Introduction to Psychological Testing

Welcome to our Psychological Assessment topic center. Psychological Assessment is a sub-field of Clinical Psychology specializing in the measurement of human abilities, traits and characteristics. Primarily, psychologists use tests to measure personality characteristics, intelligence and cognitive (e.g., thinking, attention, memory) characteristics
There are literally hundreds of psychological tests in existence. The best known among these are several tests of intelligence yielding the IQ score (the Stanford-Binet, and the Weschler tests). These and other similar tests are commonly used to classify people into mentally retarded, learning disabled, normal and gifted categories for school purposes.
Another well known set of tests are the Rorschach Ink Blot Test, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which are examples of two very different sorts of personality tests. The Rorschach test involves making sense out of people’s spontaneo...More
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What types of psychological tests are there?
- Psychological Assessment is a sub-field of Clinical Psychology specializing in the measurement of human abilities, traits and characteristics. Primarily, psychologists use tests to measure personality characteristics, intelligence and cognitive (e.g., thinking, attention, memory) characteristics.
- There are literally hundreds of psychological tests in existence.
- An intelligence quotient, or IQ, is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests designed to assess intelligence.
- The best known among these are several tests of intelligence yielding the IQ score (the Stanford-Binet, and the Weschler tests).
- Raven's Progressive Matrices (often referred to simply as Raven's Matrices) are multiple choice intelligence tests of abstract reasoning.
- Another well known set of tests are the Rorschach Ink Blot Test, and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), which are examples of two very different sorts of personality tests.
- The Thematic Apperception Test, or TAT, is a projective psychological test and is popularly known as the picture interpretation technique because it uses a standard series of provocative yet ambiguous pictures about which the subject is asked to tell a story.
- Neuropsychological tests are specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway.
- The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is a numeric scale (0 through 100) used by mental health clinicians and physicians to subjectively rate the social, occupational, and psychological functioning of adults, e.g., how well or adaptively one is meeting various problems-in-living.
- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment is designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions.
- Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure, function/pharmacology of the brain.
- Functional MRI or functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a type of specialized MRI scan that measures the change in blood flow related to neural activity in the brain or spinal cord of humans or other animals./poc
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Articles
- Introduction to Psychological Testing
- Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
- Stanford-Binet IQ Test
- Raven's Progressive Matrices
- Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)
- Big Five Personality Traits
- Rorschach Inkblot Test
- Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)
- Neuropsychological Tests
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
- Global Assessment of Functioning
- Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
- Neuroimaging (Brain Imaging)
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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