Psychological testing is an objective way of measuring “psychological functioning”. Many commercially published tests can be administered by trained evaluators; moreover, numerous unpublished tests created for specific research projects in psychology, education and other fields may also exist.
Psychological tests must fulfill several criteria to be valid, including standardization, eliminating personal bias in scoring and administration and setting norms against which results can be compared.
Assessment
Psychologists utilize psychological tests to gather and assess specific types of information, and can be utilized in settings including psychiatric hospitals, legal practices and educational clinics.
Assessments provide unique and valuable information that is not accessible through interviews alone; however, their practical applications are sometimes limited due to difficulty in interpreting test results in clinical settings.
An effective psychological test must meet modern psychometric standards of validity and reliability, including showing it measures what it purports to measure, being applicable across many demographic and diagnostic groups, and offering accurate scores.
Psychologists must also consider the context of an examinee when interpreting test scores. For example, an individual experiencing grief after the death of their spouse might interpret pessimism differently from someone surviving cancer.
Diagnosis
As part of your doctor visit, taking several tests can help them arrive at an accurate diagnosis that can inform effective treatments. Psychological evaluations can identify emotional or behavioral problems like anxiety disorders, learning disabilities and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder – helping your healthcare team make more accurate treatment recommendations.
Evaluations typically occur at a mental health facility, hospital, university medical center or private practice, and administered by qualified mental health professionals who will administer tests and conduct interviews over multiple sessions that may take several hours each.
Tests are objective (i.e. not subject to personal interpretation), standardized measures designed for specific populations with norms that can be compared against an individual’s results, and administered by psychological professionals in evaluation processes. Psychologists use questionnaires, surveys, checklists and observations during evaluation processes; psychologists may also administer projective tests that involve responding to vague stimuli to uncover emotions or conflicts hidden beneath the surface, screening tests provide a general level of functioning assessment but may not be considered objective measures such as psychological measures are.
Treatment
Psychological testing and assessments may seem intimidating at first, but just like your primary care physician might order X-rays or bloodwork when diagnosing physical symptoms, psychological testing helps psychologists better understand the root causes of mental health problems. Information gained through assessments and tests also allows your therapist to devise the most suitable treatment plan.
These tests may include both standardized exams (such as high school IQ or SAT/ACT exams), as well as questionnaires or interviews that measure intangible constructs such as emotions or personality) and nonstandard methods to assess performance (like questionnaires and interviews).
Assessments may also involve short screening tests that provide only gross measurements of levels of functioning and cannot accurately establish mental impairment or its severity. Such tests can be used for purposes like eligibility determination for services and to identify needs which need to be met within a treatment plan.
Prevention
Psychological tests measure various aspects of your mental and emotional well-being, from simple pencil and paper tasks that ask you to select from a list to more complex computer-based assessments. Their results can help doctors diagnose conditions as well as develop appropriate treatment plans.
Some psychological tests are designed to be administered and scored under specific conditions so your scores can be compared with those of others. But understanding their design requires an in-depth knowledge of all the variables that could alter their outcomes.
Psychological testing should never be used as an assessment tool in isolation. Psychological assessments are usually combined with interviews and medical records in order to gauge your level of functioning across specific areas. Psychological tests should never be seen as standalone tools for evaluation.
