PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING

also called Psychometrics, the systematic use of tests to quantify psychophysical behaviour, abilities, and problems and to make predictions about psychological performance. Psychological testing is treated in a number of articles in the Macropaedia. For a general overview, see Psychological Tests and Measurement. For intelligence testing, see Intelligence, Human: Measuring intelligence. For personality testing and assessment, see Personality: Personality assessment. A test is any means of generating a response to which the subject's behaviour in other contexts can be related. Tests fall into three general categories. Aptitude tests are used to predict future behaviour. An intelligence quotient (IQ) test is a good example of this type. By measuring an individual's IQ, the test-giver hopes to predict the subject's future ability to learn and reason. A second category is the achievement test, which assesses the subject's present level of academic or intellectual accomplishment. School exams, which measure the information that the individual has already assimilated, fall into this category. Tests of personality form the third general category. These are used by mental health clinics and psychiatric hospitals to help diagnose mental disorders. also called psychometrics, the systematic use of tests to quantify psychophysical behaviour, abilities, and problems and to make predictions about psychological performance. The word test refers to any means (often formally contrived) used to elicit responses to which human behaviour in other contexts can be related. When intended to predict relatively distant future behaviour (e.g., success in school), such a device is called an aptitude test. When used to evaluate the individual's present academic or vocational skill, it may be called an achievement test. In such settings as guidance offices, mental-health clinics, and psychiatric hospitals, tests of ability and personality may be helpful in the diagnosis and detection of troublesome behaviour. Industry and government alike have been prodigious users of tests for selecting workers. Research workers often rely on tests to translate theoretical concepts (e.g., intelligence) into experimentally useful measures. Additional reading Dorothy C. Adkins, Test Construction, 2nd ed. (1974), a simplified treatment of measurement principles, rules for test construction, and statistical techniques; Anne Anastasi, Psychological Testing, 5th ed. (1982), an authoritative text and reference book, with emphasis on current psychological tests; Lee J. Cronbach, Essentials of Psychological Testing, 4th ed. (1984), a modern and insightful text and general reference; J.P. Guilford, Psychometric Methods, 2nd ed. (1954), a widely used book that attempts to integrate psychophysical scaling and psychological measurement methods; Harold Gulliksen, Theory of Mental Tests (1950), a basic theoretical reference; Harry H. Harman, Modern Factor Analysis, 3rd rev. ed. (1976), an eclectic treatment of factor-analytic theory and methods; Paul Horst, Psychological Measurement and Prediction (1966), a discussion of practical requirements of psychological measurement as well as of technical problems in prediction; Frederic M. Lord and Melvin R. Novick, Statistical Theories of Mental Test Scores (1968), a highly technical presentation; Georg Rasch, Probabilistic Models for Some Intelligence and Attainment Tests (1980), with a new model for tests; and Robert L. Thorndike (ed.), Educational Measurement, 2nd ed. (1971), with specially prepared chapters by authorities in particular fields of measurement. Dorothy C. Adkins Donald W. Fiske