- There is some support for the incremental
validity of the Sentence Completion Test.
Finally, it should be noted that a given assess-
ment instrument must demonstrate incremental
validity over other, more economical measures
(e.g., short self-report inventories) to justify its use
(Yates & Taub, 2003). Otherwise, the extra effort
for the same information wastes the clinician’s and
the patient’s time.
The Use and Abuse of Testing
We have long been a test-oriented society.
Whether the question concerns personnel selection,
intellectual assessment, or measuring the“real me,”
many people turn to tests. Some consult the Inter-
net for these tests and others consult skilled clini-
cians, but the abiding curiosity and the inflated set
of expectations about tests seem constant. And
quite often, such high expectations lead to abuse.
Testing is big business. Psychological, educational,
and personnel corporations sell many thousands of tests
each year. So many of our lives are touched in so many
ways by assessment procedures that we have become
accustomed to them and hardly notice them. Admis-
sion to college, employment, discharge from military
service, imprisonment, adoption, therapeutic plan-
ning, computer dating, and special classes all may
depend on test performance. Any enterprise that
becomes so large and affects such large numbers of
people invites careful scrutiny.
Protections. The American Psychological Asso-
ciation’s (2002) ethical standards require that psy-
chologists use only techniques or procedures that
lie within their competence. These ethical stan-
dards, the growth of state certification and licensing
boards, and the certification of professional
competence offered by the American Board of
Professional Psychology all combine to increase
the probability that the public’s interests will be
protected.
In addition, the purchase of testing materials is
generally restricted by the publisher to individuals
or institutions that can demonstrate their compe-
tence in administering, scoring, and interpreting
tests. In effect, then, the sale of tests is not open
but is dependent on the user’s qualifications. How-
ever, neither professional guidelines nor publishers’
restrictions are totally successful. Tests still some-
times find their way into the hands of unscrupulous
individuals. Ethical standards are not always suffi-
cient either. The marketers for each test bear
some responsibility as well. Normative data and
instructions for administration and scoring should
he included in every test manual. All in all, enough
data should be included to enable the user to eval-
uate the reliability and validity of the test.The Question of Privacy. Most people assume
that they have the right to reveal as little or as
much as they like about their attitudes, feelings,
fears, or aspirations. Of course, with subtle or indi-
rect assessment procedures, an examinee cannot
always judge with complete certainty whether a
given response is desirable. But whatever the nature
of a test, the individual has the right to a full expla-
nation of its purposes and of the use to which the
results will be put.
The examinee must be given only tests relevant
to the purposes of the evaluation. If an MMPI-2 is
included in a personnel-selection battery, it is the
psychologist’s responsibility to explain and docu-
ment the relevance of the test (Camara & Merenda,
2000). Informed consent to the entire assessment
process should be obtained, and individuals should
be fully informed of their options. This applies even
to those who have initiated the contact (as by vol-
untarily seeking clinical services).The Question of Confidentiality. Issues of trust
and confidentiality loom large in our society. The
proliferation of computer processing facilities and
huge electronic data banks makes it very easy for
one government agency to gain access to personal
records that are in the files of another agency or a
company. Credit card agencies, the FBI, the CIA,
the IRS, and other organizations create a climate in
which no one’s records or past seems to be confi-
dential or inviolable. Although information revealedPERSONALITY ASSESSMENT 247