This is the Chapter 18 of the book The Individual (de Bruin, E., 1st Edition). Which is content for the exam of the Theory component of Module 4 (The Individual) of the University of Twente, in the Netherlands

Historical, Cultural, and Legal/Ethical Considerations

• Charles Darwin (1859): book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
• Galton (1869): influential contributor to the field of measurement --> classify people ‘according to their natural gifts’ and to ascertain their ‘deviation from an average’
  
  • Contributed development of questionnaires, rating scales and self-report inventory
• Wilhelm Max Wundt (1832-1920): first experimental psychology laboratory
• James McKeen Cattell (1860-1944): Coining the term ‘mental test’ --> influenced and reinforced by Galton

The 20th Century:

“birth of the first formal test of intelligence”

The measurement of intelligence:

• Victor Henri and Alfred Binet: measurement of memory and social comprehension.
  • Measuring scale of intelligence: to help identify schoolchildren with intellectual disability (Binet & Theodore Simon)
• Wechsler intelligence (1939) “intelligence was ‘the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment’”
  
  • Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS): to measure adult intelligence

The measurement of personality:

• Personal Dara Sheet (by Woodworth): a measure of adjustment and emotional stability that could be administered quickly and efficiently to groups of recruits
  • Woodworth Psychoneurotic Inventory: first widely used self-report measure of personality
    • Given the shortcomings of self-report method (respondents might have poor insight into themselves) --> there was the need for alternative types of personality test
      • Projective test: an individual is assumed to project onto some ambiguous stimulus their own unique needs/fears/hopes/motivation
        • Ambiguous stimulus: inkblot, a drawing, a photograph, …

Culture and Assessment:

“Culture defined as the socially transmitted behaviour patterns, beliefs, and products of work of a particular population, community, or group of people”

• Sensitivity to the role of culture: consideration of cultural issues with respect to every day aspect of test development and use
  • Psychological testing at Ellis Island:
    • “Immigrants coming to America via Ellis Island were greeted not only by the Statue of Liberty, but also by immigration officials ready to evaluate them with respect to physical, mental, and other variables”
    • Goddard research:
      
      • Found most immigrants from various nationalities to be mentally deficient when tested --> fuelled nature-nurture debate about what intelligence test actually measure
• Culture-specific test: ‘isolate’ the culture variable

Verbal communication:

“Test performance may, at least in part, reflect not only whatever variables the test purports to measure but also one additional variable: the degree to which the test taker has assimilated the culture”

• Examinee and examiner must speak the same language
• Translator: subtle nuances of meaning may be lost in translation, or unintentional hits to the correct or more desirable response may be conveyed

Nonverbal communication and behaviour:

• In psychoanalysis: symbolic significance is assigned to many nonverbal acts
  • “The first…chance actions of the patient…will betray one of the governing complexes of the neurosis…A young girl…hurriedly pulls the hem of her skirt over her exposed ankle; she has  betrayed the kernel of what analysis will discover later; her narcissistic pride in her bodily beauty and her tendencies to exhibitionism. (Freud, 1913/1959, p. 359)”

Standards of evaluation:

• Psychological traits can be culturally relative:
  • E.g. Specific patterns of behaviour considered to be male- or female-appropriate will depend on prevailing societal standards regarding masculinity and femininity
  • Individualistic culture: “behaviour that is organised and made meaningful primary by reference to one’s own internal repertoire of thoughts, feelings, and actions, rather than by reference to the thoughts, feelings and actions of others”
    
    • Value is placed on traits such as self-reliance, autonomy, independence, uniqueness, and competitiveness
  • Collectivist culture: “one’s behaviour is determined, contingent on, and, to a large extent organized by what the actor perceives to be the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others in the relationship”
    
    • Value is placed on traits such as conformity, cooperation, interdependence, and striving towards group goals

Tests and Group Membership:

• Affirmative action: voluntary and mandatory efforts to combat discrimination and to promote equal opportunity for all in education and employment --> seeks to create opportunity actively, not passively
• Psychology, tests, and public policy: To protect from perceived threats

Computerized test administration, scoring, and interpretation

• Computer-assisted psychological assessment (CAPA): ever-growing number of psychological test --> relative simplicity, convenience, and range of potential testing activities
  • Comparability of pencil-and-paper and computerized versions of tests.
    • Equivalence cannot be assumed in all vases
  • Value of computerized interpretations
    
    • Comparative accuracy of computerized interpretation versus clinical interpretations is not known
  • Unprofessional, unregulated “psychological testing” online
    
    • Do not meet a psychologist’s standards --> contribute to more public scepticism about psychological tests
    • International Guidelines on Computer-Based and Internet-Delivered Testing: addresses technical, quality, security and related issues

Guidelines with respect to certain populations

• Guidelines: assist professionals in providing informed and developmentally appropriate services. Aspirational in nature
• Standards: must be followed by all psychologists

The Rights of the Test takers:

Informed consent:

• Competency in providing informed consent:
  • Being able to evidence a choice as to whether one wants to participate
  • Demonstrating a factual understanding of the issue
  • Being able to reason about the fats of a study, treatment, or whatever it is to which consent is sought
  • Appreciating the nature of the situation
• Ethical Principles of Psychologist and Code of Conduct (2017): on use of deception
  
  • Do not use deception unless it is absolutely necessary
  • Do not use deception at all if it will cause the participant emotional distress
  • Fully debrief participants

Informed of text findings

• Inform test taker:
  • Purpose test
  • Meaning of score relative to those of other test takers
  • Possible limitations and margins of error of the test
  • A qualified professional should be available to answer any further questions

Privacy and confidentiality

• Privacy right: “recognizes the freedom of the individual to pick and choose for themselves the time, circumstances and particularly the extent to which they wish to share or withhold from other their attitudes, beliefs behaviour, and opinions”
• Privileged information for parties who communicate with each other in the context of certain relationships (e.g. lawyer-client relationship)
  
  • Privilege is extended to parties because it serves a greater public interest (e.g. it is for the social good if people feel confident that they can talk freely to their attorneys)
• Confidentiality: concerns matters of communication outside the courtroom, privilege protects clients from disclosure in judicial proceedings (nonetheless privilege is not absolute)
• Clinicians have a duty to warn endangered third parties as well as other threats to physical wellbeing (e.g. HIV positive client)
• Safekeeping of test data: procedures for storing and disposing of patient records
  
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability act of 1996 (HIPAA): federal privacy standards limit the way that health care providers can use personal medical information

Right to the lest stigmatizing label