Psychological Testing (Hbhs Exam 2)

Front 1

Define psychological testing.

Back 1

It's a systematic, standardized means of assessing the cognivitve skills, personality traits, attitudes and behaviors, or psychiatric symptoms of an individual or group of people for purposes of description, categorization, diagnosis, or intervention. With respect to the domain of interest, an individual's or group's results are compared to the results of a comparison population to determine the relative degree of skill, pathology, attitude, or trait the person or group possesses.

Front 2

Uses of psychological tests

Back 2

1. Dx of pathology
2. Assessment of personality traits
3. Measurement of brain functions
4. Treatment planning/evaluation
5. Evaluation of achievement
6. Prediction

Front 3

Three variables to consider in test construction

Back 3

1. reliability
2. validity
3. norms

Front 4

Describe reliability

Back 4

If the conditions don't change between trials, we should get similar results between two or three tests.

Front 5

Describe the validity

Back 5

Does the test measure what it claims to measure?

Front 6

What is face validity?

Back 6

It's a direct question. Ex: "Are you depressed?"

Front 7

What is construct validity?

Back 7

Is the overall concept that you are trying to measure real? Is the question valid to the idea that you are trying to get at?

Front 8

What is concurrent validity?

Back 8

Does the test correlate with other tests that measure the same thing? May test a new test against an old test to see if you get similar results; if so then concurrent validity exists.

Front 9

What is content validity?

Back 9

Instead of directly asking a question, you ask other questions that relate to it. Ex: With depression, instead of asking, "Are you depressed?" you might ask "Do you feel tired or drained of energy?" or "Have you lost interest in things you used to enjoy?"

Front 10

What is predictive validity?

Back 10

Does the test measure what's going to happen in the future? Ex: may predict suicidal behavior, depression events.

Front 11

Which (4) types of validity are most important?

Back 11

1. face
2. predictive
3. content
4. concurrent

Front 12

Which type of validity is perhaps most "tricky"? Example?

Back 12

Construct validity. Ex: IQ tests and construct validity of intelligence.

Front 13

What is test-retest reliability?

Back 13

A repeated test should yield the same results as long as the conditions haven't changed.

Front 14

What is split-half reliability?

Back 14

If you break up the test or scramble the questions, do you get the same results if you only take part of the test?

Front 15

What is alternate form reliability?

Back 15

Giving an equivalent but different test that tests the same function. Ex: The same memory test shouldn't be given two hours later because the pt. may remember some of the answers, so the test may be inaccurate. But you could give a similar but different test.

Front 16

Internal consistency reliability

Back 16

related to split-half reliabilty

Front 17

interrater reliability

Back 17

multiple researchers independently arriving at the same conclusions

Front 18

normative comparison

Back 18

- relationship between an individual and a comparison group
- norms may be skewed if applying the same test to populations with different backgrounds
- important to consider the group we use to set the normal values

Front 19

quality of normative data

Back 19

- must have enough data present to suggest that the norms are stable
- e.g., normal lab values must be based on large population, not just on 20 people

Front 20

categories of cognitive skills

Back 20

1. general intelligence
2. attention and orientation
3. memory
4. processing speed
5. spatial problem solving
6. language
7. executive function

Front 21

General intelligence tests

Back 21

1. WAIS-3
2. Stanford-Binet

Front 22

Memory tests

Back 22

1. California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT)
2. Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT)
3. Benton Visual Learning Test (BVLT)
4. Wexler Memory Scale 3rd Edition (WMS-3)

Front 23

Language tests

Back 23

- good at determining the function of Broca's area
1. Controlled Oral Word Association (COWA)
2. Boston Naming Test

Front 24

Executive function tests

Back 24

- problem-solving tests; test frontal lobe function
1. Winsconsin Card Sort Test (WCST)
2. Categories

Front 25

Processing speed tests

Back 25

- ADD pts. often slower because they can't slow down enough to accurately process information
1. digit symbol test
2. symbol search test

Front 26

Perceptual/spatial tests

Back 26

1. Hooper Visual Organization Task (HVOT)
2. JOLO

Front 27

WAIS-3

Back 27

- tests general intelligence
- norms from about 18 to 79 y/o
- used widely, but "shaky" for some age groups

Front 28

Stanford-Binet test

Back 28

- Only accurate within a relatively normal range (e.g., up to 150)

Front 29

Verbal Learning Tests

Back 29

- e.g., CVLT, AVLT, BVRT
- specific tests of either verbal or visual memory
- measure the ability to remember lists or figures and how they are remembered (e.g., either by category or by cue)

Front 30

Wexler Memory Scale 3rd Edition (WMS-3)

Back 30

Comprehensive memory test that measures many memory related skills, paired, associated learning, including face recognition (which declines with age), verbal learning for context, etc.