Most often associated with IQ tests,

PSYCHOMETRICS is a field of study that deals

with the theory and application of psychological
measurement.
PSYCHOMETRICS is concerned with the
measurement of a variety of things, including
intelligence, attitude, emotions, and personality traits.

Psychometrics is the field of study concerned with

the theory and technique of psychological
measurement, which includes the measurement of
knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and personality traits.

The field is primarily concerned with the study of

differences between individuals.

It involves tow major research tasks:

(1) the construction of instruments and procedures for
measurement
(2) the development and refinement of theoretical
approaches to measurement

Origins and Background: Much of the early

theoretical and applied work in psychometrics was
undertaken in an attempt to measure intelligence.
The origin of psychometrics has connections to
the related field of psychophysics.

Testing for proficiency dates back to 2200B.C.,

when the Chinese emperor used grueling tests to
assess fitness for office

About Psychometrics:
The basis for psychometrics was formed in the midth
19 century scientists and psychologists who
developed new ways to measure human intelligence.
Others began to use psychometrics to measure a
number of other psychological traits throughout the
th
20 century.

Psychometric theory has been applied in the measurement

of personality, attitudes and beliefs, academic
achievement, and in health-related fields.
Measurement of these unobservable phenomena is
difficult, and much of the research and accumulated art in
this discipline has been developed in a n attempt to
properly define and quantify such phenomena

Today, psychometrics is employed in a variety of

fields and is used to assess a range of human
aptitudes.
Psychometrics has probably been most applied in an
academic setting, but it is increasingly used in the
professional world to test the personalities and
psychological strengths of employees.

Modern Psychometric: dates to Sir Francis Galton

(1822-1911), Charles Darwins cousin
>Interested in individual differences and
their distribution
>1884-1890: Tested 17,000 individuals on
height, weight, sizes, of accessible body
parts, + behavior: hand strength, visual acuity, RT
etc.
>Demonstrated that objectives tests could
provide meaning scores

Modern Psychometric: James Cattell (studied with

Wundt & Galton) first used the term mental test in
1890
> His tests were in the brass
instruments tradition of
Galton
>Founded Psychological Review
(1897)

Clark Wissler (Cattells student) did the first basic

validational research, examining the relation between
the old mental test scores and academic
achievement
>His results were largely
discouraging
>He had only bright college students
in his sample
>Wissler became an anthropologist
with a strong environmentalist bias

Goodenough (1949): The Galtonian approach was

like inferring the nature of genius from the nature of
stupidity or the qualities of water
from those of ..hydrogen and oxygen

Alfred Binet (1905) introduced the

first modern intelligence test, which
directly tested higher psychological
processes (real abilities & practical
judgments) i.e., picture naming,
rhyme production, weight ordering,
question answering, word definition
Also motivated IQ (Stern, 1914): mental age
divided by chronological age

The rise of psychometrics:

>Lewis Terman (1916) produced a major revision of
Binets scale
>Robert Yerkes (1919) convinced the US
government to test 1.75 million army recruits
>Post WWI: Factor analysis emerged, making other
aptitude and personality test possible

Psychometric test: A test is a standardized procedure

for sampling behavior and describing it using scores or
categories
>most tests are predictive of some non-test behavior of
interest
>most tests are norm-referenced= they describe the
behavior in terms of norms, test results gathered from a
large group of subjects (the standardization sample)
>some tests are criterion-referenced=the objective is to see
if the subject can attain some pre-specified criterion

Psychometric test:
Aim to measure aspects of mental ability, aptitude
or personality
Used as part of the recruitment or selection
process
Provide employers with a method of selecting the
most suitable job applicants or candidates for
promotion

Five Factors Model: Basis of Many Tests Uses five (5)

personality traits
Openness to experience
Conscientiousness
Extraversion
Agreeableness
Neuroticism

The main types of tests

Intelligence tests: assess intelligence
Aptitude tests: assess capability
Achievement tests: assess degree of accomplishment
Creativity test: assess capacity for novelty
Personality tests: assess traits
Interest inventories: assess preferences for activities
Behavior tests: measure behavior and their
antecents/consequences
Neuropsychological tests: measure cognitive, sensory,
perceptual, or motor functions

Most commonly used tests

1. FIRO-B: fundamental interpersonal relationship
orientation-behavior
Devised by American Psychologist, Will Schutz, in
the 1950s
Helps people to understand themselves and their
relationships with others
Based on a 2-hour, 54-question questionnaire
Describes interpersonal behavior in terms of three
primary dimensions: need for inclusion, control and
affection

Most commonly used tests

1. FIRO-B: used for
Team building & development
Individual development & executive coaching
Conflict resolution
Selection & placement
Management & leadership development
Relationship
counselling

Most commonly used tests

2. MBTI- M?YERS-BRIGGS type of indicator:
Based on theories of Gustav Jung
Most widely-used questionnaire based test
Uses for bi-polar dimensions: sensing-intuition
(SN), thinking-feeling (TF), ExtraversionIntroversion (E-I), Judging-Perceiving (J-P) to
create 16 personality types

MBTI is used for:

Individual development
Management & leadership development
Team building & development
Organizational change
Improving communication
Education and career counseling
Relationship counselling

Most commonly used tests

3. DISC Personality Model: (Direct, Influencing, Steady
& Compliant behaviors)
Developed in 1920s to understand why people do
what they do
Simple questionnaire based
Uses four categories of human behavior styles
D dominance-Drive-Direct
I for Influence
Sfor Steadiness or Stability
C for compliant, conscientious, or cautious

DISC is used for :

1. As a learning tool
2. For career development
3. Training, coaching & mentoring
4. Organizational development & performance

Most commonly used tests

4. 16 personality Factor Model (16PF)
Developed in the 1940s and refined in the 60s
Attempts to define the basic underlying personality
Questionnaire based
Analysis using 16 personality factors
Used for: selection, development, executive coaching,
teambuilding

Most commonly used tests

5. Johari Window
Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955
Used to help people better understand their
interpersonal communication and relationships
Subject chooses 5 or 6 is out of a list of 55 adjectives
Peers of the subject are then pick 5 or 6 adjectives
which they think describe the subject

Most commonly used tests

6. Belbin Team Role Inventory
used to place individuals in their most effective
team roles
Categories team roles under three orientations
(action-oriented roles, people-oriented roles, cerebral
roles)

Belbin team profiling is used to:

1. Create balanced working teams:
1. One co-coordinator or shaper (not both) for leader
2. A plant to stimulate ideas
3. A monitor/evaluator to maintain honesty and
clarity
4. One or more implementer, team worker, resource
investigator or completer/finisher to make things
happen
Dr. Meredith Belbin: Nobody is perfect- but a team
can be

Most commonly used tests

7. Aptitude and Ability Tests
Designed to assess ones logical reasoning or thinking
performance
Usually consist of multiple choice questions,
administered under exam conditions
Typical test might allow 30 minutes for 30 or so
questions
At least 5000 aptitude and ability tests on the market
On-line testing increasingly popular

References:
Anastasi, A. Psychological Testing. New York:
Macmillan, 1982.
Goldstein, G., and M. Hersen, eds. Handbook of
Psychological Assessment. 2nd ed. New York: Pergamon
Press, 1990.
Mitchell, J. An Introduction to the Logic of
Psychological Measurement. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum,
1990.