Psychometrics Flashcards
what is psychometrics?
- psychological measurement
- the measurement of mental capacity, thought processes, aspects of personality.
what is measurement?
the assignment of numbers to objects and events according to some rules
What is a test?
measurement devices or techniques used to quantify behaviour
Psychometric aim
to operationally define and quantify the things it measures
overt behaviour
- observable
- eg. time needed to put 10 pegs in a board
covert behaviour
- mental, social or physical action or practice that is not immediately observable
- eg anxiety
define psychological test
a test designed to provide a quantitative analysis of a person’s mental capacities or personality traits, typically shown by responses to a standard series of questions or statements
define test items
a specific stimulus to which a person responds overtly
Individual tests
- administered to one person at a time
- useful for collecting comprehensive info
- eg personality, iq tests
negatives of individual tests
- some degree of subjectivity in the scoring
- time, cost and labour intensive
group tests
- designed to be administered to more that one person at a time
- eg. university class tests (mcq)
positives of group tests
- scoring is more objective
- economical and time-saving
WAIS
- The Weschsler Adult Intelligence Scale
- individual test
Rorschach test
- ink blot test
- individual test
Ability tests
- measure skills in terms of speed, accuracy or both
1. achievement
2. aptitude
3. intelligence
Achievement tests
- refers to a person’s past/previous learning
- designed to measure acomplishment of a task
Aptitude Tests
- individual’s potential to learn a specified task under training
- potential for learning a new skill
Intelligence test
- refers to a person’s general potential to solve problems, adapt to changing circumstances, think abstractly
- measures general mental abilities
Raven’s Progressive Matrices
-intelligence test
Structured Personality tests
- self-report statements
- chose between alternative responses
- eg. true/false
Projective Personality Tests
- unstructured, spontaneous response
- provides and ambiguous stimulus
- eg Rorschach
TAT
Thematic Apperception Test
-provides ambiguous pics and you have to make up a story
Norm-Referenced Tests
test score is judged against the distribution of scores obtained by other test takers
Criterion-Referenced Tests
compare each individual’s performance to a criterion or expected level of performance
-eg. you need 50% to pass your exam
Contributions of the Han Dynasty to modern testing
- names of candidates had to be concealed
- independent assessments
- conditions of examinations should be standardised
Wilhelm Wundt
1879
- ‘brass instruments’ era of testing
- ‘thought meter’ - overly simplistic but demonstrated empirical analysis that sought to explain individual differences
Galton
- father of modern psychometrics
- believed everything was measurable
- was more interested in problems of human evolution than pscyhology
Galton’s contributions
- attempted to measure intellect by things such as visual, auditory and weight discrimination (mostly failed)
- came up with Pearson Product correlation for analyzing data from these experiments
- used the normal curve to plot test scores
- came up with twin studies to study hereditary factors
James Cattel
- invented the term ‘mental test’
- examined relationships between academic grades, psycho-sensory tests and the size of the brain
- proposed 10 mental tests
- took brass instrument method to USA
Alfred Binet
- first to develop intelligence test
- wanted to separate children with intellectual disabilities from normal children in schools
Binet’s test
- did not measure any single faculty
- aim was classification, not measurement
- brief and practical
- measured practical judgement
- items were ordered by level of difficulty
Stanford-Binet scale
- developed by Lewis Terman
- adapted Binet test for American schools and adults
- relied on language/vocab skills
- included IQ
Lewis Terman
- coined term IQ
- developed Stanford-Binet scale
Eugenics
the science of using controlled, selective breeding to improve hereditary qualities of the human race and create superior individuals.
Positive Eugenics
encouraging reproduction of the genetically ‘fit’
Negative Eugenics
aims to prevent those deemed physically, mentally or morally unfit to procreate
Fitter Family Contests
- positive eugenics
- judged on physical, mental and moral traits
- given a score
- encouraged to procreate
example of negative eugenics
-forced sterilizations
Robert Yerkes
- rise of the group tests
- used to evaluate soldiers
- ease of admin and scoring
Army Alpha test
- for English literates
- Oral directions, arithmetic, practical judgement, analogies, disarranged sentences, number series, information
- WW1
Army Beta test
- for non-English and non-literates
- Memory, matching, picture completion, geometric construction
- WW1
WW2 tests used
- personality tests for screening recruits
- first pen and paper, then projective
Jensen and Eysenck (1960s)
- Used Binet IQ test to show that black American children had a lower average IQ than white children
- This difference was due to genetics
Herrnstein and Murray (1994)
Argue that poor black communities in the US are a ‘cognitive underclass’ formed by the interbreeding of people with low IQ
Critique of mental testing
- Testing came under attack by advocates for underprivileged
- Required knowledge and cultural values rather than innate intelligence – biased towards White middle class
- Tests are culturally biased
- Correlation doesn’t imply causation
response to critique of mental testing
- added non-verbal tests
- separate scores for performance IQ and Verbal IQ
use of psychometrics in SA
- Fick (1929) applied tests developed for and standardized on whites only to white & black children
- Use of tests gained momentum after WW II and 1948 when NP came to power
- Measures standardized for white people only
- Measures of intellectual ability used to draw distinction between races
current SA challenge for psychometrics
- A drive in SA and internationally to find tasks that are not biased towards race, culture, gender, language, etc.
- Or to adapt existing tests to be race, culture, gender, language appropriate
