PERSONALITY TEST, TEST OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY, AND PROJECTIVE TEST

1890 James Cattell develops a "mental test" to assess college students . Test includes measures of strength, resistance to pain, and reaction time.

1905 Binet-Simon scale of mental development used to classify mentally retarded children in France.

1916 Terman develops Stanford - Binet test and develops the idea of Intelligence Quotient

1941-1960 vocational interest measures developed

1920 - 1940 factor analysis, projective tests, and personality inventories first appear.

1961-1980 item response theory and neuropsychological testing developed

1980 - present : Wide spread adaptation of computerized testing. "Smart" Tests which can give each individual different test items develop

The Projective Hypothesis

The projective hypothesis (Lawrence Frank, 1939):

When people try to understand vague or ambiguous unstructured stimuli, the interpretationthey produce reflects their needs, feelings, experience, priorconditioning, thought processes Shakespeare, Hamlet, II.ii: "Nothing is either good or bad, butthinking makes it so."

The Problem The difficulty is answering: Which particular ' needs, feelings,experience, prior conditioning, thought processes' are reflected? projective tests can (by their own claim) draw equally upon theimagined and real, the conscious and unconscious, the recent andold, the important and the trivial, the revealing and the obvious Much room for interpretation is left given to the tester, making testvalidation almost impossible These tests flourished more in the psychoanalytical era, 1940-1960

History

The earliest use of inkblots as projective surfaces was J.Kerner's (1857) He was the first to claim that some people makeidiosyncratic or revealing interpretations

In 1896, Alfred Binet suggested that inkblots might beused to assess personality (not psychopathology) Some work was done on this suggestion the first response set was published by G. M. Whipple(1910)

History

Herman Rorschach, a Swisspsychiatrist, was the first to suggest(1911) the use of inkblot responses as adiagnostic instrument

In 1921 he published his book onthe test, Psychodiagnostik (andsoon thereafter died, age 38)

History Rorschach's test was not well-received, attracting littlenotice

David Levy brought it to the States

His student, Samuel Beck, popularized its use here, writing severalpapers and books on it starting with Configurational Tendencies inRorschach Responses (1933)

Several other early users also published work on theRorschach

several offered their own system of administration, scoring, andinterpretation, leading to later problems in standardization

The Rorschach Inkblot Test The Rorschach Inkblot Test is the most commonly usedprojective test In a 1971 survey of test usage, it was used in 91% of251 clinical settings survey It is one of the most widely used tests that exists It is widely cited in research

Psychometric Properties of the Rorschach Obviously, it is almost impossible to measure any of the usualproperties in the usual way Validity and reliability are both rendered meaningless by the openendedmultiplicity of possibility that is allowed and by the lack of universally-accepted standardized instructions, administrationprotocol, and scoring procedure (but see Exner, 1974) one approach: blind diagnosis made from a protocol alone In one study, 85% of protocols were matched to casedescriptions, in batches of 5 reliability studies that have been done find r-values varying from0.1 to 0.9 One was done on cases after electroshock, because it "wipesout memory for the first test but does not change personality" Protocols were reported to be very similar

Other common projective tests The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT): 30 grayscalepictures + one blank for elicitation of stories

Not all are (though all may be) seen by everyone: someare suggested for men, some for women, some foryouth, some for elderly Most subjects see 10-12 cards, over two sessions Based on Murray's (1938) theory of needs (sex,affiliation, dominance, achievement etc.) Thema = Interaction between needs andenvironmental determinants Standardization of administration and scoring is minimal Many variations on this 'story-telling' test exist

August 14, 1919 -December 15, 2005

National Scientist (1988)

Other common projective tests

House-Tree-Person Test (Buck, 1948) & Draw-A-Person (Machover, 1949):Subject is asked to draw Scoring is on absolute size, relative size of elements, omissions"If there is a tendency to over-interpret projective test data without sufficientempirical grounds, then projective drawing tests are among the worstoffenders."Kaplan & Saccuzo, Psychological Testing 1993

HAND TEST

Identifies aggressive tendencies likely to be expressed in overt behavior

The problem with drawing tests

- Among the plausible but empirically untrue relations that have been claimed:- Large size = Emotional expansiveness or acting out- Small size = emotional constriction; withdrawal, or timidity- Erasures around male buttocks; long eyelashes on males = homoeroticism- Overworked lines = tension, aggression- Distorted or omitted features = Conflicts related to that feature- Large or elaborate eyes = Paranoia

Chapman & Chapman-Test Results Are What You Think They Are

People tend to over-estimate the frequency of correlations they believein (i.e. of associations) -or, equivalently, people tend to confusecorrelation with semantic association

This confusion is very resistant to change It remains even when the actual correlation is negative, or whenthere are cash rewards for accurate estimations of correlation"senses are fallibleclinical judgments

The two-way projection problem

"Objectivity in human relationships is impossible. Therapists affect thebehaviour and feelings of patients, and patients affect therapists. When achart notes that a patient is 'hostile', it should also note, in the interests ofbalance, that the therapist is 'paranoid'. If a therapist calls a patient'defensive', chances are that the patient would call the therapist 'aggressive'.Both should be noted in a chart, if either is, since both are equallyprobable.

Shelagh Lynne SupeeneAs For The Sky, Falling

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENThttp://www.brainsource.com/nptests.htm

The primary activity of neuropsychologists is assessment of brain functioning through structured and systematic behavioral observation.

Neuropsychological tests are designed to examine a variety of cognitive abilities, including speed of information processing, attention, memory, language, and executive functions, which are necessary for goal-directed behavior

By testing a range of cognitive abilities and examining patterns of performance in different cognitive areas, neuropsychologists can make inferences about underlying brain function.

Neuropsychological testing is an important component of the assessment and treatment of traumatic brain injury, dementia , neurological conditions, and psychiatric disorders.

Neuropsychological testing is also an important tool for examining the effects of toxic substances and medical conditions on brain functioning.

As early as the seventeenth century, scientists theorized about associations between regions of the brain and specific functions. The French philosopher, Descartes, believed the human soul could be localized to a specific brain structure, the pineal gland.

In the eighteenth century, Franz Gall advocated the theory that specific mental qualities such as spirituality or aggression were governed by discrete parts of the brain. n contrast, Pierre Flourens contended that the brain was an integrated system that governed cognitive functioning in a holistic manner.

Later discoveries indicated that brain function is both localized and integrated. Paul Broca and Karl Wernicke furthered understanding of localization and integration of function when they reported the loss of language abilities in patients with lesions to two regions in the left hemisphere of the brain

The modern field of neuropsychology emerged in the twentieth century, combining theories based on anatomical observations of neurology with the techniques of psychology, including objective observation of behavior and the use of statistical analysis to differentiate functional abilities and define impairment.

The famous Soviet neuropsychologist Alexander Luria played a major role in defining neuropsychology as it is practiced today. Luria formulated two principle goals of neuropsychology: to localize brain lesions and analyze psychological activities arising from brain function through behavioral observation.

American neuropsychologist Ralph Reitan emphasized the importance of using standardized psychometric tests to guide systematic observations of brain-behavior relationships.

Muriel Deutsch Lezak is an American neuropsychologist best known for her book Neuropsychological Assessment, widely accepted as the standard in the field.

Her work has centred on research into, assessment and rehabilitation of brain injury

Dr. Lezak is Emeritus Professor of Neurology at the Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine.

In 1996 she received the Distinguished Neuropsychologist Award from the US-based National Academy of Neuropsychology

Luria-Nebraska BatteryThe Luria-Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, also known as LNNB or Luria-Nebraska Battery, is a standardized test battery used in the screening and evaluation of neuropsychologically impaired individuals.

The LNNB is based on the work of A. R. Luria, a Russian neuropsychologist who performed pioneering theoretical and clinical work with regard to brain function.

Luria believed in a primarily qualitative approach to assessment and was opposed to standardization. He did not believe that neuropsychological functioning could be measured quantitatively. Thus, although his name is part of the test itself, his contribution to the LNNB is entirely theoretical.

Also, the LNNB is based, in part, on Luria's Neuropsychological Investigation, a measure developed by Christensen in 1975. This test included items asked by Luria in his clinical interviews, some of which are used in the LNNB.

The battery, written in 1981 by Charles Golden, is appropriate for people aged 13 and older and takes between 90 and 150 minutes to complete.

It consists of 269 items in the following 11 clinical scales: reading writing arithmetic visual memory expressive language receptive language motor function Rhythm

The Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery is a fixed set of eight tests used to evaluate brain and nervous system functioning in individuals aged 15 years and older.

Children's versions are the Halstead Neuropsychological Test Battery for Older Children (ages nine to 14) and the Reitan Indiana Neuropsychological Test Battery (ages five to eight).

The purpose of this battery is to provide the clinician with a database for inferring the nature, location, and extent of the structural changes in the brain that may underlie and explain the pattern of intact and impaired functions derived from the measures and qualitative information yielded by the battery.

The present battery consists of 10 tests which have been shown empirically to best discriminate between normals and patients with documented cortical damage. The authors offer convincing data favoring clearer brain damage localization with the HRNB for acute lesions rather than more chronic neuropathology.

The CANTAB tests are simple: computerised, non-linguistic, and culturally blind. They can be administered by a trained assistant. Importantly, interpretation of a patients condition can be easily understood by a clinician.