Development of a Scientific Test: a Practical Guide

CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES Gerald Goldstein Michel Hersen INTRODUCTION automated. While some greet the news with dread and others with enthusiasm, we may be "A test is a systematic procedure for comparing the rapidly approaching the day when most of all behavior of two or more persons." This definition testing will be administered, scored, and inter- of a test, offered by Lee Cronbach many years ago preted by computer. Thus, the 19th-century (1949/1960) probably still epitomizes the major image of the school teacher administering paper- content of psychological assessment. The inven- and-pencil tests to the students in her classroom tion of psychological tests, then known as mental and grading them at home has changed to the tests, is generally attributed to Galton (Boring, extensive use of automated procedures adminis- 1950) and occurred during the middle and late 19th tered to huge portions of the population by repre- century. Galton' s work was largely concerned with sentatives of giant corporations. Testing appears differences between individuals, and his approach to have become a part of western culture, and was essentially in opposition to the approaches of there are indeed very few people who enter edu- other psychologists of his time. Most psychologists cational, work, or clinical settings who do not then were primarily concerned with the exhaustive take many tests during their lifetimes. study of mental phenomena in a few participants, In recent years, there appears to have been a dis- while Galton was more interested in somewhat less tinction made between testing and assessment, specific analyses of large numbers of people. Per- assessment being the broader concept. Psycholo- haps the first psychological test was the "Galton gists do not just give tests now; they perform assess- whistle," which evaluated high tone hearing. Gal- ments. The title of this volume, the Handbook of ton also appeared to have believed in the statistical Psychological Assessment, was chosen advisedly concept that held that errors of measurement in and is meant to convey the view that it is not simply individuals could be cancelled out through the a handbook of psychological testing, although test- mass effect of large samples. ing will be covered in great detail. The term assess- Obviously, psychologists have come a long ment implies that there are many ways of evaluating way from the simple tests of Galton, Binet, and individual differences. Testing is one way, but there Munsterberg, and the technology of testing is are also interviewing, observations of behavior in now in the computer age, with almost science- natural or structured settings, and recording of var- fiction-like extensions, such as testing by satel- ious physiological functions. Certain forms of inter- lite. Psychometrics is now an advanced branch of viewing and systematic observation of behavior are mathematical and statistical science, and the now known as behavioral assessments, as opposed administration, scoring, and even interpretation to the psychometric assessment accomplished of tests have become increasingly objectified and through the use of formal tests. Historically, interest 4 HANDBOOK OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT in these two forms of assessment has waxed and Wechsler scales became clinical instruments used waned, and in what follows we will briefly try to in conjunction with other tests to evaluate patients trace these trends in various areas. with such conditions as schizophrenia and various stress-related disorders. In the field of neuropsychology, use of intelligence testing is perhaps best INTELLIGENCE TESTING described by McFie's (1975) remark, "It is perhaps a matter of luck that many of the Wechsler subtests The testing of intelligence in school children are neurologically relevant" (p. 14). In these appli- was probably the first major occupation of clinical cations, the intelligence test was basically used as psychology. The Binet scales and their descen- an instrument with which the clinician could dants continue to be used, along with the IQ con- examine various cognitive processes, on the basis cept associated with them. Later, primarily through of which inferences could be made about the the work of David Wechsler and associates (Wech- patient' s clinical status. sler, 1944), intelligence testing was extended to In summary, the intelligence test has become a adults and the IQ concept was changed from the widely used assessment instrument in educational, mental age system (Mental Age/Chronological industrial, military, and clinical settings. While in Age x 100) to the notion of a deviation IQ based on some applications the emphasis remains on the established norms. While Wechsler was primarily simple obtaining of a numerical IQ value, it would concerned with the individual assessment of intel- probably be fair to say that many, if not most, psy- ligence, many group-administered paper-and-pen- chologists now use the intelligence test as a means cil tests also emerged during the early years of the of examining the individual' s cognitive processes; 20th century. Perhaps the old Army Alpha and of seeing how he or she goes about solving prob- Beta tests, developed for intellectual screening of lems; of identifying those factors that may be inter- inductees into the armed forces during the first fering with adaptive thinking; of looking at various world war, were the first examples of these instru- language and nonverbal abilities in brain-damaged ments. Use of these tests progressed in parallel patients; and of identifying patterns of abnormal with developments in more theoretical research thought processes seen in schizophrenic and autis- regarding the nature of intelligence. The English tic patients. Performance profiles and qualitative investigators Burt, Pearson, and Spearman and the characteristics of individual responses to items Americans Thurstone and Guilford are widely appear to have become the major foci of interest, known for their work in this area, particularly with rather than the single IQ score. The recent appear- factor analysis. The debate over whether intelli- ance of the new Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale gence is a general ability (g) or a series of specific (WAIS-III) (Wechsler, 1997) reflects the major abilities represents one of the classic controversies impacts cognitive psychology and neuropsychol- in psychology. A related controversy that is still ogy have had on the way in which intelligence is very much with us (Jensen, 1983) has to do with currently conceptualized. whether intelligence is primarily inherited or acquired and with the corollary issue having to do with ethnic differences in intellectual ability. PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT Another highly significant aspect of intelligence testing has to do with its clinical utilization. The IQ Personality assessment has come to rival intelli- now essentially defines the borders of mental retar- gence testing as a task performed by psychologists. dation, and intelligence tests are extremely widely However, while most psychologists would agree used to identify retarded children in educational that an intelligence test is generally the best way to settings (American Psychiatric Association [APA], measure intelligence, no such consensus exists for Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disor- personality evaluation. In long-term perspective, it ders, 4th ed. (DSM-IV, 1994). However, intelli- would appear that two major philosophies and per- gence testing has gone far beyond the attempt to haps three assessment method's have emerged. identify mentally retarded individuals and has The two philosophies can be traced back to All- become widely applied in the fields of psychopa- port's (1937) distinction between nomothetic ver- thology and neuropsychology. With regard to psy- sus idiographic methodologies and Meehl' s (1954) chopathology, under the original impetus of David distinction between clinical and statistical or actu- Rapaport and collaborators (Rapaport, 1945), the arial prediction. In essence, some psychologists HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES 5 feel that personality assessments are best accom- Those advocating use of structured interviews plished when they are highly individualized, while point to the fact that in psychiatry, at least, tests others have a preference for quantitative proce- must ultimately be validated against judgments dures based on group norms. The phrase "seer ver- made by psychiatrists. These judgments are gener- sus sign" has been used to epitomize this dispute. ally based on interviews and observation, since The three methods referred to are the interview, there really are no biological or other objective and projective and objective tests. Obviously, the markers of most forms of psychopathology. If that first way psychologists and their predecessors is indeed the case, there seems little point in found out about people was to talk to them, giving administering elaborate and often lengthy tests the interview historical precedence. But following when one can just as well use the criterion mea- a period when the use of the interview was sure itself, the interview, rather than the test. There eschewed by many psychologists, it has made a is no way that a test can be more valid than an return. It would appear that the field is in a histori- interview if an interview is the validating criterion. cal spiral, with various methods leaving and Structured interviews have made a major impact returning at different levels. on the scientific literature

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