Dictionary of Psychological Testing, Assessment and Treatment by the same author The Psychology of Ageing An Introduction 4th edition ISBN 978 1 8431 0426 1 An Asperger Dictionary of Everyday Expressions 2nd edition ISBN 978 1 84310 518 3 Dictionary of Cognitive Psychology ISBN 978 1 85302 148 0 Dictionary of Developmental Psychology ISBN 978 1 85302 146 6 Key Ideas in Psychology ISBN 978 1 85302 359 0 Dictionary of Psychological Testing, Assessment and Treatment Second Edition Ian Stuart-Hamilton Jessica Kingsley Publishers London and Philadelphia First edition published in 1995 Paperback edition published in 1996 This edition published in 2007 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers 116 Pentonville Road London N1 9JB, UK and 400 Market Street, Suite 400 Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA www.jkp.com Copyright © Ian Stuart-Hamilton 1995, 1996, 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher. Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Stuart-Hamilton, Ian. Dictionary of psychological testing, assessment, and treatment / Ian Stuart-Hamilton. -- 2nd ed. p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-1-84310-494-0 (pb : alk. paper) 1. Psychological tests--Dictionaries. 2. Psychometrics--Dictionaries. 3. Psychotherapy--Dictionaries. I. Title. BF176.S78 2007 150.28'7--dc22 2007004935 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 1 84310 494 0 ISBN pdf eBook: 978 1 84642 657 5 Printed and bound in Great Britain by Athenaeum Press, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear To the present and future members of the Sunley Appreciation Society* * Well, some of them, anyway… Introduction to the First Edition This dictionary is intended as a guide to the basic tools of the trade of psychology – namely,the commonly-used (and some of the less commonly-used) tests, exper- imental methods and analyses, and therapies. A quick glance through the book will show that some definitions get much lengthier definitions than others. I have intentionally pitched definitions at the likely readership. Thus, in writing the fairly basic definitions (e.g. of some statistical tests), I have assumed that the reader is a newcomer to the subject, and hence I have provided a greater depth of information. For definitions of more complex matters, the immediate definition is aimed at a reader with some background knowledge (although use of the cross-referencing allows a less experienced reader to retrace his or her steps for greater levels of explanation). I have intentionally not included every test (statistical or psychological) known to humankind, because there simply wasn’t room (unless there is genu- inely a demand for compact dictionaries the size of the London A-Z telephone directory). When one considers that approximately 20,000 new tests are devised each year (most to be reported in one journal article and then never seen again), the reader will appreciate why I have chosen only those which appear to be most frequently mentioned in the literature. If I have inadvertently omitted a test which a reader feels I should have included, then if they write to me, I will be happy to consider it for inclusion in any future edition of this dictionary. Many of the dictionary entries are cross-referenced. This has the advantage, that by judiciously using this facility, the reader should be able to gain at least an overview of the appropriate subject area. However, a caveat to this is needed. Dic- tionary definitions, no matter how lengthy, are intended solely as guides and primers – they are not a substitute for reading a textbook or journal article, which can provide a deeper, if less immediately accessible level of understanding than a dictionary can ever hope to do. I finish with the traditional plea to dictionary readers to send me details of omitted definitions. Dr Ian Stuart-Hamilton, Principal Lecturer in Psychology, Worcester College of Higher Education 1995 7 Introduction to the Paperback Edition This new paperback edition gives me an opportunity to spruce up a few of the existing definitions and to add a few entries which slipped through the net. It also gives me the chance to respond to a couple of enquiries I received about the hardback edition of this text. First, it will not have escaped the reader’s notice that there is no Bibliography in this book. Why is this so? This can be best explained in the following way: Q: why will someone be looking up a term or the name of a test in a dictionary? A: because they have read about the term or test in a book or article – which will have a bibliography. Not only would a list of references be super- fluous, but it would also at least double the length of the book. The second point is that descriptions of some of the tests in this book are very brief. There are two reasons for this. The first is that usually all the information someone wants is what the test is assessing – details can be burdensome and will militate against under- standing. The second reason is that this dictionary and its companion volumes are textbooks which are going to be readily available, inter alia, to the general public and undergraduates – in other words, not fully trained psychologists. Without being pompous about this, I feel a certain moral responsibility not to divulge lots of details of tests to the occasional reader who may be looking up a definition to see what sort of test they are about to be given or have been given during, for example, a clinical examination or selection procedure. Where tests are described in greater depth, it is because the details are already widely available in textbooks. If people want to know lots of details of tests, then they are welcome to consult the Mental Measurements Yearbooks – that is their purpose. However, if people want to understand the terms used in books such as the MMYs, then they may well need a dictionary such as this one – that is its purpose. I would like to take this opportunity once again to thank the staff of Jessica Kingsley Publishers for their invaluable support in the preparation of these dic- tionaries, and to my wife for putting up with my behaviour whilst writing them. Dr Ian Stuart-Hamilton, Principal Lecturer in Psychology, Worcester College of Higher Education 1996 9 Introduction to the Second Edition Ten years have passed since the first edition of this dictionary appeared (though in the interim there has been a revised edition). For the new edition I have taken the opportunity to revise some of the existing definitions and add new ones. In total, about 10 per cent of the book is new. As with the previous edition, I have intentionally only given the briefest of descriptions of tests. To quote from the introduction to the revised edition: if people want to know lots of details of tests, then they are welcome to consult the Mental Measurements Yearbooks – that is their purpose. However, if people want to understand the terms used in books such as the MMYs, then they may well need a dictionary such as this one – that is its purpose. The intention of this book has always been to provide a reader stuck on a techni- cal phrase in a book or journal paper with just enough information to allow them to carry on with their reading. No dictionary (unless it offers several paragraphs of information on each entry, in which case it’s no longer a dictionary of course) can realistically hope to do more. For many readers (e.g. professionals and students from outside psychology) this may in any case be all they require or need to know.I have only tended to provide lengthier definitions when some technical background information is required to make any sense at all of the term in question. I have also intentionally restricted the number of entries on types of test in use. As noted in the introduction to the first edition, some 20,000 new tests are created each year, and there is no realistic chance of covering all of them in a compact space. All I can say is that I hope I have covered the frequently used tests. In a similar vein, I have attempted to place pragmatic limits on entries on other topics. Thus, statistical terms used in typical university syllabuses are included, as are tests commonly available in computer packages and cited in psy- chology journals and similar publications. Measures rarely used in psychological research have tended to get rather shorter shrift. The same applies to therapies. As usual, I shall be delighted to hear from readers. I must however offer an apology to several people who were kind enough to write in with suggestions for new definitions and amendments after the first edition was published. I faithfully kept a copy of this correspondence with the intention of incorporating it into the 11 12 / DICTIONARY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING, ASSESSMENT AND TREATMENT next edition.