psychological test

a test of an individual's level of achievement or aptitude. There are two main types of test:

achievement test: this tests an individual's acquired knowledge and skills, for example a driving test;
aptitude test: this tests fundamental abilities or aptitudes, such as mental ability (for example, an intelligence test) or perceptual abilities.

Whereas (a) is used to determine what skills an individual already possesses, the purpose of (b) is to discover his or her capacity to acquire new skills in future. Tests of both types are often utilized in RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION. Achievement tests can be used to verify information that a candidate has submitted in his application, and aptitude tests can be used to gauge how individuals will respond to new challenges and hence to provide a degree of prediction of future work performance. See PERSONALITY INVENTORY.

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References in periodicals archive

The court added, without deciding the issue, that the administration by public officers of a "particularly intrusive, and gratuitously humiliating, psychological test" might constitute a deprivation of liberty without due process of law in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.

Requiring an employee to undergo a psychological test as a condition of employment does not violate the fourth amendment because such tests do not constitute a "search"

Another area of legality that applies to such evaluations or testing, as well as to other aspects of the selection process, involves "business necessity." From both a legal and an enlightened self-interest perspective, only valid psychological tests should be used.

Using personality assessment instruments

A psychological test would be considered a medical exam under some circumstances.

Preemployment screening: no more test stress

They hold: "Even if psychological test results become public documents, this does not grant permission for anybody to use it for any purpose other than its original intent."

Psychologists' group slams 'misuse' of psych test in Sereno impeachment

For instance, good psychological practice always dictates that psychologists (not their clerical surrogates) communicate psychological test results to examinees.

True lies: the dishonesty of honesty tests

SEVERAL YEARS AFTER the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), companies remain confused over its impact on the use of integrity tests or psychological tests in general.

Psychological testing in ADA's wake

I use the word 'ratting' because, in my view, psychological test results are not to be disclosed in public, more so if these are more than five years old and Sereno got past the scrutiny of the Judicial and Bar Council.

Psychologist ratting on a person of interest

An America West Airlines pilot is undergoing a 72-hour psychological test after engaging in unruly behaviour on board an America West Airlines flight from Phoenix to Austin, Texas.

America West Airlines pilot involved in air rage incident

Adams recruited 64 straight white male college students, rated their level of homophobia according to a standard psychological test, and divided the men into two groups: those who were homophobic and those who were not.

The enemy within

To keep the recruitment process transparent, written test and psychological test were outsourced to NTS.

NAB selects Assistant Directors, Deputy Directors

This update of the 2006 and 2000 editions reflects current thinking on psychological test validity as a unitary concept that includes the appropriateness of inferences made from tests, as well as whether tests measure what they purport to measure.

Foundations of psychological testing; a practical approach, 3d ed