- Information - Comprehension - Arithmetic - Similarities - Vocabulary

Interpretation of ambiguous stimuli - Rorschach - TAT

Psychological Assessment Flashcards by Victoria Allen

4 aspects of personality

Cognition: thought patterns, how information comes in and goes out
Affect: expressed emotion
Interpersonal functioning: how do we play in the sandbox with other kids
Impulse control

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Psychological Assessment

The collection, organization, and interpretation of information about a person and his or her situation

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Goals of Psychological Assessment

Description: provide an accurate portrait of personality, cognitive functioning, mood, and behavior
Prediction: predict future behavior based on present functioning

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Psychological Assessment (definition)

A procedure by which clinicians use of psychological tests, observations, and interviews to develop a summary of the client’s symptoms and problems (ongoing process)

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Clinical Diagnosis

The process by which a clinician arrives at a general “summary classification” of the patient’s symptoms by following a clearly defined system (e.g. the DSM)

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Assessment - The basics

Identify the “presenting problem”
Gather history (personality factors, social context)
Arrive at “formulation”
Cultural competence

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Reliability

To assure diagnostic agreement

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Interrater reliability

Make sure two clinicians come to same diagnosis

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Validity

Make sure it measures what it purports to measure

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Types of Clinical Interview

Unstructured clinical interview

- Structured clinical interview (Rating scales - SCID)

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Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)

First published in 1962
18 to 24 symptom rating scales
Each symptom rated 1 to 7
Scored by clinician after patient interview
e.g., somatic concern, anxiety, guilt, hostility, elevated mood, suspiciousness, unusual thought content, bizarre behavior

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Main purpose of observation

To learn more about the person’s psychological functioning by attending to his or her appearance and behavior in various contexts

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Wechsler Intelligence Scales

Originally for soldiers

WISC-IV (Children)
WAIS-IV (Adult)
WASI) (Abbreviated)
WPPSI-III (Preschool)

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WAIS-IV Questions

Information
Comprehension
Arithmetic
Similarities
Vocabulary

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Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Intelligence test

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WAIS-IV Full Scale Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

130+ - Very superior (2.2%)
120-129 - Superior (6.7%)
110-119 - High average (16.1%)
90-109 - Average (50%)
80-89 - Low average (16.1%)
70-79 - Borderline (6.7%)
Below 70 - Extremely low (2.2%)

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Objective Testing

Restricted response format
- MMPI
- NEO-PI
-BDI
Tests that are validated, given to a large group of people and subtests created based on validation 
Admissible in court

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Projective Testing

Interpretation of ambiguous stimuli

Rorschach
TAT

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Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)

First introduced in 1943
Self-report questionnaire
550 items (567 now)
Statements rated “true” or false”
Developed using empirical keying approach
Most widely used personality test for clinical assessment and research in the US
19,000+ related books and articles
Original MMPI translated 150+ times and used in 46+ countries

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MMPI history

MMPI-2 in 1989
MMPI-A in 1992
MMPI-2-RF in 2008

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MMPI Validity Scales: Lie

Claiming excessive virtue, trying to present an overly favorable image, “faking good”

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MMPI Validity Scales: Infrequency

False claims or exaggerations of psychological problems; “faking bad”
Fb - faking bad on second half of the test
Fp - faking bad among psychiatric patients

MMPI Validity Scales: Defensiveness

Tendency to see self in an unrealistically positive way

- Denial, subtle evasiveness

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 1: Hypochondriasis

(Hs) - Excessive somatic concern and physical complaints

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 2: Depression

(D) - Depressive symptoms

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 3: Hysteria

(Hy) - Hysteroid personality features, e.g., tendency to develop physical problems when stressed

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 4: Psychopathic Deviate

(Pd) - Antisocial tendencies

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 5: Masculinity/Femininity

(MF) - Gender-role reversal

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 6: Paranoia

(Pa) - Suspiciousness and paranoid ideation

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 7: Psychasthenia

(Pt) - Anxiety, obsessive worrying behavior

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 8: Schizophrenia

(Sc) - Peculiar thinking, feeling, social behavior

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 9: Hypomania

(Ma) - Unrealistically elated mood, impulsivity

MMPI-2 Clinical Scale 0: Social Introversion

(Si) - Social anxiety, withdrawal, overcontrol

Advantages of Objective Personality Tests

- Cost effective - Highly reliable - Objective - Can be administered/scored by computer

Limitations of Objective Personality Tests

- Too mechanistic to portray humans - Cannot be used in illiterate populations - Cooperation is required

Rorschach Test

- Started with 20 cards, but only had enough money for 10 - 10 cards with symmetrical inkblot designs - Instructions: People may see many different things in these inkblot pictures; now tell me what you see, what it makes you think of, what it means to you - "Free-association" and "inquiry" phases - Content of individual responses evaluated for recurring themes which indicate underlying conflicts - Scoring is complicated and requires considerable training - Hard to malinger

Doctor who helped Wikipedia publish Rorschach test

Dr. James Heilman

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)

- Introduced in 1935 in Harvard Psychological Clinic - Series of simple pictures - Subject is instructed to make up stories - Rationale: tendency for people to project their own conflict and worries onto the highly ambiguous pictures - Clinician makes qualitative and subjective determination

House-Tree-Person Test

- Ask someone to draw these three things - Common themes as to how people do certain things - Where you put object on paper, how much of paper you use, are you drawing off the paper - Tree = life, nature

Sentence Completion Tests

- Related to free-association method | - Interpretation is subjective and unreliable

Criticisms of Projective Tests

- Lengthy administration, scoring, and interpretation - Subjective interpretation - Low or negligible reliability and validity (more "art" than science) - Overpathologizes people

Psychical/Neurological Examination

- General physical exam used to rule out physical causes of psychological problems - Biological markers in DSM - push to diagnose based on test

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

- Electrical activity in the brain (abnormality? seizures?)

Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT scan)

- X-ray

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

- Magnetic field and radio-waves

Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan)

- Dye + radioactive tracer

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)

- NT/firing of neurons wherein you look at changes in blood flow

Neuropsychological Tests

- Neurological problems may contribute to psychological disturbance

Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (1938)

- Reproduce 9 simple designs | - Errors indicate neurological impairments

Bender-Gestalt II

- Asked to copy and memorize objects | - Visual spatial skills

Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test

- Practice! - Ask to copy picture - Take away, ask to draw again

Clock Drawing Test

- Ask people to draw a clock

Rey 15-Item Test

- Malingering measure - Memorize "difficult" objects - Should be able to get 9/12

Cultural Bias

- Drawing a house that is - an apartment with a homeless person outside - When diagnosticians are shown case studies identical in every respect except skin color: - African Americans are more likely to be labeled as alcoholic or schizophrenic - Caucasians are more likely to be labeled depressed