NAME: OKWOR CECILIA AMARACHI
STUDENT REG. NO. 21J01DCPS008
DEPTMENT: COUNSELLING PSYCHOLOGY
COURSE TITTLE: PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
COURSE CODE: PSY 306
LECTURER: DR. DAPHNE KAGUME
WEEK 2 ASSIGNMENT
Introduction
Tests and assessments are two separate but related components of a psychological evaluation.
Psychologists use both types of tools to help them arrive at a diagnosis and treatment plan.
Testing involves the use of formal tests such as questionnaires or checklists. These are often
described as “norm-referenced” tests. That simply means the tests have been standardizes so
that test-takers are evaluated in a similar way, no matter where they live or who administers
the test. A psychological assessment can include numerous components such as norm-
referenced psychological tests, informal tests and surveys, interview information, school or
medical records evaluation and observational data.
Psychological test and psychological assessment can be relevant to my work as a
psychologist for a variety of reasons.
I use tests and assessment to measure and observe a client’s behaviour to arrive at a
diagnosis and guide treatment.
Children who are experiencing difficulty in school, for example may undergo aptitude
testing or tests for learning disabilities. Tests for skills such as dexterity, reaction time
and memory can help a neuropsychologist diagnose conditions such as brain injuries
or dementia.
If a person is having problems at work or school, or in personal relationships, tests
can help me to understand whether he or she might have issues with anger
management or interpersonal skills, or certain personality traits that contribute to the
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problem. Other tests evaluate whether clients are experiencing emotional disorders
such as anxiety or depression.
The underlying cause of a person’s problems is not always clear. For example, if a
child is having trouble in school, does he or she have a reading problem such as
dyslexia? An attention problem such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder
(ADHA) Difficulty with impulse control, applying tests and assessments will allow
me to understand the nature of the problem, and to figure out the best way to go about
addressing it.
Using clinical interview as a psychologist is applicable in my work when I speak to a
client about his or her concerns and history, I will be able to observe how the client
thinks, reasons, and interacts with others. Assessments may also include interviewing
other people who are close to the client, such as teachers, co-workers or family
members. (such interview, however, would only be performed with written consent
from the client).
Together, testing and assessment allows me to see the full picture of a person’s
strengths and limitations.
When I administer tests, I helps me to treat patients with psychotherapy. Tests and
assessment will help me to focus only on evaluating patients, the testing and
assessment process will help ensure that the client receives treatment that is tailored to
his or her individual needs.
I use information from the various tests and assessments to reach a specific diagnosis
and develop a treatment plan.
As an expert trained psychologist, I will be able to administer assessments and tests
and interpret the results.
Examples of test and assessment that I can use in counselling are:
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i. For selection: I can use this test to ascertain people’s interests, potentialities, their
aptitudes in their jobs. For example, sometimes different establishments, institutions,
schools and colleges want to select people to do one type of job or the other, I can use
selection to do so.
ii. Placement: Placement is assigning people to different types of work based on the
available data and in terms of providing more individualised descriptions. These could
be placement in schools, in the army, in different sections of an industry and so on.
Fro example, psychological tests can help in placement of exceptionally intelligent
pupils in special classes; they can help in placement of soldiers into its different
sections like the infantry, education corps etc.
iii. For classification: Classification is an arrangement for assigning or streaming
students into classes, according to their ability or educational background of the
group. Psychological tests can be used to clarify people according to age, level of
intelligence, range of mental retardation, categories of behavioural deviation etc.
results got from these will help me to clarify client’s ability.
iv. Diagnostic test: These tests are aimed at analyzing the testee’s strengths and
weaknesses in a particular area of learning, from which the cause of failure or
learning problems can be inferred, so that appropriate remedial measures can be
applied. Examples of tests used for diagnostic purposes are the Neale Analysis of
Reading Ability, Gates Reading Diagnosis Tests, and Campbell Diagnostic
Arithmetic Tests. Tests are also used to diagnose problems of students in the area of
language, numbers, social adjustment, parental relationship and related situation. I can
get to know which of these problems that a particular student has through
psychological testing.
v. For prediction: Tests are given to obtain a measure of ability, aptitude, achievement
and other characteristics which will give me the rationale upon which I can make
decisions. In prediction, I will be able to forecast how well an individual will perform
in future tasks and their chances of success in various courses or vocation. Through
psychological testing, predictions are made to various degrees of accuracy. I can say
with a limited error margin if a child is a university material or not. One can know if
an individual will be a good primary school teacher, or whether he or she is suitable to
work in nursery schools. They help the test administrator to make inferences and so
predict.
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vi. To test for achievement: A course of study requires that at the end of it all, learners
are expected to have achieved a certain level of proficiency in the required knowledge
or skill. Achievement tests are therefore given to establish how much has been
achieved. They are also used for me to see if a set of applicants for higher institutions
have attained an entering requirement expected of them.
2. Explain how the following tests can be used in counselling
a) Group test: Group test has to do with tow or more people having some relationship,
or common characteristics, forming a group for the purpose of counselling or testing. Most of
these tests, except those meant for young children and illiterates’ adults, are group tests. They
usually require written responses. They question themselves or the materials to be reproduced
may be in written form or projected on a screen or spoken by the tester or reproduced from
sound recording equipment. They may also be presented practically or pictorially to the
testees. The essence is that these tests can be administered by one tester to a group of testees
simultaneously. The West African Examination Council (Nigeria) uses mainly group tests
except for some oral language tests. This test saves time since several testees record their own
responses within the same period for scoring by the tester later.
b) Achievement test: As the name indicates, an achievement test is designed to assess
the level of achievement in a particular subject area such as reading, Mathematics, French,
Chemistry, Typing and Shorthand, Technical Drawing etc. Most schools tests are
achievement tests. They are tests which are administered to measure how much proficiency
an individual has acquired in a particular area of knowledge or skill. It is intended to test the
performance ability of a person, usually after undergoing a course of study. They are mainly
teacher made tests. Examples are class tests, end of term tests etc.
c) Aptitude test: Aptitude test may be defined as a trait that characterizes an
individual’s ability to perform in a given area or to acquire the learning necessary for
performance in a given area. It presumes an inherent ability that can be developed to its
maximum through learning or other experience. Aptitude is a condition of a person’s fitness,
of which one essential aspect is his or her readiness to acquire proficiency, his or her
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potential ability and his or her readiness to develop an interest in exercising his or her ability
(Chauhan, 1981).
An aptitude test is a test which measures a person’s potential ability in an activity of a
specialised kind and within a restricted range. Aptitude tests are generally used in
counselling of students, especially in selection jobs, and also in admission into
schools and colleges. There are aptitudes test for clerical jobs, music, arts, military
and so on.
d) Intelligence test: These are tests designed to measure intellectual ability. Such tests
were first designed by Alfred Binet in France and later further developed by E. L. Terman of
Stanford University in the U.S.A. who originated the use of the Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.) ,
which is a percentage ratio of mental age to chronological age. Examples of existing
intelligence tests include the Binet Intelligence Scale, the Stanford Binet Scale of
Intelligence, the Raven’s Progressive Matrices, Vernon Intelligence Scale, and Wechsler
Intelligence Scales. They usually include items on one or more of the following: logical
reasoning, numerical ability, word fluency (vocabulary), verbal comprehension, spatial
perception etc. (Duntoye & Abdulkadir, 2009).
e) Objective personality test: Objective test is the most popular type of test used
especially in Nigeria since education became liberalised and school enrolments started to
experience explosion. In objective test, learners are expected to choose from multiple answer
options. This method is not only limited to academic examinations but is commonly adopted
in employment, aptitude tests, entrance examination etc.
f) Projective personality test: Projective tests is an instrument used in accessing
personality. Projective tests are psychological procedures specially designed to evoke from
the subject, response that involves expression of person’s his or her thoughts, fantasies,
wishes and perceptions of himself or herself and the world around him or her. Here the
person taking the test is unaware of what his or her answers mean to the test administrator. It
eliminates the tendency to give false answers. If a child has a conflict for example, this
method can make him or her reveal unconscious thoughts and drives that cause the conflict.
The strength, degree and causes of the conflict can be reached.
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REFERENCES
Akibbvouro, A. (1986). Oral Tradition as a Source of Psychological Knowledge. In E. B.
Wilson (Ed.). Psychology and Society Readings. Ile-Ife: Nigerian Psychological Association
Publication.
Anastasi, A. (1976). Psychological Testing (4th ed.). New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
Cronbach, L. J. (1970). Essentials of Psychological testing (3rd ed.). New York: Harper &
Row.
Duntoye, J. A. & Abdulkadir, O. R. (2009). Tests, Testing and Appraisal techniques in
Guidance and Counselling. Ilorin, Kwara State - Nigeria: Integrity Publication.
