Term
| Actuarial versus Clinical Predictions |
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Definition
| Actuarial predictions are based on emperically-validated relationships between test results and target criteria and make use of a regression equation, multiple regression equation, or similar technique, while clinical predictions are based on the decision-maker's intuition, experience, and knowledge. Studies comparing the two methods have generally found that the actuarial method alone is more accurate than clinical judgement alone and about equally accurate as a combination of the two . |
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Term
| Aging and Intelligence (Processing Speed) |
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Definition
| Increasing age is associated with a decrease in speed of information processing as well as declines in fluid (vs. crystallized), intelligence. |
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Term
| Americans with Disabilities Act |
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Definition
| Act of 1990 requires that any test administered to a job applicant or employee with a disability must accurately measure the skills and abilities the test was designed to measure rather than reflect the examinee's disability. It also mandates that employers make reasonable accommodations when testing disabled examinees. |
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Term
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Definition
Contains 21 items that address the mood, cognitive, behavioral, and physical aspects of depression. The examinee rates each item in terms of severity on a 4-point scale that ranges from 0 to 3. The following score guidelines are usually used for individuals who have been diagnosed with major depression:
0-13 = minimal
14-19 = mild
20-28 = moderate
29-63 = severe |
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Term
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Definition
| Used as a mesaure of visual-motor integration and can be used as a screening tool for neuropsychological impairment. The test includes 16 stiumuls cards consisting of geometic figures. |
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Term
| Big Five Personality Traits |
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Definition
| Identification of teh "big five" - extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience - was based on a lexical approach and factor analysis. |
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Term
| Crystallized and Fluid Intelligence |
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Definition
| Horn and Cattell proposed that general intelligence can be described in terms of two types - a crystallized intelligence (Gc) refers to cquaired knowledge and skills and is affected by educational and cultural experience. Where as fuilid intelligence (Gf) enables an individual to solve novel problems and to perceive relations and similarities and does not depend on specific instruction. |
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Term
| Curriculum-Based Measurement |
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Definition
| CBM involves periodic assessment of school-aged children with brief standarized and validated measures of basic academic skills that reflect the current school curriculum |
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Term
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Definition
| A test or other predictor has differential validity when it has substantially different validity coefficients for members of different groups (e.g., men and women). Differential validity is one cause of adverse impact. |
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Term
| Domain-Referenced Testing |
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Definition
| (For interpretation) involves scoring an examinee's test performance in terms of how much he/she has mastered the domain being assessed. It is also known as content- and criterion-referenced testing. |
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Term
| Dynamic Assessment and Testing the Limits |
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Definition
| Dynamic assessment was derived from Vygotsky's method for evaluating a child's mental development and involves deliverate deviation for standardized testing procedures to determine if an examinee has teh ability to profit from assistance or instruction. Testing the limits, a type of dynamic assessment, involves providing an examinee with additional cues or prompts. It is ordinarily done after standard administration of the test to preserve the applicability of the test's norms. |
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Definition
| A measure of field dependence/independence. Children with Autism tends to find the embedded figures included in this test fast than their non-autistic peers. |
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Term
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Definition
| Reserach by Flynn (1987) and others hs shown that IQ scores have consistently incraesed over the past 70 years in the US and other industrialized countries. This increase - which is referred to as the Flynn effect - involves a rate of at least 3 IQ points per decade and is apparently due primarily to increases in fluid intelligence. |
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Term
| Gender-related Differences in Cognitive Ability |
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Definition
| On measures of specific cognitive abilities, most studies have found that females do better on some tests of verbal ability, while males do better on certain measures of spacial and quantitative skills, with spacial skills showing the largest gender gap. |
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Term
| Heredity and Intelligence |
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Definition
| Correlations between the IQ scores of people with varying degress of genetic similarity are used to demonstrate the impact of genetics on intelligence. The studies have found that, the closer the genetic similarity, the higher the correlation (e.g., identical twins reared together, r = .85, identical twins reared apart, r = .67) |
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Term
| Infant and preschool tests |
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Definition
| Infant and preschool tests are generally considered valid as screening devices for developmental delays and disabilities; but, when administered to children aged two or younger, they have little predictive validity. Examples include the Denver Development Screen Test, the Bayley Scales, and the Fagan Test of Intelligence. |
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Term
| Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (KABC) |
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Definition
| Developmentof the KABC - II was based on Luria's neropsychological model and the Cattell-Horn-Carroll tehory of cognitive abilities. Because of its emphasis on nonverbal instruction and items, this assessment is considred "culture-fair". |
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Term
| Kuder Occupational Interest Inventory |
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Definition
| (KOIS) was designed for high school juniors and seniors, college students, and adults. It was developed on the basis of empirical criterion keying but, unlike the Strong tests, did not inlude a general reference group. Instead, items selected for inclusion in the test were those that distinguished between different occupational groups. |
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Term
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Definition
| The case of Larry P was brought by plaintiffs on behalf of African-American Children who were disporportionately enrolled in EMR classes in the San Francisco school system. Based primarly on the testimony of experts, the judge handed down the opinion that "IQ tests are racially and culturally biased, and have discriminatory impact on Black children" and enjoined the San Francisco public schools from using them to place black children in EMR classes. |
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Term
| MMPI-2 T-scores and Profile Analysis |
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Definition
| Scores are reported as T schores, which have a mean of 50 and standard deviation of 10. A T-score of 65 or higher on the MMPI is considered clinically significant. Scores are commonly interpreted through profile analysis, which involves considering the highest two or three scale scores. |
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Term
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Definition
| The MMPI's validity scales are designed to assess test-taking attitudes and to determine if the results of a test for a particular examinee are valid. A high score on the L scale indicates a attempt to present one's self in a favorable light. A high score on the F Scale suggests response carelessness. A high score on the K Scale indicates clinical defensiveness or an attempt to "fake good". An examinee's score on the K Scale is used to correct several clinical scales. |
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Term
| Performance-Based Measurement |
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Definition
| Performance-based (authetic) assessment (PBA) involves "observing and judging a pupil's skill in actually carrying out a physical activity (e.g., giving a speech) or produsing a product (e.g., "building a birdhouse".) |
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Term
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Definition
| PL 94-142, the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) requires that (1) all disabled people from infancy to 21 years of age must be evaluated by a team of specialists to determine their specific needs; (2) an Individualized Educational Program (IEP) must be developed for each disabled child enrolled in the public educational system that provides education for students in the "least restrictive environment" and that has been approved by the child's parents; and (3) while reliable, valid, and nondiscriminatory psychological tests can be used, assignment to specialy education classes cannot be made on the basis of IQ tests only. |
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Term
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Definition
| Measures receptive vocabulary for standard American English and provides a nonverbal estimate of intelligence. It was designed for people with orthopedic disabilities aged 2.5 to 85 years, and can be administered to any examinee who is able to hear the stimulus word, see the drawings, and in some way communicate a response. |
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Term
| Raven's Progressive Matrices |
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Definition
| A nonverbal measure of general intelligence (g) and is considered useful as a multicultural test beacuse it is relatively independent of the effects of specific education and cultural learning. There are several versious including the Standard Progressive Matrices and the Colored Progressive Matrices. |
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Term
| Rorschach Inkblot Test (Scoring & Interpretation) |
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Definition
| The Rorschach is a projective personality test that presents the examinee with 10 inkblots. Administration usually entails two phases - free association and inquiry. Responses to the inkblots presumably reflect the examinee's underlying personality, conflicts, etc. Most scoring systems look at the following dimensions: Location, Determinants, Form Quality, Content, and Frequency of Occurrence. |
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Term
| Seattle Longitudinal Study |
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Definition
| Found that a cross-sectional design is more likely to find early age-related declines in IQ because it is more vulnerable to the confounding effects of educational and other differences between different age groups ("cohort effects"). It also found that, of six primary mental abilities, only perceptual speed declines substantially prior to age 60. |
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Term
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Definition
| Holland classified occupations and occupational interests into six thematic areas, which he believed reflect basic personality characteristics. The relationship between these themes is conceptualized in terms of a hexagon with themes located closer to one another being more similar. |
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Term
| Stanford-Binet Fifth Ediction (SB%) |
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Definition
| An individually-administered intelligence test that is based on a hierarchical model of intelligence that begins with "g" and incorporates 5 cognitive factors - Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual-Spacial Processing, and Working Memory. Administration of the SB5 is tailored to the examinee's level of cognitive functioning. |
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Term
| Strong Interest Inventory |
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Definition
| There are two versions of the Strong Interest Inventory. The 1994 version and the Newly Revised version. In the 1994 version, the General Occupational Theme and Basic Interest scales were developed based on teh logical content method. The Newly Revised version draws from a general representative sample. |
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Term
| Stroop Color-Word Association Test |
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Definition
| Assesses the degree to which the examinee can supress a habitual response in favor of an unusual one and is considered to be a measure of cognitive flexibility and selective attention. It presents the examinee with a list of color names that are printed in ink colors that differ from the name (e.g., the name red might be printed in blue ink), and the examinee is asked to go through the list and say the ink color rather than read the color name wich is the prepotent response. |
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Term
| Types of Test Bias (Slope and Intercept) |
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Definition
| Slope and intercept biases are types of test bias that can invalidate the interpretation of test scores for members of certain groups. Slope bias can occur when there is differential validity - i.e., when the validity coefficients for a predictor (e.g., cognitive ability test), differ for different groups. Consequently, the predictor is more accurate for one group than for another. Intersept bias (or unfairness) occurs when the validity coefficients and criterion performance for different groups are the same, but their mean scores on the predictor differ. As a result, the predictor consistently over- or underpredicts performance on the criterion for members of one of the groups. |
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Term
| Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales |
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Definition
| Measures personal and social skills of children and adults. It is often used in conjunction with IQ tests for diagnosing mental retardation. |
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Term
| WAIS-III Factor Scores (ADHD, Alzheimer's Disease) |
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Definition
| The WAIS -- III provides scores on two verbal factors (Verbal Comprehension and Working Memory) and two performance factors (Perceptual Organization and Processing Speed). Discrepancies in factor index scores correlate with several conditions. For example, the test manual reports a similar pattern for individuals with ADHD or learning disabilities - i.e., a verbal comprehension score higher than a working memory score coupled with a perceptual organization score higher than a processing speed score. It also reports the following pattern of mean scores for aging patients with Alzheimer's Disease - 79.6 on Processing Speed; 84.8 on Perceptual Organization, 87.2 on Working Memory, and 93.0 on verbal comprehension |
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