Assessment is more than testing
Psychological testing (e.g., an intelligence test, personality test,
or mental health test) occurs as part of the process of
psychological assessment. Professional psychological assessment
usually also
includes:
- interview
- demographic information
- medical information
- personal history
- observations by others
Thus, the results of a psychological test are rarely used on their
own. The following definitions should help to clarify the difference
between assessment and testing in psychology.
Definition of Psychological
Testing
"An objective and standardized measure of a sample of behaviour"(Anastasi,
1990)
Definition of
Psychological Assessment
"An extremely complex process of solving problems (answering questions)
in which psychological tests are often used as one of the methods of
collecting relevant data" (Maloney & Ward,
1976)
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