Regardless of its purpose, a psychological evaluation is incomplete without historical or background information about the examinee. Historical information about examinees is absolutely necessary to the evaluator when he or she interprets psychological test data because similar patterns of scores could suggest different things about examinees with different life experiences. Although a biographical information sheet filled out by the examinee can also be very useful, interviews are typically the best way to gather background information. Typically, information regarding the examinee’s family and social/relationship history, work experience, educational history, and medical and legal problems is gathered. Additionally, the evaluator is interested in an examinee’s self-perceptions, significant life experiences, and goals or aspirations.
For the Psychological Evaluation Report, you will develop a character, or “alter ego,” based on the psychological tests I have given you below. If you are feeling very creative, construct a completely original character. Alternatively, you might base your character very loosely on a person or character from television, film, literature, or history with whom you are familiar. However, if you choose to base your character on a well-known individual, be sure to change enough about his or her history so the evaluator reading the biography will not immediately recognize who the person is. These alterations are important because if the evaluator is able to identify your character from the biography, his or her outside knowledge of that character will interfere with the interpretation of test scores solely in the context of the biographical information you have provided.
Five important points regarding the examinee’s biography follow:
(1) Your character must be an adult (either male or female) between the ages of 18 and 75. You may give your character a name.
(2) The character you create may not be you—the biography will not be your personal biography, nor will you respond to the tests as yourself.
(3) You may not use the character of someone very close to you (e.g., family member, roommate, close friend, current boyfriend or girlfriend, etc.).
(4) Your character should not have an extraordinarily unusual, low-frequency, or improbable career path (e.g., the CEO of the largest computer company in the world, a professional baseball player, the vice-president of the United States, an FBI agent on a secret mission, etc.)
Format of Examinee Biographies:
In writing your report, you should include the following categories:
Demographic information
Presenting problem or reason for the report
Family background
Significant medical or counseling history
Substance use and abuse
Vocational and educational history
Mental status (I WILL GIVE YOU THIS INFORMATION)
Assessment or test results (I WILL GIVE YOU THIS INFORMATION)
Diagnosis
Summary and conclusions
Recommendations
