Psychology Testing

Answer each question with 100 words.

1. Arthur, Woehr, and Graziano (2001) discussed the increasing use of personality assessment in the workplace, and in so doing, they included this information, “Complex issues arise when personality variables are incorporated into traditional approaches to personnel selection. Personality assessment and testing in employment contexts is more complicated than it would appear. Rather than arguing against considering personality variables, we focus on five problematic issues associated with their use in personnel selection” (p. 657). Two of these issues include concerns related to the phenomena of social desirability responding andfakingrespectively.

What thoughts might you have on how the phenomena of social desirability responding and faking on assessments are defined respectively? What thoughts do you have on how both of these phenomena might be managed, and the possibilities of legal implications occurring from doing so?

2. According to Cohen, et al. (2013), “Response style refers to a tendency to respond to a test item or interview question in some characteristic manner regardless of the content of the item or question. For example, an individual may be more apt to respond yesor true than no or false on a short-answer test. This particular pattern of responding is characterized as acquiescent” (p. 405). Provide your thoughts on these other two response styles, Socially desirable responding and Gambling/cautiousness? Moreover, what are validity scales, and what are your thoughts on test developers incorporating validity scales into developing tests to manage such undesired response styles?

3. According to Cohen, et al. (2013), “The Personality Inventory for Children (PIC) and its revision, the PIC-2 (pronounced “pick two”), are examples of a kind of standardized interview of a child’s parent. Although the child is the subject of the test, the respondent is the parent (usually the mother), guardian, or other adult qualified to respond with reference to the child’s characteristic behavior. The test consists of a series of true-false items designed to be free of racial and gender bias. The items may be administered by computer or paper and pencil. Test results yield scores that provide clinical information and shed light on the validity of the testtaker’s response patterns” (p. 403).

Moreover, the PIC is geared for individuals between the ages of 5 years and 19 years (Kindergarten – 12th grade), and it “assesses both broad and narrow dimensions of behavioral, emotional, cognitive, and interpersonal adjustment” (Lachar & Gruber, 2001). This information was retrieved from the Sixteenth Mental Measurement Yearbook (2005), which is held in the university library. In addition, the MMY provides two reviews on the PIC.

Using the reviews and/or other information provided in the MMY on the Personality Inventory for Children (PIC), what are your thoughts on the development, validity, and reliability of the instrument?

4. According to Cohen, et al. (2013), “we may define the projective method as a technique of personality assessment in which some judgment of the assessee’s personality is made on the basis of performance on a task that involves supplying some sort of structure to unstructured or incomplete stimuli” (p. 442). There are several tests available that may employ the projective method, including the Rorschach Inkblot Test, the Draw-A-Person Test, the House-Tree-Person Test, and the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT).

What thoughts might you have on the advantages and disadvantages of using such projective tests; particularly, as opposed to using objective tests like the very well-known Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI)?

5. According to Cohen, et al. (2013), “Acculturation is an ongoing process by which an individual’s thoughts, behaviors, values, worldview, and identity develop in relation to the general thinking, behavior, customs, and values of a particular cultural group. The process of acculturation begins at birth, a time at which the newborn infant’s family or caretakers serve as agents of the culture.

In the years to come, other family members, teachers, peers, books, films, theater, newspapers, television and radio programs, and other media serve as agents of acculturation. Through the process of acculturation, one develops culturally accepted ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving” (p. 435).

Thus, what are your thoughts on the importance of considering factors related to acculturation in efforts to assess the respective personality of members of diverse populations?

6. According to Cohen, et al. (2013), “In the context of the workplace, a drug test may be defined as an evaluation undertaken to determine the presence, if any, of alcohol or other psychotropic substances, by means of laboratory analysis of blood, urine, hair, or other biological specimens. Testing for drug use is a growing practice in corporate America, with nearly half of all major companies conducting drug testing in some form. Applicants for employment may be tested during the selection process, and current employees may be tested as a condition of maintaining employment. Random drug testing (that is, testing that occurs with no advance warning) is increasingly common in private companies and organizations, although it has been in use for years in government agencies and in the military” (p. 590).

What are your thoughts on the pros and cons of using drug tests in the workplace?

Answer Preview

It is easy to manage social desirability, for instance, an organisation can use a personality assessment test to measure the social desirability and to identify those who are faking the assessment. Social desirability is used to describe an applicant who is faking the responses so as to appear more desirable. Social desirability aims at giving a positive self…

(806 Words)