Psychological assessment guide

Document Type:Research Paper

Subject Area:Psychology

Document 1

The two definitions provided above could best be used in the definition of the term test. Psychological assessment on the other hand is the idea of employing some tests to help come up with a proper hypothesis about an individual as well as their behavior. While doing the assessment, a variety of techniques are normally employed and they play an important role in determining of a person’s personality as well as their capability. There exists a variety of tests and each of them, in as much as they may seem to play the same role, have a different purpose. They include diagnostic tests, placement tests, internal tests, proficiency tests, external tests, subjective tests, objective tests and achievement tests among others.

Sign up to view the full document!

On the other hand, assessment have very many details included in the and this is the main difference between them and the tests. They include use of the norm-referenced psychological tests and other informal tests and surveys, medical evaluation and even the observational data in determining disorders or even traits in an individual. The psychologists or rather the expert conducting the above would use various questions to determine the information that they so wish to know about the patient. Professionals that are deemed with the responsibility of administering such tests are referred to as psychologists. In the verge of seeking psychological assessment, one is bound to meet a number of professionals and they are as follows: the behavior support team. Assessment of patients that have cultural diversity has proven to be an issue in the field of psychological assessment since one has to come up with a accurate diagnosis and treatment plan that will be acceptable to the patient.

Sign up to view the full document!

Assessment of patients from cultures that have been termed as minority in the society has proven to be having a lot of complexities being tagged along with them. It is therefore upon the psychologists to come up with various techniques and skills that would see them handle such situations with utmost professionalism. This calls for competence in the cultural knowledge, attitude as well as skills. It is necessary that the clinician have some sort of knowledge about the patient’s cultural identity. From the bell curve, a person who is on average should be in a position to score up to 100. Despite the disparity that is experienced in the content of the subtests used in individual tests, it has been proven that the score tend to correlate.

Sign up to view the full document!

A comprehensive analysis of the various scores by an individual have proven that all the tests that have been invented and are used in the measuring of the intelligence of various individuals look into a single common factor and various factors that appear to be specific to each test. In the event an individual displays lack of correlation in the scores that they depict, it should be noted that one should consider looking for a learning disability or any other cause of the lack of correlation that has been experienced in their scores. Use of tests has been proven to be the best ways to tests for intelligence since they could be used repeatedly to display the inability of the individual to learn or rather predict future difficulties that an individual would face when it comes to learning.

Sign up to view the full document!

Also, there has been some discovery that the trend of the intelligence measures to rise is only in first world countries and the other counties still experience a drag in the same. Sex and intelligence The issue of sex and intelligence has also been a cause of dispute amongst many individuals and this is so because of the gender biasness which is a problem that has been existence for a long time now. It however should be noted that despite the significant differences that have been noted in the subtests provided to patients from both of the genders, men and women have the same levels of intelligence measures on average. Women were found to be performing better on tests that have memory and language or rather verbal proficiency affiliations whereas the men were found to be performing better in tests that have mathematical affiliations as well as on those involving spatial ability.

Sign up to view the full document!

This leaves us with the assertion that the gender related differences when it comes to the measuring of intelligence are so insignificant. Update of the Wechsler intelligence scale would result into a full scale score and this is normally accompanied by scores for verbal comprehension, the working memory and perceptual reasoning as well as the processing speed of the individual that is under the test. On the other hand, the Wechsler intelligence scale for the adults is commonly known as the Wechsler adult intelligence scale. It is used on people whose ages range from sixteen to eighty nine. In this test, an assessment of the verbal performance is normally produces alongside a full scale score. The verbal comprehension of the individual and the perceptual organization will also be assessed using this test.

Sign up to view the full document!

Since the tests are administered to large groups of people at once, these examiners have been exempted from having to go from one individual to the other administering the tests. Third, is the fact that the scoring that is used in the group assessments is more of objective thus making it effective. On the other hand, the disadvantages that have been associated with the group assessment of intelligence are as follows: first is the fact that the examiner has very rare opportunity to interact with the patients one on one thus obtaining their cooperation would be difficult and this would eventually lead to the loss of interest. In the event that the examinee is tired, unwell or even anxious, it would be very difficult for the examiner to notice since they are handled as a group.

Sign up to view the full document!

There has been evidence that children who have emotional issues or rather are emotionally disturbed have been claimed to perform better on individual if issued with the tests that are given to the groups. Achievement tests are mainly used in educational and training setting as these are the main areas where an individual would be required to perform after periods of lessons being taught the same thing over and over again. In the school scenario, they are normally used in the determining of the level of education that a student may be prepared to take. The schools may as well decide to have standardized achievement tests and these are used in the determination of whether certain goals that were set at the beginning of the learning session have been met by the student.

Sign up to view the full document!

In the creation of the achievement tests the experts usually have the subject matter which are normally looked into when coming up with the standards that the student is supposed to be attaining. These standards are a representation of what an individual in this particular level should be able to know. Use of standardized achievement tests is the best way with which the aforementioned aspect could be tested. Test for ability The main goal or rather objective that is normally at hand when issuing such a test is the testing of the potential candidates in terms of their overall intellectual potential and this helps in the development of their strengths on which they should build on and weaknesses which they need to work on.

Sign up to view the full document!

The assessment of an individual’s cognitive ability is normally used in the determination of their performances at work. This aspect of predicting their performance tends to rise as the complexity of the job where they are affiliated also increases. It is important to note that the main types of the tests for ability include the tests for general ability, the test for specific cognitive abilities and finally the psychomotor abilities. The manner with which they are designed makes them bring in the aspect of discrimination between the candidates that are highly talented and their other counterparts. Additionally, the questions that are issued during this assessment keep on getting difficult as they progress. Another characteristic that is common in the ability tests is the fact that they require cognitive processing and high number of correct answers and this is so because the questions presented have the same value.

Sign up to view the full document!

In most cases, the individual is not penalized for the incorrect answers that they give though the rules may change in different scenarios. Indeed, it is important to note that the ability tests are used in the distinguishing of individuals in work places. Verbal ability, the problem solving skills and the decision making by an individual are also focused on. It is important to note that if one notices a problem with their thinking and memory; they should seek for this type of help. The problems affecting one’s brain and thus their behavior and character are normally caused by the diseases such as Alzheimer, injury on the brain, emotional disorders and aging which causes the brain to start malfunctioning. Notably, the doctors need to concentrate on the thinking problems that cause disorders in the patient’s movement.

Sign up to view the full document!

Personality tests The personality test is one a way with which the personality constructs in a human being could be tested. Industrial, Occupational, and Career Assessment People have for a long time now depended on the use of tools and other assessment methods in the determining of their interest, skills, personality and how the aforementioned affect their potential for success and satisfaction in a particular career. He career and occupational assessments are normally used by the career counselors in schools and other learning institutions to help people in these places make the best decisions for themselves with regards to their career. There are different types of viewpoints that are looked at when assessing career and they are as follows. First is the methodology; such assessments are usually quantitative or qualitative in nature.

Sign up to view the full document!

Quantitative assessments look into the attributes, skills and qualities influencing an individual to settle for a given career. However, the disadvantages that have been tagged along with the career assessment include the following: they are merely assessments and thus not all the information that is gotten from them about a particular career may be true. Also they provide results that have to be interpreted and failure to interpret these results correctly would have lethal repercussions to the individual. Forensic assessment Forensic assessment is part of psychological assessment and is used to help a legal fact finder in obtaining information. It is the application of psychology in law. In most cases, the forensic assessment is done by a mental health professional. Due to the high demand for the geriatric assessment, most of them tend not to be comprehensive but rather more problem oriented.

Sign up to view the full document!

References Bell, S. M. , Taylor, E. P. , Malo, C. G. , & García-Merino, A. Sleep disturbances are common in multiple sclerosis (MS), but its impact on cognition and functional connectivity (FC) of the hippocampus and thalamus is unknown. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between sleep disturbances, cognitive functioning and resting-state (RS) FC of the hippocampus and thalamus in MS. (Ed.  The clinical and forensic assessment of psychopathy: A practitioner's guide. Routledge. Hancock, D. To test or not to test: Assessing personality traits. (Eds.  Learning forensic assessment: Research and practice. Routledge. Kalsi, T. , Babic-Illman, G. G. , Mecca, T. P. , Serpa, A. L.  Social Science Research. Mittal, C. , Griskevicius, V. , Simpson, J. A. The importance of proper administration and interpretation of neuropsychological baseline and postconcussion computerized testing.

Sign up to view the full document!

From $10 to earn access

Only on Studyloop

Original template

Downloadable