The second part of this week’s discussion revolves around the introduction of psychological assessment. Namely, in reviewing the course readings for the week, as well as any ancillary research you discover, what aspects of psychological assessment stand out the most to you? What seems most interesting? What seems somewhat concerning? What are some aspects of psychological assessment that you look forward to exploring?
References
Cohen, R. J., Schneider, W. J., & Tobin, R. M. (2022). Psychological testing and assessment: An introduction to tests and measurements (10th ed.). McGraw Hill Education.
Colin, C. (2023). An introduction to psychometrics and psychological assessment: Using, interpreting and developing tests (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Sattler, J. M. (2022). Foundations of behavioral, social, and clinical assessment of children (7th ed.). Jerome M. Sattler Publisher Inc.
Below is an example
Part 2: What aspects of psychological assessment stand out the most to you? What seems most interesting? What seems somewhat concerning? What are some aspects of psychological assessment that you look forward to exploring?
As the old saying goes, knowledge is power and early in the 19th century, France agreed making it a law for free education for all. While educating all those now lawfully entitled to learn, teachers realized there were many sorts of students having numerous levels of learning capability; some strong learners and some with disabilities. This realization led to the need for student assessments of intellectual ability and this would allow students to be better placed in school based on that specific ability. Not only did educational systems realize the need for assessments, the US military needed them as well in order to measure the emotion and intellectual capabilities of those coming in to serve. Thus, assessment and testing measures were born, allowing those systems to measure areas such as personality, brain functioning, work performance, and psychological and social functioning.
According to our readings this week, there are four pillars of assessment: norm-referenced tests, interviews, observations, and informal assessment procedures. The most interesting to me are probably the observations. Human behavior is one of the most intriguing events in my opinion because you never know what you are going to get from someone. You can try to predict one’s behavior or assume they may do this or that, but every second of the day, someone out there is surprised by someone else’s behavior. Our readings remind us that psychological testing does not occur in a vacuum and what someone may say on interview data, that same person may act completely opposite when observed physically. Behavior can range from consistent to completely abnormal for humans and depending on the environment, human behavior can shift from normal to not. This intrigues me, especially the social realm and social functioning. I look forward to exploring all pillars of the assessment so that I can form an accurate conclusion and adequate diagnosis.
