Lecture 1 - Intro & History Flashcards
Psychiatric testing was around before psychological testing
These tests contributed standardised procedures that could reveal nature and extend of symptoms in brain injured and mentally ill patients
1885 Hubert Von Grashey
memory tests for brain injured patients
Conrad Rieger
furthered tests for brain damaged patients however took a significant amount of time to administer
Physiognomy
assumes that you can judge a person’s inner character through their appearance
Phrenology
bumps on the skull tell you what is wrong with patients
Phrenology: Psychograph
measures bumps on the head to determine a personality
Brass instruments
- Moved away from subjective/introspective experimental testing
- Meant that methods could be replicated
- Early experimental psychologists thought intelligence could be measured by sensory perceptions measured by brass instruments designed to measure sensory thresholds
Psychophysics
Assumed that human perceptual system is a measuring instrument yielding results (experiences, judgements and responses) that may be systematically analysed
Wilhelm Wundt
- Credited with the foundation of explaining individual differences
- Observer would note pendulum position when bells sounded thought auditory and visual stimuli would be perceived simultaneously incorrect difference between perceived position and actual proposed to reflect swiftness of thought
Sir Francis Galton
Clearly demonstrated that individual differences exist and can be measured with standardised procedures
James McKeen Cattell
- Expanded on Galton’s tests measuring motor skills
- Based on the idea that mental and bodily energy cannot be separated
Clark Wissler
- Significant influence on early psychology testing first to use mental test scores to predict academic performance (validity)
- Demonstrated that there was no relationship between mental tests with academic achievement and no relationship between mental tests themselves
First IQ tests were created for a practical need
No difference between “mental retardation” and emotional disabilities recognised
Seguin
- Established the new humanism toward people with an intellectual disability
- Developed educational programs and an experimental class
Alfred Binet
- Pioneered individual psychology
- Attention and suggestion were important variables when studying children
- 1896 – argued that intelligence could be better measured by higher order mental processes
Alfred Binet - 2
1904 – hired by French government to identify children who would struggle to learn in an ordinary classroom
- Aimed to classify children’s mental ability therefore assessed general mental development
- Measured practical judgment
- Items arranged by level of difficulty and standardised with intended population and “normal” kids
- Tested what was “normal” for a child of a certain age and if they passed/failed all tests for that age group moved to the next level and their mental age was calculated
Early non verbal tests
- Developed following the realisation that tests were not fair for non English speakers
ENT: Porteus Maze Test
– Measures frontal lobe functioning (i.e. planning, impulsivity)
Army Alpha (no validity for illiterates/non English)
8 verbally loaded tests for average to high functioning recruits:
Following oral directions Antonym/synonym pairs Disarranged sentences Practical judgement Arithmetic Number series Analogies Information
Army Beta tests
Non verbal for illiterates and those for whom English was not first language
Mazes
Block designs
Three dimensional drawings
Aptitude tests
- Assess more specific abilities than IQ tests used to isolate specific skills
Projective Testing Origins
Word Association: 4 seconds to come with as many words in regards to stimulus
Interest Tests
Yoakum’s: help & counselling + guidance of normal people
