CHAPTER 14
Assessment Psychology
IRVING B. WEINER
279ORIGINS OF ASSESSMENT PSYCHOLOGY 279
EVALUATING INTELLECTUAL ABILITY 280
The Binet Scales 280
Group-Administered Tests 281
The Wechsler Scales 281
The Kaufman Scales 282
Brief Methods 282
Frequency of Test Use 282
IDENTIFYING PERSONALITY CHARACTERISTICS
AND PSYCHOPATHOLOGY 283
Relatively Structured Tests 283
Relatively Unstructured Tests 286
Interview Methods 289
Behavioral Methods 291
MONITORING NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL
FUNCTIONING 292
Bender Gestalt 292
Neuropsychological Test Batteries 293
MEASURING ACHIEVEMENT, APTITUDES,
AND INTERESTS 294
Wide-Range Achievement Test 294
Strong Interest Inventory 295
Kuder Occupational Interest Survey 295
Holland Self-Directed Search 295
LOOKING AHEAD 296
REFERENCES 297In Act I, Scene ii ofJulius Caesar,Caesar observes one of his
colleagues from afar and says to Marc Antony, “Yon Cassius
has a lean and hungry look; He thinks too much: such men are
dangerous...seldom he smiles...such men as he never be
at heart’s ease whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
and therefore they are very dangerous.” In penning these
words, William Shakespeare captured the essence of psycho-
logical assessment, which consists of translating observations
of a person into inferences about the person’s nature and how
he or she is likely to behave in various situations. In more for-
mal terms, assessment psychology is the field of behavioral
science concerned with methods of identifying similarities
and differences among people in their personal character-
istics, functioning capacities, and action tendencies. Assess-
ment methods are accordingly designed to identify what
people are like and how they can be expected to conduct
themselves, specifically with respect to their disposition to
think, feel, and act in certain ways.
This chapter begins by identifying the origins of assessment
psychology and then traces the development of assessment
methods for serving four purposes: the evaluation of intellec-
tual ability; the identification of personality characteristics and
psychopathology; the monitoring of neuropsychological func-
tioning; and the measurement of aptitudes, achievement, and
interests. The chapter concludes with comments concerning
issues currently confronting assessment psychology and bear-
ing on its future prospects.ORIGINS OF ASSESSMENT PSYCHOLOGYOver time in recorded history and for diverse reasons, meth-
ods of assessment have been used to classify, select, diagnose,
advise, and plan services for people in all walks of life. Just as
Caesar used observation to classify Cassius as an overly
ideational and envious person not to be trusted, Gideon in a
Bible story from the Book of Judges chose his troops for bat-
tle by observing how they drank water from a stream. Those
soldiers who used one hand to bring water to their mouth
while keeping their other hand on their weapon were chosen
to fight; those who put down their weapon and used both
hands to drink were sent home.
Informal decision-making procedures of this kind define
the province of assessment psychology, but the transforma-
tion of such informal procedures into the standardized
methodology that constitutes contemporary assessment psy-
chology became possible only following a scientific prehis-
tory during which the fledgling discipline of psychology