Historical background of psychological Testing and Assessment

The roots of contemporary psychological testing and assessment can be found in early
twentieth-century France. In 1905, Alfred Binet and a colleague published a test designed to help
place Paris schoolchildren in appropriate classes. When the United States declared war on
Germany and entered World War I in 1917, the military needed a way to screen large numbers of
recruits quickly for intellectual and emotional problems. Psychological testing provided this
methodology. During World War II, the military would depend even more on psychological tests
to screen recruits for service. Following the war, more and more tests purporting to measure an
ever-widening array of psychological variables were developed and used. There were tests to
measure not only intelligence but also personality, aspects of brain functioning, performance at
work, and many other aspects of psychological and social functioning.

DEFINITION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT:

Psychological assessment can be defined as
"the process of systematically gathering information about a person in relation to his or
her environment so that decisions can be made, based on this information that is in the best
interests of the individual".
For a clinical psychologist a number of questions are important to consider like
“ what are the patient's current problems and the possible resources he has for dealing
with these problems?
Psychological assessment is a process of testing that uses a combination of techniques to
help arrive at some hypotheses about a person and their behavior, personality and capabilities.

“ We define psychological assessment as the gathering and integration of psychology-

related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation that is accomplished through
the use of tools such as tests, interviews, casestudies,behavioral observation, and specially
designed apparatuses and measurement procedures.”
Types of Psychological Assessment:
• Collabrative Psychological Assessment
 Collaborative, individualized assessment is an approach to psychological assessment in
which the assessor and the client work together to develop productive understandings.
Collaboration is a means of individualizing the assessment--its process, resulting suggestions,
and written accounts.
• Therapeutic psychological Assessment
Therapeutic assessment is a psychological assessment procedure which aims to help
people gain insight and apply this new insight to problems in their life. This paradigm is
contrasted with the traditional, information-gathering model of psychological assessment, the
main goal of which is to accurately diagnose, plan treatments, and evaluate treatment
effectiveness.

STEPS IN THE ASSESSMENT PROCESS:

• First a psychologist formulates an initial question or set of
questions. These questions are typically developed in response to
a referral or request for help made by either an individual or by others on behalf of
an individual. (e.g., concerned family members, parent, and physician).

• Second, a psychologist generates a set of goals for collection information----

what the psychologist hopes to accomplish during the assessment process.

• The third step in

the assessment process involves the identification of standards for interpreting the
information that is collected.

• Fourth, a psychologist must collect the relevant data. This step includes collecting inform
ation about the person and
the environment and carefully describing and recording what is observed.

• The fifth step in the assessment process involves making decisions and judgment on
the basis of the data that have been collected.

• Finally, a psychologist must communicate these judgments and decisions to

others typically in the form of a psychological report.
THE PROCESS OF PYSCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
• Deciding what is being Assessed

• Determing the Goals of Assessed

• Selecting standards for making descions

• Collecting Assessment data

• Making descions

• Communicating the information

Tools of Psychological Assessment

The Test:

A test may be defi ned simply as a measuring device or procedure. When the word
test is prefaced with a modifi er, it refers to a device or procedure designed to measure a variable
related to that modifier.

The Interview

In everyday conversation, the word interview conjures images of face-to-face talk. But
the interview as a tool of psychological assessment typically involves more than talk. If the
interview is conducted face-to-face, then the interviewer is probably t aking note of not only the
content of what is said but also the way it is being said.

The Portfolio

Students and professionals in many different fi elds of endeavor ranging from art to
architecture keep fi les of their work products. These work products—whether retained on paper,
canvas, fi lm, video, audio, or some other medium— constitute what is called a portfolio.

Case history data

refers to records, transcripts, and other accounts in written, p ictorial, or other form that
preserve archival information, offi cial and informal accounts, and other data and items relevant
to an assessee.
 Behavioral observation,

As it is employed by assessment professionals, may be defi ned as monitoring the

actions of others or oneself by visual or electronic means while recording quantitative and/or
qualitative information regarding the actions. Behavioral observation is often used as a
diagnostic aid in various settings such as inpatient facilities, behavioral research laboratories, and
classrooms.

In addition to diagnosis, behavioral observation may be used for selection purposes, as in

corporate settings. Here behavioral observation may be used as a tool to help identify people who
demonstrate the abilities required to perform a particular task or job. Sometimes researchers
venture outside of the confi nes of clinics, classrooms, workplaces, and research laboratories in
order to observe behavior of humans in a natural setting—that is, the setting in which the
behavior would typically be expected to occur. This variety of behavioral observation is referred
to as naturalistic observation. As an example, one team of researchers studying the
socializing behavior of autistic children with same-aged peers opted for natural settings rather
than a controlled, laboratory environment