Exam #1 Flashcards
Psychological Assessment
The systematic effort to understand and predict the behaviour of others.
Modern Psychological assessment began with the assessment of intelligence.
Define a psychological test
+ What are the key components of a test?
An objective and standardized measure of a sample of behaviour.
- Objective- an accurate and unbiased response to what is measured. Not subjective.
- Standardized- Administered and scored by following a specific protocol.
- A sample of behaviour- Test is a snapshot in time. The person may be having a bad day, tired, errors in test administration, scoring and interpretation
What are the 4 main purposes of psychological tests?
1) Classification. Ie someone may be cognitively gifted, another might be psychopathic.
2) Self-understanding- Ie evaluating career interests
3) Program evaluation- A screening tool can determine autism and the treatment protocol based on severity
4) Scientific Inquiry
Two examples of psychological constructs measured by psychometric testing
1) Personality
2) Intelligence
What is eugenics?
Efforts to selectively control reproduction in order to gradually improve hereditary characteristics in a population
Founder of intelligence testing who believed in eugenics
Galton
What was Galton interested in? What were his beliefs?
Intelligence testing- 1)interested in correlations between intelligence and sensory/motor functioning, reaction time, visual acuity and physical strength.
2) interested in how genius runs in families
Galton was in favor of eugenics
Galton wanted to discourage people of lesser intelligence from having children
Coined the term “mental test”
James McKeen Cattell
James McKeen Cattell
Coined the term “mental test”
Wundt
1) Father of modern psychology
2)Had the first psychology lab
3)created the *Nomothetic approach
Wundt was the first to start testing individuals and comparing results
- Father of modern psychology
- Had the first psychology lab
- created the *Nomothetic approach
- First to start testing individuals and then comparing results
Wundt
Emil Kraepelin
- First to come up with categorical classification
- Developed the word association test to distinguish people with mental health issues from controls. This was the first practical psychometric device for identifying emotionally disturbed individuals.
Abnormality on the word association test was a function of excessively long reactions, failures to respond, misunderstandings of words.
First practical psychometric device for identifying emotionally disturbed individuals
Word Association Test
Developed by Emil Kraepelin
Developed the concept of IQ
Stern
Stern
Developed the concept of IQ
Equation for IQ
IQ= (MA/Chronological age) *100
MA stands for mental age
Published the first useful test of mental ability
Alfred Binet
Alfred Binet
published the first useful test of mental ability
test identified youngsters in need of special training
Binet emphasized abstract reasoning rather than sensory skills- as did galton
Woodworth Personal Data Sheet
First self-report personality questionnaire
Developed to assess the ability of a WW1 soldier to adjust to the strains of military life
grandfather of all personality inventories
First self-report personality questionnaire
Woodworth Personal Data Sheet
Thematic Apperception Test
Individuals make up stories to fairly well developed pictures
Key: person projects aspect of self onto their percept
Modern Intelligence Testing was conceived by?
David Weschler
What is a norm and what/how is it used?
The norm is the typical test performance of a standardized sample.
Ie a particular test is given to a large group of people. based on this sample a mean and a standard deviation will be generated . Now the individual can be compared to this group
A person’s data, assuming they are also from this population- if they are not from the population in which the inventory was normed on then we cannot come to a conclusion.
When do you use Spearman’s Rho?
The Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient is appropriate when either of the following conditions are met:
1) One variable is an ordinal scale and the other is an ordinal scale or higher
2) One of the distributions is markedly skewed ( not normally distributed)
What do we need to know before we can calculate statistical significance?
Alpha Level = 0.05
What is the most common measurement scale used in psychology?
Ordinal
Pearson correlation coefficient
linear relationship between two continuous variables
What are constructs?
Abstract notions that cannot be measured directly. Therefore we develop tools to enable their measurement. Examples of constructs are intelligence and personality
Secure Vs Nonsecure Tests + Types
Secure tests are not available to the general population. You need a specific designation to access them. These requirements vary by test, Ie some will require that you are a psychologist or psychometrist. Secure tests are listed in the Mental Measurements Yearbook.
*secure tests would lose their validity if the general public could get their hands on them
Nonsecure tests are available to anyone and have no special requirements to access them. They may be found on the internet, or in scientific journals etc.
Arguably “Assessment” began with
astrology
Astrology
Arguably the beginning of assessment
The attempt to forecast events on earth through observation of the stars and heavenly bodies
horoscope- the configuration of stars at the moment of your birth dictates your personality
there is absolutely no serious evidence for the existence of a relationship between time of birth and personality
Barnum Effect/Aunt Fanny Error
The use of descriptions so vague that they apply to almost anyone, rather than a specific individual.
Sheldon’s Somatotype Theory
Ectomorph
Restrained, introverted, mentally intense, restless.
*Prone to schizophrenia
Mesomorph
Ideal. Competitive, energetic, assertive, bold.
Endomorph
Lovers of comfort, social, warm, good-willed.
*Prone to bipolar
Who was the founder of intelligence testing?
Galton
What does IQ stand for?
Intelligence Quotient
What was the first self-report personality questionaire?
Woodworth Personal Data Sheet
TAT
Told to tell a story about an image
Key: Person projects aspects of self onto percept
Thematic Apperception Test
More valid than Rorschach
David Weschler
Developed Modern Intelligence Testing
Built upon the ideas contained in the Stanford-Binet
First high quality test for adults. WAIS
Weschler developed tests for children . WPPSI and WISC-III
Weschler’s innovations
a) scoring scheme based on the normal distribution. Discarded idea of IQ
b) Verbal and performance scales
c) relied less on verbal ability
What are the Weschler and Stanford Binet ?
Individual tests- Usually administered on an one to one basis
they are
a) expensive to administer
b) time consuming to administer
Hathaway and McKinley
**More to include- slide 43 MMPI- had validity scales to determine if people were being honest on the test.
Empirical keying: Main idea was to discover items/responses that statistically differentiated one group from another. Ie differentiating a depressed group from a non depressed group. Take these items and put them as part of a scale.
What is a trait?
What are the three characteristics of traits?
A trait is
A) Any enduring characteristic of a person that can serve an explanatory role in account for observed regularities in behaviour
B) it is a simple description of an individual’s characteristic modes of behaving, feeling, and thinking
three characteristics of traits
1) they are internal dispositions and stable over time
2) they are bipolar. They have an extreme on either end. Ie Extroversion and Introversion ( can score high, low or average on a trait)
3) They are independent- the primary factors of personality are independent from one another. Scoring high in one area doesn’t necessitate scoring high or low in another.
What are the big five?
OCEAN Openness Conscientiousness Extroversion Agreeableness Neuroticism
What are some explanations for correlations/interpretations of correlation coefficients?
A) X might cause Y
B) Y might cause X
C) A might cause both X and Y
D) Significance is due to chance
Illusory Correlation
Finding associations where no real association exists
Type 1 error- false positive
When do you use Spearman’s Rho vs Pearson’s R?
You use Spearman’s Rho when either of the following two conditions are met
1) One variable is an ordinal scale and the other variable is an ordinal scale or higher
2) One of the distributions is markedly skewed (not normally distributed)
You use Pearson’s R
Sampling Techniques
1) Stratified- representative proportions of groups. Very specific subsets of groups. Target populations we are interested in, Ie Smokers vs Non-Smokers
2) Randomization- every case has an equal chance at selection
3) Incidental- convenience sampling, ie whoever comes to you via university volunteer
What are the scales of measurement?
NOIR
Nominal- Classifies data according to a CATEGORY only. Without any actual numerical value, any numbers assigned are arbitrary. Ie Religions, gender, Eye colour.
Ordinal- Classifies data according to RANK. Has magnitude. *Most common measurement scale used in psychology. Ie Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Disagree
Interval Ratio
Interval: No true absolute zero point.
Has magnitude and equal intervals. Measurements are in EQUAL units. Ie Degrees, Clocks
Ratio: Has all of the previous characteristics plus absolute zero. Similar to interval, but with a zero point. *Only measurement with an absolute zero Ie Height, Weight
Draw the levels of measurement comparisons chart
#2-Slide 16
Draw it
How will mean median and mode appear on
1) a normal distribution
2) a right skewed distribution
3) a left skewed distribution
Draw it
in normal distribution- all will be in the centre
Mode will always be at the peak
Median in a skewed distribution will provide the most avg response
Mean will always be pulled to the outliers, outliers are plotted on the extreme
What are measures of central tendency?
A score that represents the typical performance of the sample.
Ie. Mean, Median and Mode
Mean
The average score. The sum of the individual scores divided by the total number of scores.
Mode
The most commonly occurring score
Median
Middle score that divides the distribution into equal halves (after they have been put in rank order)
*With an even number of scores the median is the average between the two middle scores.
What is variability?
Extent of dispersion around a measure of central tendency
Reporting Descriptive Data
When reporting means, report SD
When reporting Median, report quartiles
For categorical data (1=males, 2= females) report proportions (not mean)
For interval/Ratio+Continuous report mean
N verses N-1
N is used when all the point from an entire *population are used
N-1 is used when a sample is drawn from a population
*We will always use N-1 in our calculations
Calculate Mean, Variance and SD
Practice
How do you calculate the Z score?
Data point minus the mean, then divide this by the standard deviation
What are norms?
The typical test performance of a standardization sample
comprised of means and standard deviations
Individuals are compared to the typical test performance of the group
Norm referenced vs Criterion referenced
Norm referenced- Comparing individuals to one another, Ie GRE score as a percentile rank
Criterion-Referenced- standard is preset, you either meet the standard or not. Ie for the EPPP you must meet 70% or higher to pass.
What is the range?
The difference between the highest and lowest score
Subtract lowest score from highest score, then add one
(H-L)+1= range
What is skewness?
Draw no skewness, negative skewness and positive skewness
The Symmetry of a curse
-determined by the tail of a curve
Positively skewed
Tail on the right side of the distribution
Most scores cluster on the left side of the distribution
Negatively skewed
Tail on the left side of the distribution
Most scores cluster on the right side of the distribution
Why is skew a problem?
Cant use certainl formula, like Pearson’s R, where there is an assumption of normality
Solution: Use a different formula, or manipulate the data to try to normalize the distribution
Why is skew a problem?
Cant use certain formula, like Pearson’s R, where there is an assumption of normality
Solution: Use a different formula, or manipulate the data to try to normalize the distribution
Isodensity Curve
Draw it
The grouping of points is called an isodensity curve. As correlation increases, the points become closer together on the isodensity curve.
What assumptions are met for using Pearson’s R?
Variables must be continuous, linear relationship
