Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to:
Apply APA standards for psychological assessment to specific situations
Describe the philosophical and scientific basis for psychological assessment
Understand and apply concepts of reliability and validity to psychological assessment
Apply principles of population statistics (normal distributions, Bayes’ Theorem) to individual test scores
Describe theories of intelligence
Describe major tests of intelligence and educational achievement and their applications
Syllabus (NEW!!! - you may need to request permission again to view it)
September 10, 2012
Topics: Introduction and overview, diversity, ethics, and professional standards
Required Text: Kaplan & Saccuzzo: Chapter 1 Introduction, Chapter 21 Ethics and the Future of Testing
APA Ethics Code (pdf)
Required Readings:
Gallo, F. J., & Halgin, R. P. (2011). A guide for establishing a practice in police reemployment postoffer psychological evaluations. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42, 269-275. (pdf)
Seghal, R., Saules, K., Young, A., Grey, M. J., Gillem, A. R., Nabors, N. A., Byrd, M. R., & Jefferson, S. (2011). Practicing what we know: Multicultural counseling competence among clinical psychology trainees and experienced multicultural psychologists. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 1-10. (pdf)
Danztker, M. L. (2011). Psychological preemployment screening for police candidates: Seeking consistency if not standardization. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 42, 276-283. (pdf)
Big Five Inventory Information
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102-138). New York: Guilford. (pdf)
September 17, 2012
Topics: Statistics refresher
Required Text: Kaplan & Saccuzzo: Chapter 2 Norms and Basic Statistics
Required Readings:
Reynolds, C. R. (2010). Measurement and assessment: An editorial view. Psychological Assessment, 22, 1-4. (pdf)
Lecture Notes (in progress from last week)
Statistics Lecture Notes from this week
NOTE: You need SPSS to open the data set files.
BFI Empty Data Set
BFI Filled In Data Set
BFI Scoring Syntax
September 24, 2012
Homework assignment #1 discussed in class
Topics: Review of homework, statistics refresher
Required Text: Kaplan & Saccuzzo: Chapter 3 Correlation and Regression
Homework assignment #2 (correlation and regression)
Take-home practice exam for statistics (pdf) (key)
BFI Correlation and Regression Example Syntax
October 1, 2012
Homework assignment #1 due
Topics: Review of homework, regression, Bayes theorem, reliability
Lecture Notes
Revised Lecture Notes (posted 10/9/12 at 11:22 P.M.)
Required Text: Kaplan & Saccuzzo: Chapter 4 Reliability
Required Readings:
Wood, B. T., Worthington, E. K., Everett, L., Jr., Exine, J. J., Yali, A. M., Aten, J. D., & McMinn, M. R. (2010). Development, refinement, and psychometric properties of the Attitudes Toward God Scale (ATGS-9). Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 2, 148-167. (pdf)
October 8, 2012
Homework #2 due (key)
Lecture Notes (posted 10/9/12 at 11:25 P.M.)
Topics: Reliability, Validity, review for midterm (everything through the end of class tonight is fair game for the midterm)
Required Text: Kaplan & Saccuzzo: Chapter 5 Validity
Required Readings:
Merz, E. L., Malcarne, V. L., Roesch, S. C., Riley, N., & Sadler, G. R. (2011). A multigroup confirmatory factor analysis for the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 among English and Spanish-speaking Latinas. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 309-316. (pdf)
Shen, F. C., Wang, Y. W., & Swanson, J. L. (2011). Development and initial validation of the Internalization of Asian American Stereoptypes Scale. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 283-294. (pdf)
Balsam, K. F., Molina, Y., Beadnell, B., Simoni, J., & Walters, K. (2011). Measuring multiple minority stress. The LGBT People of Color Microaggressions Scale. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 163-174. (pdf)
Stucky, B. D., Gottfredson, N. C., Panter, A. C., Daye, C. E., Allen, W. R., & Wrightman, L. F. (2011). An item factor analysis and item response theory-based revision of the Everyday Discrimination Scale. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17, 175-185. (pdf)
October 15, 2012
Topics: Midterm Exam
October 22, 2012
Topics: Test Administration, Test Development
Notes from a course on Test Construction taught by Julian B. Rotter (abbreviated as JBR in this document) at the University of Connecticut. These notes were transcribed by Salvatore J. Catanzaro, Julian Rotter's last doctoral student, when he took the course and given to me when I needed to do some test construction while completing my master's degree with Catanzaro. A recent piece on Rotter may be found here. Incidentally, October 22nd is Rotter's birthday, and in 2012 he is 96.
Radiolab on measuring pain from insect bites link
Required Text:
Kaplan & Saccuzzo, Chapter 7 Test Administration, Chapter 8 Interviewing Techniques
Kaplan & Saccuzzo, Chapter 6 Writing and Evaluating Test Items
October 29, 2012
Topics: Test Development, Test Bias, Legal Issues in Psychological Testing
A recent example of taxometric information is presented in the Neuroskeptic blog, and refers to this interesting, recent paper by Carothers and Ries. More information on taxometrics may be found at Paul Meehl's website.
This American Life on how Oklahoma obtained free, preschool education for the majority of the state. (there are several stories here [all interesting -- to SOME people], but the preschool piece (about the Perry preschool project) which will be interesting to YOU starts at 35:04; you can also read about James Heckman, the Nobel laureate who has done economic analysis of preschool).
Talk of the Nation on Stereotype Threat, which includes an Interview with Claude Steele
Required Text: Kaplan & Saccuzzo, Chapter 19 Test Bias, Chapter 20 Testing and the Law
November 5, 2012
Topics: Intelligence: Conceptualization and Measurement
Required Text: Kaplan & Saccuzzo, Chapter 9 Theories of Intelligence and the Binet Scales
Required Readings:
Kanazawa, S. (2010). Evolutionary psychology and intelligence research. American Psychologist, 65, 279-289. (pdf)
Hagen, L. D., Drogin, E. Y., & Guilmette, T. J. (2010). Science rather than advocacy when reporting IQ scores. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 41, 420-423. (pdf)
Kunzel, N. R., & Sackett, P. R. (2007). Selective citation mars conclusion about test validity and predictive bias. American Psychologist, 62, 145-146. (pdf)
Vasquez, M. J. T., & Jones, J. M. (2007). Diversity is a compelling interest, and affirmative action is an important strategy for achieving it. American Psychologist, 62, 146-147. (pdf)
Report due, Final Exam Posted Here
Other relevant readings
Johnson, W., Carothers, A., & Deary, I. J. (2009). A role for the X chromosome in sex differences in variability in general intelligence? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4(6), 598-611. (pdf)
Nesse, R. J. (2005). Evolutionary psychology and mental health. (pp. 903-927). In D. Buss. The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. (pdf)
Clark, R. D., III & Hatfield, E. (1989), Gender differences in receptivity to sexual offers, Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality, 2, 39-55. (pdf)
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (1993). Sexual Strategies Theory: An evolutionary perspective on human mating. Psychological Review, 100, 204-232. (pdf)
November 12, 2012 (Final Exam Period -- Make Up Class for September 3)
Topics: Intellectual and Educational Achievement Tests
Required Text:Kaplan & Saccuzzo, Chapter 10: The Wechsler Intelligence Scales, Chapter 11 Other Individual Tests of Ability in Education and Special Education, Chapter 12 Standardized Tests in Education, Civil Service, and the Military
Required Readings:
Sackett, P. R., Borneman, M. J., & Connelly, B. S. (2008). High stakes testing in higher education and employment. American Psychologist, 63, 215-227. (pdf)
Take-Home Final Exams Due (HARD COPY, NOT ELECTRONIC)