PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 9: Heredity, Cultural Bias, Twin

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Doug Mc Cann

Document Summary

Psychological tests are standardized measures of behaviour usually mental abilities or aspects of personality. Standardization refers to the uniform procedures used in the administration and scoring of a test. Test scores are interpreted by consulting test norms to find out what represents a high or low score. As measuring devices, psychological tests should produce consistent results, a quality called reliability. Test-retest reliability is estimated by comparing subjects" scores on two administrations of a test. Reliability estimates should yield fairly high positive correlations. Validity refers to the degree to which there is evidence that a test measures what it was designed to measure. Criterion-related validity is critical when tests are used to predict performance. Construct validity is critical when a test is designed to measure a hypothetical construct. The first crude efforts to device intelligence test were made by sir francis galton, who wanted to show that intelligence is inherited.