In my article "Understanding the Creation of Tests and Assessments,” I discussed how fiction writers need at least a basic understanding of psychological testing and assessment if they are writing about characters with mental illness. This is a particularly important area for many writers as more and more writers are writing about mental illness or creating characters that have a form of mental illness. Understanding the basics behind how psychological tests and assessments are created allows a writer to realistically create their own fictional tests and assessments for their characters. However, not all writers wish to create their own fictional psychological tests or assessments but instead would rather use tests that already exist.

Psychological testing can be used for a wider range of purposes like job screening, job placement, diagnosing psychological disorders, verifying health insurance coverage, conducting focus groups, and measuring personality characteristics (Aiken & Groth-Marnat, 2006; Fisher, 2009). Professional organizations typically make use of psychological assessments for job screening, promotion decisions, and team organizations. The main tests that these organizations rely upon for these decisions are:

•        personality tests like the Myers Briggs test (MBTI);

•        Occupational Interest Inventories (OIIs) like the Holland Code Career Test;

•        DISC behavior inventory;

•        Situational Judgment Tests (STJs) (Owens, 2018).

Employers gain an understanding of an individual’s personality, behavior, work behavior style, and the way that they would react in certain situations from these tests. While such tests can be helpful to employers, if the tests are not handled properly, abuses can occur. Psychologists make use of psychological assessments and tests to help assess patients, diagnose conditions, offer advice, and to assist in the creation of treatment plans.  Schools and educational institutions often make use of psychological assessments as a part of their curriculum, during inclusion activities, and as a part of guidance counseling. Individuals can also make use of some psychological assessments themselves as certain psychological assessments like personality tests can be taken online without the assistance of anyone else.

In order to ensure that the tests are not abused, it is important that all testing is handled by a qualified psychologist who is well informed on the chosen psychological assessments and the cultures of the people being tested. It is important that the psychologist knows both as a different test may be needed for individuals from different cultures. The psychologist may need to have certain individuals take a different culture-specific test in order to ensure that the test is a fair measurement for each test taker (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2018). A culture-specific test is an assessment that is designed for a population of one culture, but not for populations of other cultures (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2018).

Some well-known psychological assessments are the: IPIP-NEO, Situational Judgment test (STJs),WAIS-IV, MMPI-2, and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).

 References

Aiken, L. R., & Groth-Marnat, G. (2006). Psychological testing and assessment (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Fisher, C. B. (2009). Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Owens, M. (2018). Personality in the workplace: why it’s important & 5 tests to measure it. Retrieved from https://tech.co/news/personality-workplace-important-5-tests-measure-2015-07