Effectiveness of Psychological Tests

There are dozens, maybe hundreds, of different psychological tests all designed to measure different aspects of a person's personality, mental aptitude, and psychological health, among other things. Knowing how to tell effective tests from those designed for entertainment can help you choose good ones, and uncover new details about yourself.

DSM-IV

• The American Psychological Association (APA) developed the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which lists symptoms and diagnostic tools for all mental-health issues recognized by the APA. They are currently on the fourth iteration of the book (hence DSM-IV), which is an indispensable tool for psychologists. The effectiveness of psychological tests contained in the DSM-IV is truly dependent on the expertise of the psychologist administering them, but they are incredibly reliable, and have been designed to provide very accurate results.

Aptitude Tests

• IQ tests are probably the most commonly used type of psychological test, and have been around for nearly a century. The first tests were actually scored by dividing your mental age by your physical age, providing an "intelligence quotient." Since then the equation for determining IQ has been refined to more accurately reflect an individual's mental aptitude. Other forms of aptitude test include job-placement batteries, tests for future job performance, and even, to some degree, the ACT/SAT.

Other Types

• Personality batteries are common psychological tests intended to identify common personality traits. These appear everywhere from Vogue magazine to the DSM-IV. They typically classify people as falling under common personality archetypes, such as Type-A (overachievers) or Outgoing. Psychological tests are also commonly used in research or in studies of people, oftentimes to identify patterns of behavior among cultures or groups of people. As with other types of psychological tests, the effectiveness of these is dependent upon the expertise of the people who designed them; magazine personality tests probably are not very accurate, while a true personality-type evaluation can help shed light on your habits and beliefs.

Validity and Reliability

• Two concepts that illustrate the effectiveness of different psychological tests are validity and reliability. Validity measures the extent to which a test measures what it is supposed to; for example, an IQ test does not need to ask you questions about food preferences. Reliability is the extent to which a test's results accurately reflect the individual; this means that if you take the test on separate occasions, you should still wind up with comparable results (you should not see an IQ of 140 on Monday and 90 on Tuesday). For a psychological test to be accurate and effective, it must display both of these characteristics.

Psychological-Test Issues

• As with any subjective test, psychological tests may not always be accurate in their assessment. Sometimes their validity is off and the results will not be as relevant as possible. Other times, the reliability may be questionable and your responses to similar questions will vary. In either case, remember that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders is designed to identify mental-health issues, while other tests (like personality batteries) do not necessarily reflect objective reality.