Psychological Assessment - Flash Cards
(38 cards)
Thematic Apperception Test
The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is based on Murray’s theory of needs and presents the examinee with vague black-and-white pictures that include one or more human figures. The examinee is asked to make up a story about each picture and his/her responses are scored and interpreted in terms of several factors including the story’s “hero,” the intensity, frequency, and duration of needs, environmental press, thema, and outcomes expressed in each story.
Norm-, Criterion-, and Self-referenced Scores
The scores provided by most tests can be categorized as norm-, criterion-, or self-referenced. Norm-referenced scores permit comparisons between an examinee’s test performance and the performance of individuals in the norm group. Criterion-referenced scores permit interpreting an examinee’s test performance in terms of what the examinee can do or knows with regard to a clearly defined content domain or in terms of performance or status on an external criterion. Self-referenced scores are provided by ipsative scales and permit intraindividual comparisons - i.e., comparisons of an examinee’s score on one scale with his/her scores on other scales.
Curriculum-Based Measurement
Curriculum-based measurement (CBM) involves periodic assessment of school-aged children with brief standardized and validated measures of basic academic skills that reflect the current school curriculum for the purposes of evaluating instructional effectiveness and making instructional decisions.
Bender-Gestalt-II
The Bender-Gestalt II is a measure of visual-motor integration that is also used as a screening tool for neuropsychological impairment. It includes 16 stimulus cards consisting of geometric figures that the examinee first copies and then draws from memory.
ITPA-3
The ITPA-3 (Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, Third Edition) is appropriate for individuals ages 5:0 to 12:11. It was designed to evaluate a child’s strengths and weaknesses in terms of linguistic abilities, assist in the diagnosis of dyslexia and problems related to phonological coding, and track a child’s progress as the result of an intervention.
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
IDEA requires that (a) all disabled people from infancy to 21 years of age must be evaluated by a team of specialists to determine their specific needs; (b) an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) must be developed for each disabled child enrolled in the public education system that provides education for the student in the “least restrictive environment” and that has been approved by the child’s parents; and (c) while reliable, valid, and nondiscriminatory psychological tests can be used, assignment to special education classes cannot be made on the basis of IQ tests only.
Raven’s Progressive Matrices
Raven’s Progressive Matrices is a nonverbal measure of general intelligence (g) and is considered useful as a multicultural test because it is relatively independent of the effects of specific education and cultural learning. There are several versions including the Standard Progressive Matrices and Colored Progressive Matrices.
PPVT-4
The PPVT-4 (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Fourth Edition) is a measure of receptive vocabulary. It is designed for examinees ages 2:6 to 90+ years; and is useful for people with a motor or speech impairment and can be administered to any examinee who is able to hear the stimulus word, see the drawings on the cards, and in some way communicate a response.
Standardization
Standardization refers to two characteristics of a test. First, a test is standardized when the administration and scoring procedures are clearly defined. Second, a test is standardized when it has been administered under standard conditions to a representative sample for the purpose of establishing norms.
Mini Mental State Exam
The Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) is a screening test for cognitive impairment for older adults and assesses six aspects of cognitive functioning: orientation, registration (immediate recall), attention and calculation, delayed recall, language, and visual construction. The maximum score is 30, and a score of 23 or 24 is ordinarily used as a cutoff, with scores below the cutoff indicating cognitive impairment.
Larry P. V. Riles
The case of Larry P. was brought by plaintiffs on behalf of African American children who were disproportionately enrolled in special education classes in the San Francisco school system. Based primarily on the testimony of experts, the judge handed down the opinion that “IQ tests are racially and culturally biased, [and] have a discriminatory impact on Black children” and enjoined San Francisco public schools from using them to place Black children in special education classes.
Triarchic Theory
Sternberg’s triarchic theory defines “successful intelligence” as the ability to adapt to, modify, and choose environments that accomplish one’s goals and the goals of society and proposes that it is composed of three abilities - analytical, creative, and practical.
Differential Validity
The term differential validity has two meanings: In the context of multiaptitude batteries, differential validity is desirable, and a battery lacks differential validity when each test or subtest has similar validity coefficients for each criterion group or category. In the context of job selection, differential validity is undesirable and occurs when a predictor has different validity coefficients for different groups of individuals (e.g., men and women).
Halstead-Reitan
The Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery is used to detect brain damage and determine its severity and possible location. It produces a Halstead Impairment Index that ranges from 0 to 1.0, with higher scores indicating greater impairment.
Glasgow Coma Scale
The Glasgow Coma Scale is used to assess level of consciousness following brain injury and involves rating the patient in terms of three responses - visual response (eye opening), best motor response, and best verbal response.
Behavioral Assessment
Behavioral assessment focuses on overt and covert behaviors and utilizes various techniques including behavioral interviews, behavioral observation, protocol analysis and other cognitive measures, and psychophysiological measures. Functional behavioral assessment (FBA) is a type of behavioral assessment that involves identifying and altering the antecedents and consequences that are maintaining an undesirable behavior.
Rorschach Inkblot Test (Administration, Scoring Categories, Interpretation)
The Rorschach is a projective personality test that presents the examinee with 10 inkblots and is based on the premise that an examinee’s responses to the inkblots reflect his/her underlying personality, conflicts, etc.. Administration usually entails two phases - free association and inquiry. Most scoring systems involve looking at the following categories: location, determinants, form quality, content, and popularity; and interpretation involves considering the number and ratio of responses in each category.
Dynamic Assessment/Testing The Limits
Dynamic assessment was derived from Vygotsky’s method for evaluating a child’s mental development and involves deliberate deviation from standardized testing procedures to obtain additional information about an examinee and/or determine if he/she would benefit from assistance or instruction. Testing the limits, a type of dynamic assessment, involves providing an examinee with additional cues, suggestions, or feedback and is ordinarily done after standard administration of the test to preserve the applicability of the test’s norms.
SB5 (Age Range, Cognitive Factors, Routing Subtests)
The SB5 (Stanford-Binet, Fifth Edition) is an individually administered intelligence test for individuals ages 2 and up. It is based on a hierarchical intelligence model that includes “g” and five cognitive factors: Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spatial Processing, and Working Memory. Administration of the SB5 is tailored to the examinee’s level of cognitive functioning through the use of two routing subtests (Object Series/Matrices and Vocabulary) which indicate the appropriate starting point for the remaining subtests. The Full Scale IQ and Factor scores have a mean of 100 and standard deviation of 15, and the subtest scores have a mean of 10 and standard deviation of 3.
Kuder Occupational Interest Survey
The Kuder Occupational Interest Survey (KOIS) was designed for high school juniors and seniors, college students, and adults. It was developed on the basis of empirical criterion keying but, unlike the Strong tests, did not include a general reference group. Instead, items selected for inclusion were those that distinguished between different occupational groups.
KABC-II
The KABC-II (Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children) is a measure of cognitive ability for children ages 3:0 through 18:11 and was designed to be a culture-fair test by minimizing verbal instructions and responses. Interpretation of scores can be based on one of two models - the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model of cognitive abilities or Luria’s neuropsychological processing model.
MMPI-2 (Validity Scales, T-Scores, Profile Analysis)
The MMPI-2 includes the L, F, and K validity scales, which are designed to assess test-taking attitudes and determine if an examinee’s results are valid. A high L Scale score indicates an attempt to present oneself in a favorable light, a high F Scale score suggests response carelessness or an attempt to “fake bad”, and a high K scale score indicates defensiveness or an attempt to “fake good.” Scores are reported as T- scores with a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10. A T score of 65 or higher is considered clinically significant. Scores are commonly interpreted through profile analysis, which involves considering the examinee’s two or three highest scale scores.
Big Five Personality Traits
The initial identification of the personality traits that make up the “Big Five” (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience) utilized an atheoretical lexical approach that entailed identifying personality characteristics listed in the dictionary and then using factor analysis to identify the core traits (factors).
Types of Test Bias (Slope and Intercept)
Slope and intercept biases are types of test bias that can invalidate the interpretation of test scores for members of certain groups. Slope bias occurs when there is differential validity - i.e., when the validity coefficients for a test differ for different groups. Intercept bias (unfairness) occurs when the validity coefficients and criterion performance for different groups are the same, but their mean scores on the predictor differ.
