Pultizer Prize-winning American columnist Jimmy Breslin wrote a front page feature story on Melanie Cane the author of Poisoned Love. Click on the icon to read Jimmy Breslin's cover story:
Psychological Tests
Psychological tests are used in a field characterized by the use of samples of behavior in order to infer generalizations about a given individual. The technical term for the science behind psychological tests is psychometrics. Psychological tests are used as one source of data used within a psychological assessment; usually many psychological tests are used. For psychological tests to be useful, they must be both valid (actually measure what they claim to measure) and reliable (internally consistent or give consistent results over time). There are several broad categories of psychological tests. Categories of psychological tests include; norm-referenced, IQ/Achievement tests, Neuropsychological tests, personality tests, and direct observation tests. In my book, Poisoned Love, I describe what it was like to be given a full battery of psychological tests and how the results of the psychological tests contributed to confirming my diagnosis.
Norm-referenced psychological tests compare an individual’s results on the test with the statistical representation of the population. Norms are available for standardized psychological tests, allowing for an understanding of how an individual’s scores compare with the group norms. Norm referenced tests are used to assess characteristics, i.e. MMPI and GREs.
IQ tests (or cognitive tests) are measures of ability, while achievement tests are measures of the use and level of use of ability.
IQ tests and academic tests are designed to be administered to either an individual or to a group of people.
Neuropsychological psychological tests consist of specifically designed tasks used to measure a psychological function known to be linked to a particular brain structure or pathway. These psychological tests are typically used to assess impairment after an injury or illness known to affect cognitive functioning, or when used in research, to contrast neuropsychological abilities across experimental groups.
Personality tests are psychological tests designed to measure personality features and are often described as objective or projective tests. Objective tests have a restricted response format, such as allowing for true or false answers or rating using an ordinal scale. The most commonly used objective personality tests include, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory III, Child Behavior Checklist, and the Beck Depression Inventory.
Projective psychological tests allow for a freer type of response. The Rorschach inkblot test is one of the projective psychological tests. In this test, a person states his thoughts about what each of ten inkblots might be. In my book, Poisoned Love, I describe my experience taking the projective psychological tests. I am surprised that even though I had seen the tests before in my capacity as a psychiatrist and researcher, that the psychological tests elicited a lot of strong emotions from me.
Psychological tests are used in any setting where it is necessary to objectively evaluate human behavior. Psychological tests involve the integration of information from multiple sources, such as psychological tests, personal and medical history, description of current symptoms and problems either by self or others, and collateral information (interviews with other people about the person being assessed). All psychologists do some level of psychological tests when providing services to clients or patients and may use for example, simple checklists to assess some traits or symptoms, but psychological assessment is a more complex, detailed, in depth process. Typical types of focus for psychological tests are to provide a diagnosis, assess level of function or disability, help direct treatment, and assess treatment outcome.
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