1. Assessment
Chapter 3

2. Characteristics of Psychological Assessments
Psychological assessment: A broad range of measurement techniques, all of which involve having people provide scorable information about their psychological functioning.
Clinicians use the assessment process to provide a diagnosis, or at least a tentative diagnosis, of an individual’s psychological disorder.
Used to evaluate an individual’s appropriateness for a particular job.
Useful when clinicians consult about an individual’s level of functioning in a specific area.

3. Psychological Testing
What Makes a Good Psychological Test?
Reliability - Consistency of the scores it produces.
Validity - Extent to which a test measures what it is designed to measure.
Standardization: Psychometric criterion that clearly specifies a test’s instructions for administration and scoring.

4. Clinical Interview
Unstructured interview: Involves a series of open-ended questions
Information sought through interviews
Reasons for being in treatment
Symptoms
Health status
Family background
Life history
Structured interview: Consists of a standardized series of questions with predetermined wording and order

5. Areas Covered in a Clinical Interview
Age and sex
Reason for referral
Education and work history
Current social situation
Physical and mental health history
Drug/alcohol use and current medication
Family history
Behavioral observations

6. Mental Status Examination
Mental status examination: A method of objectively assessing a client’s behavior and functioning to the symptoms associated with psychological disturbance.
Outcome of the mental status examination is a comprehensive description of how the client looks, thinks, feels, and behaves.
Designed to assess:
Appearance
Attitudes
Behavior
Mood and affect
Speech
Thought processes
Content of thought
Perception
Cognition
Insight
Judgment

7. Uses of Intelligence Testing
Overall cognitive evaluation
Diagnosis of learning disabilities
Determination of giftedness
Prediction of future academic achievement
Diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric disorders
Evaluation of the potential of employees
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8. Intelligence Testing (IQ TEST)
Stanford-Binet intelligence test
Average deviation IQ score is set at 100 with a standard deviation of 15.
Wechsler intelligence scales
All Wechsler tests are divided into two categories, verbal and performance.

9. Scales on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS-IV)
Verbal comprehension
Perceptual reasoning
Working memory
Processing speed

11. Personality Testing
Main forms
Self-report
Projective

12. Self-Report Tests
Self-report clinical inventory: Psychological test with standardized questions having fixed response categories
The test-taker completes the test independently, self- reporting the extent to which the responses are accurate
Advantage of self-report inventories
Relatively easy to administer and score.
The most popular self-report inventory is the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), revised (MMPI-2).

13. Personality Testing
Clinicians use tests of personality to understand a person’s thoughts, behaviors, and emotions.
Self-report clinical inventory contains standardized questions with fixed response categories that the test-taker completes independently either on paper or on the computer. Test-takers rate the appropriateness of the item to themselves on a fixed scale.
Projective test: A technique in which the test-taker is presented with an ambiguous item or task and is asked to respond by providing his or her own meaning or perception.
The most famous projective test is the Rorschach Inkblot test.
Thematic Apperception test (TAT)
These tests differ in the nature of their items and in the way they are scored.

14. Behavioral Assessment
Unlike psychological tests, behavioral assessments record actions rather than responses to rating scales or questions.
A form of measurement based on objective recording of the individual's behavior
Include descriptions of the events that precede or follow the behaviors.

15. Behavioral Assessment
Target behavior: A behavior of interest or concern in an assessment.
In vivo observation: Process involving the recording of behavior in its natural context.
Analog observations: Assessments that take place in a setting or context such as a clinician’s office or a laboratory specifically designed for observing the target behavior.
Behavioral self-report: Individual provides information about the frequency of particular behaviors.
Self-monitoring: Client keeps a record of the frequency of specified behaviors.
Behavioral interviewing: Assessment process in which clinicians ask questions about the target behavior’s frequency, antecedents, and consequences.

16. Neuropsychological Assessment
Gathering information about a client's brain functioning on the basis of performance on psychological tests
Clinicians use neuropsychological assessment measures to:
Determine the functional correlates of brain damage by comparing a client’s performance on a particular test with normative data from individuals who are known to have certain types of injuries or disorders.
There is no one set procedure for conducting a neuropsychological assessment.