a psychological test should have if it is an authentic and
trustworthy test. These are: (i)

Norms- A norm is a standard of reference; it enables one to understand the meaning of a

test score. Norms are basically sets of scores obtained from a representative sample of the
population for which the test has been made. Actually, the raw score by itself on a
psychological test is a meaningless figure until there is set of scores to compare with it. For
example, raw score of 240 may be poor performance in one test, whereas on another test a
score of 75 may be exceptional. Without norms, it is difficult to compare the score of an
individual with others or results of one test from another. The most widely used system of
norms are percentiles and standard scores.

(ii)

Reliability- A good test should be highly reliable. In short, results of the test should be
consistent and trustworthy. It implies that test results of an individual are similar despite
being administered and scored in different situations, by different people and different
forms of the test are given. There are three major ways in which reliability of a test is
measured: -

(a) Test-retest method- In this method, the test is repeated twice on the same group of
people and the correlation coefficient between the first and second set of scores are
computed.
(b) Split half method- In this method, the total number of questions in a test are divided into
two equal parts and administered on a group of people. Subsequently, the correlation is
computed between the two parts.
(c) Alternate forms- When it is possible to construct two different set of questions for a
test, such as series A and series B, the correlation of scores between the two forms is
computed which indicates the reliability of the test.
(iii)

Validity- Validity is another key characteristic of an authentic psychological test. When we

say that a test is valid, it means that the test is actually measuring what it is designed to
measure. In short, validity is a measure of how well a test measures what it claims to
measure. A valid test ensures that the results are an accurate reflection of the dimension
undergoing assessment. There are three types of validity:
(a) Content Validity
(b) Criterion Validity (Concurrent Validity + Predictive Validity)
(c) Construct Validity

Relationship between Reliability and Validity

The two concepts, reliability and validity, refer to different aspects of test efficiency. If a
test is not valid, there is no question of ascertaining its reliability because validity is required
before we consider reliability. Remember in order to be valid, a test must be reliable; but
reliability does not guarantee validity.
Advantages and disadvantages of testing
Use of psychological testing in selection has following advantages: (i)

It is easier to determine the value of a test than it is to evaluate other ways of selection such
as interviews, testimonials etc.

(ii)

Psychological testing is less prone to personal biases of the testers in comparison to other
techniques.

(iii)

The costs of psychological testing are not particularly high in comparison to other ways of
selection.

Despite its utility, psychological testing has certain risks also. The major disadvantages of
psychological testing are: (i)

Overenthusiasm with psychological testing can do more harm than good.

(ii)

If the test administrator is not trained properly or is not a professional in this field, it would
be disastrous to use his/her services for selection.

List of Major Psychological Tests

Some of the major psychological test which are frequently used are as given below. Please
note that this is not a comprehensive list and there are thousands of other psychological tests
which are not listed here.
Intelligence Tests
1. Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
2. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
3. Kaufmann Assessment Battery for Children
4. Cognitive Assessment System
5. Ravens Progressive Matrices
Personality Tests
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory
Myers Briggs Type Indicator
16PF Personality Test
NEO Personality Inventory

1.
2.
3.
4.

Other Clinical Tests

1. ADHD Rating Scale
2. Becks Depression Inventory
3. Beck Anxiety Inventory
4. Daily Assessment of Symptoms
5. General Behavior Inventory
6. General Health Questionnaire
7. Rorschach Inkblot Test
8. Rotters Incomplete Sentences Test
9. State Trait Anxiety Inventory
10. Thematic Apperception Test
11. UCLA PTSD Index
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