What is Psychological Assessment
Psychological assessment is a type of test performed by mental health professionals, such as psychologists, to learn both general and specific facts about another person. It involves using the different tools and technique of psychology to assess personality and behavior of one person. Through the integration of data and evaluation of results on psychometric grounds, psychological assessment is able to redefine and solve personality and behavioral problems.
Psychological assessment is composed of several parts, which help identify or classify a person according to the type of people he belongs to. These are the following:
Interview
The interview conducted in a psychological assessment is composed of three different aspects. These include the verbal interview, para-verbal interview, and situational interview. These interviews typically play an important role for both clinical and research purposes.
A formal clinical interview is often conducted with the subject before a psychological assessment starts. This can last from 30 to 60 minutes depending on the psychologist’s goal. During the interview, the psychologist may ask questions about the subject’s personal background, childhood history, and recent life experiences including work, as well as school events, and family background. Through this, the psychologist is able to gather relevant information that determines the moral development and ego state of the subject.
Behavioral Observation
Behavioral observation is an important part of psychological testing that helps gather valuable assessment information. Especially when the subject is a child, it helps psychologist know how the child behaves in different instances through the non-verbal responses during the interview. It also helps professional picture out how a child reacts to some experience at home and school.
Testing
There are 7 different types of testing done in a psychological assessment. These may be administered by four different types of parties, such as the test developer (a company, or school), test user (clinician, personnel official), test taker (client), and test utilizer (organizations). Testing helps to psychologically dissect a person and summarize significant data, to arrive in a reasonable result.
Testing in psychological assessment is composed of 7 different types, which include the following:
1. Group educational tests such as the California Achievement Test
2. Ability and preference tests such as the Myers-Briggs
3. LD and neuropsychology tests such as the Halstead Reitan Battery
4. Individual intelligence tests such as the WAIS and WISC
5. Readiness tests such as the Metropolitan Readiness Tests
6. Objective personality tests such as the MMPI2 or PAI
7. Self-administered, scored, and interpreted tests, such as data base user qualification tests
