Psychology Test - 1

The correct answer is Assessment.

Key Points

• Assessment is the first step in understanding a psychological attribute.
• Psychological assessment uses systematic testing procedures to evaluate abilities, behaviours, and personal qualities of individuals.
• Assessment refers to the measurement of psychological attributes of individuals and their evaluation, often using multiple methods in terms of certain standards of comparison.
• Any attribute will be said to exist in a person only if it can be measured by using scientific procedures. 

The correct answer is Individual differences.

Key Points

• For psychologists, individual differences refer to distinctiveness and variations among people’s characteristics and behaviour patterns.
• While many psychologists believe that our behaviours are influenced by our personal traits, some others hold the view that our behaviours are influenced more by situational factors.
• Variability is a fact of nature, and individuals are no exception to this.
• They vary in terms of physical characteristics, such as height, weight, strength, hair colour, and so on.
• They also vary along psychological dimensions. They may be intelligent or dull, dominant or submissive, creative or not so creative, outgoing or withdrawn,

The correct answer is ​Observation.

Key Points

• Psychological attributes are not linear or unidimensional.
• They are complex and expressed in terms of dimensions. 
• They are usually multi-dimensional.
• If you want to have a complete assessment of a person, you will need to assess how s/he functions in various domains or areas, such as cognitive, emotional, social, etc. 

These attributes are categorised on the basis of varieties of tests used in psychological literature

1. Intelligence is the global capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use available resources effectively when faced with challenges
2. Aptitude refers to an individual’s underlying potential for acquiring skills.
3. Interest is an individual’s preference for engaging in one or more specific activities relative to others.
4. Personality refers to relatively enduring characteristics of a person that make her or him distinct from others.
5. Values are enduring beliefs about an ideal mode of behaviour. 

The correct answer is All of the above.

Key Points

• Several methods are used for psychological assessment. 
• Psychological Test is an objective and standardised measure of an individual’s mental and/or behavioural characteristics.
• Self-Report is a method in which a person provides factual information about herself/himself and/or opinions,
• Interview involves seeking information from a person on a one-to-one basis. 
• Case Study is an in-depth study of the individual in terms of her/his psychological attributes, and psychological history in the context of her/his psychosocial and physical environment.
• Observation involves employing systematic, organised, and objective procedures to record behavioural phenomena occurring naturally in real-time.

The correct answer is Interview.

Key Points

Assessment Methods:

Several methods are used for psychological assessment. 

• Psychological Test is an objective and standardised measure of an individual’s mental and/or behavioural characteristics.
• Self-Report is a method in which a person provides factual information about herself/himself and/or opinions,
• Interview involves seeking information from a person on a one-to-one basis. 
• Case Study is an in-depth study of the individual in terms of her/his psychological attributes, psychological history in the context of her/his psychosocial and physical environment.
• Observation involves employing systematic, organised, and objective procedures to record behavioural phenomena occurring naturally in real time.

The correct answer is ​Alfred Binet.

Key Points

• Alfred Binet was one of the first psychologists who worked on intelligence.
• He defined intelligence as the ability to judge well, understand well, and reason well.
• Wechsler, whose intelligence tests are most widely used, understood intelligence in terms of its functionality, i.e. its value for adaptation to environment.
• He defined it as the global and aggregate capacity of an individual to think rationally, act purposefully, and to deal effectively with her/his environment. 
• Other psychologists, such as Gardner and Sternberg have suggested that an intelligent individual not only adapts to the environment, but also actively modifies or shapes it

The correct answer is Psychometric approach.

Key Points

• Psychologists have proposed several theories of intelligence.
• Theories can be broadly classified as either representing a psychometric/structural approach or an information-processing approach.

The psychometric approach considers intelligence as an aggregate of abilities.

• It expresses the individual’s performance in terms of a single index of cognitive abilities.

Information processing approach describes the processes people use in intellectual reasoning and problem solving.

• The major focus of this approach is on how an intelligent person acts.
• Rather than focusing on structure of intelligence or its underlying dimensions, information processing approaches emphasise studying cognitive functions underlying intelligent behaviour. 

The correct answer is ​Charles Spearman.

Key Points

• In 1904, Charles Spearman proposed a two-factor theory of intelligence employing a statistical method called factor analysis.
• He showed that intelligence consisted of a general factor (g-factor) and some specific factors (s-factors).
• The g-factor includes mental operations which are primary and common to all performances.
• In addition to the g-factor, he said that there are also many specific abilities. These are contained in what he called the s-factor.
• Excellent singers, architects, scientists, and athletes may be high on g-factor, but in addition to this, they have specific abilities which allow them to excel in their respective domains

The correct answer is ​Arthur Jensen.

Key Points

• Arthur Jensen proposed a hierarchical model of intelligence consisting of abilities operating at two levels, called Level I and Level II.
• Level I is the associative learning in which output is more or less similar to the input (e.g., rote learning and memory).
• Level II, called cognitive competence, involves higher-order skills as they transform the input to produce an effective output

The correct answer is None of the above.

Key Points

• Howard Gardner proposed the theory of multiple intelligences.
• According to him, intelligence is not a single entity; rather distinct types of intelligences exist.
• Each of these intelligences are independent of each other.
• Gardner studied extremely talented persons, who had shown exceptional abilities in their respective areas, and described eight types of intelligence.

​These are as follows:

1. Linguistic  - an ability to produce and use language.
2. Spatial - an ability to form visual images and patterns.
3. Logical-Mathematical - an ability to think logically and critically, and solve problems.
4. Musical - an ability to produce and manipulate musical rhythms and patterns.
5. Bodily-kinesthetic - an ability to use whole or portions of the body flexibly and creatively.
6. Interpersonal - an ability to understand to subtle aspects of others’ behaviours.
7. Intrapersonal - an ability to understand of one’s own feelings, motives, and desires).
8. Naturalistic - an ability to identify the features of the natural world.