Lecture 1 Flashcards
1
Q
Purpose of Tests
(Who do they disadvantage?)
A
- Test/analyze individual differences
- Opposite to experimental psychology which looks for universal similarities.
- Disadvantage: women and minorities
2
Q
Types of Tests
(And define ones with definitions and what group do they belong to)
A
- Intelligence - General potential to solve/adapt to problems and think abstractly
- Aptitude - Potential for learning
- Achievement - Previous learning
- Top 3 are ABILITY tests
- Creativity
- Personality - Overt and covert dispositions of an individual
- Interest inventories
- Behavioural procedures
- Neuropsychological
3
Q
Define:
- Test
- Item
- Scale
- Individual/Group tests
- Psychological test
- Mental Age
- Representative Sample
- Power
- Objective/Subjective Test
- Traits
A
- Test: Measurement device or technique tused to quantify or aid in understanding or predicting behaviour
- Item: Specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly (can be scored and evaluated)
- Scales: Relate to raw scores on test items to some defined distribution
- Individual/Group Tests: Test taken one person at a time or more than one person by a single examiner
- Psychological/educational test: set of items that are designed to measure characteristics of human beings that pertain to behaviour (through overt or covert behaviours
- Use of the test is to evaluate individual differences among individuals
- Refers to all the possible uses, applications and underlying concepts of psych. tests.
- Mental Age: Measurement of a child’s performance on the test relative to other children of the particular age group
- Representative sample: One that comprises of individuals similar to those for whom the test is to be used
- Power: “Intellectual” power
- Objective Test: Has a right answer, subjective doesn’t
- Traits: Relatively enduring dispositions that distinguish one individual from another
4
Q
2 Types of personality tests
A
- Structured Personality Test: Provide a statement (Usually a self-report or T/F) and require subject to choose between two or more responses
- Projective Pesonality Test: Either the stimulus (test material) or required response are ambiguous. No alternative responses, but provide a spontaenous response
- E.x. Rorshach.
5
Q
Use of Tests
A
- Classification (placement, screening, certification)
- Diagnosis and treatment planning
- Self-knowledge
- Progam evaluation
- Research
- Used to make judgements, predictions and decisions about people
6
Q
Define:
Reliability and Validity
A
- Reliability: Accuracy, dependability, consistency or repeatability of test results
- Refers to the degree to which test scores are free of measurement errors
- Validity: Meaning and usefulness of test results
- Refers to the degree to which a certain inference or interpretation based on a test is appropriate
7
Q
History of Testing
(Earliest use, what is a test battery, famous names, Wars)
A
- Earliest use in China for civil service testing 4k years ago
- Test battery: Two or more tests used in conjuction (in China around 2k years ago)
- Closely tied with history of Psych. (esp. in America)
- Increased in early 20th century because of Darwin, Galton, Cattell, Binet and Universal schooling
- WW1 and WW2: Yerkes headed a committee to determine whether a recruit should be an officer or any other position (Army Alpha (literate) and Beta tests (nonliterate)
*
8
Q
James Cattell
A
- Believed people differe in their “mental abilities” and came up with a bunch of tests to examine it.
- Follows the tradition of Wundt (Set up lab in 1888)
- Had 10 mental tests which measured cognitive abilities
- E.x. Least noticeable difference in weight, speed to name colours, rate of movement, two-point discrimination
- Developed the 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire.
- Declining in popularity, but remains one of the most well constructed personality tests
- Also one of the first to use factor analysis
9
Q
Alfred Binet
A
- Concept of standardized tests developed from examining high functioning individuals becoming very popular in the US (to see potential in people that would have otherwise gone unnoticed). Based mostly around children
- Mental age was important focus (a person who is 10 with a mental age of 7) and IQ was designed to be this dichotomy
- Developed the Stanford Binet, the first major general IQ test
10
Q
Charles Darwin
A
- Helped develop interest in the field.
- Principle of individual members in a species differ, some possessing characteristics that are more adaptive than others
11
Q
Francis Galton
A
- Darwin’s relative
- Concentrated on demonstrating individual differences in human sensory/motor functions and was extended by Cattell years later
12
Q
Herbart, Weber, Fechner
A
- Before psych was practiced as a science:
- Herbart: Developed mathmatical models of the mind and used these models as the basis for educational theories that influenced the 19th century
- Weber: Demonstrated existence of a psycholgical threshold (minimum stim needed to activate sensory system)
- Fechner: Devised law that strength of sensation grows logarhhytmically to intensity
13
Q
Earliest Test Similar to Modern
A
- Seguin Form Board Test: Developed to educate and evaluate mentally disabled
- Kraepelin shortly after devised tests for emotionally impairment evaluation
14
Q
Stanford-Binet
A
- First published in 1905 and had 30 items with increasing difficulty to identify intellectually subnormal individuals
- Determined child’s mental age (first time)
15
Q
Test Criticisms
A
- Stanford-Binet: emphasis on language and verbal skills so it’s inappropriate for many individuals
- Language and verbal skills are not the only or most important role in IQ
17
Q
Personality Tests (Examples)
A
