The Referral Question: Purpose of Assessment by Setting or Context

Academic
-

Admission to a school or a program

School or level placement (To determine the school or level appropriate for the client given
his/her abilities and limitations)
Addressing school behavior problems and academic delays/learning disabilities
Vocational/career (To identify appropriate college course given individuals set of strengths,
weaknesses and interests; to identify best vocational fit given ones skill set

Industrial
-

Employment (To evaluate candidates and identify the best candidate given the requirements of
the position)
Promotion (To determine the candidate that the company will benefit from the most when
promoted given future behavior as predicted by the assessment)

Clinical/Medical
-

Psychological (Identifying problems of living, ruling out psychiatric conditions)

Psychiatric (Support in decision-making regarding future steps like admission or discharge,
suitability of intervention, presence of suicide risk, etc.)
Medical (Identifying measures to address accompanying psychosocial component, ruling out
underlying psychological disorder, etc.)

Legal
-

Adoption or Child custody (Identifying best arrangement considering the childs best interest
assessment of mental health of both parent/guardian and child)
Forensic (Evidence of insanity in criminal cases) Specialization ko ito <3
Immigration (Proof of capacity/incapacity to travel independently and/or to care for oneself)

The Test Battery

Evaluating a Psychological Assessment Tool
1.
2.
3.
4.

Theoretical Orientation
Appropriateness based on standardization sample (e.g., Culture, Context, etc.)
Reliability and validity
Practical considerations
a. Administration
i. Individual vs. Group
ii. Pen-and-paper vs. Computer-assisted
iii. Short form or Long form
iv. Administration Time
v. Test Administrator Competency
b. Scoring
i. Hand-scoring vs. Machine-scoring
c. Cost

Assessment Tools

Intelligence Tests
Achievement Tests
Personality Tests
Other Tests: Job skills, Interests, Motivation, etc.

Intelligence: Definitions of Intelligence and Theories of Intelligence

Themes
-

The capacity to learn from experience

The capacity to adapt to ones environment

Theories of Intelligence
-

Galton and Sensory Keenness

o Intelligence was underwritten by keen sensory abilities, meaning information from
outward events pass through our senses - the more perceptive the senses are, the larger is
the field upon which our intelligence can act
Spearman and the g Factor
o Intelligence encompasses three principles of cognition:
Apprehension of Experience (The ability of having a foresight)
Eduction of relations (The ability to logically decide on direct relationships)
Eduction of correlations (The ability to logically decide on indirect relationships
bi-affinity)
Thurstone and the Primary Mental Abilities
o There are existing group factors representing special abilities
Verbal Comprehension 8
Word Fluency (How fluent one person is on a specific language) 8
Number (Quantitative Reasoning) 7
Space (Spatial Reasoning) 7
Associative Memory (Associating things based on a specific event) 7
Perceptual Speed (The ability to react and the ability to think quickly Reaction
Time) 6
Inductive Reasoning (From specific to general Can you generalized things
based on a number of experiences?) 7
Cattell and the Fluid/Crystallized Distinction
o Fluid intelligence is a largely nonverbal form of mental efficiency. It is related to a
persons inherent capacity to learn and solve problems, used when a task requires
adaptation to a new situation. (Process-based)
o By contrast, crystallized intelligence represents what one has already learned through the
investment of fluid intelligence in a cultural setting. (Content-based)
Piaget and Adaptation
o Jean Piagets theory of cognitive development has a number of implications to the design
of childrens intelligence tests.
Theory of Conservation (Schema)
Process of Equilibration (Assimilation and Accommodation)
4 Stages of Cognitive Development (Sensorimotor, Preoperational, Concrete
Operational and Formal Operational)