PSY3041 Lecture Notes
Week 1 – Introduction to Psychological Testing
School Achievement
- E.g. National Assessment Program – Language and Numeracy (NAPLAN)
Clinical Diagnosis
- E.g. National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
Relevance
- Tests/assessments widely used and outcomes have important implications
- Responsibility of:
o Test developers and publishers – test construction and evaluation standards
o Test users – clinicians, counsellors, psychologists, HR personnel
o Test takers – can vary with respect to many variables on test day e.g. distress and
anxiety, previous coaching, motivation
o Society – individual differences are acknowledged but systems typically organise or
systemise this complexity e.g. “who is schizophrenic”
o Other parties – e.g. organisations, companies, government agencies sponsor
development for different reasons (sponsor test development/implementation etc.)
Henry Herbert Goddard (1866 – 1975)
- Interested in measuring intellectual functioning in children
- 1908 published adaption of the Alfred Binet intelligence test – The Binet and Simon Tests of
Intellectual Capacity
- 1911 his test widely used in schools, courts and by psychologists
- “feeble-mindedness”
- “moron”
Goddard: A Mixed legacy
- Special education
o Instrumental role
o Wide ranging benefits to both gifted and low achieving students
o Psychological testing became a “mainstream” in schools and other settings
- Eugenics – study of methods of improving the quality of the human race, especially by
selective breeding
o Dark chapter in history of psych testing
o Goddard: “feebleminded” people should be sterilised or institutionalised
o Adopted by Nazi Germany
Eugenics history
- In Australia
