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Assessment of Pscyhological Attributes
PsychologyPersonality Psychology

Psychology is the scientific study of behavior, and to study behavior, different methods are used to measure different psychological attributes. Psychological assessment is a testing procedure that uses a variety of approaches to generate hypotheses about a person's behaviour, personality, and skills. Using such a diverse methodology helps psychologists to reach conclusions about one's overall behavior. Psychologists use such assessment for diverse psychiatric and non-psychiatric concerns in clinical, educational, organizational, forensic, and other settings.

What is Psychological Attributes?

Psychological attributes are the skill sets that defines the mental equilibrium of individuals associated with their social interactions, and other resultant properties, such as response time, thinking process, openness, conscientiousness, etc.

What is the Meaning of Assessment of Psychological Attributes?

Assessment is the way to measure and understand the psychological attributes. It measures the psychological attributes of individuals along with their evaluation. And, for this, usually, multiple methods are used. We can confirm the existence of an attribute only if it can be measured by scientific procedures. For example, "Rohan is impatient," it refers the degree of 'impatient' in Rohan and it is said the assessment of impatient in him.

In general, assessment is classified as:

  • Formal Assessment: This method is organized, objective, and standardized.

  • Informal Assessment: This method varies from case to case and from assessor to another, and hence, open to subjective interpretation.


The process of gathering assessment information begins with formulating the assessment's intended aims. A thorough understanding of why an assessment is being performed assists examiners in selecting tests and other sources of information that will offer a suitable foundation for reaching helpful findings and recommendations. Once the aim is determined, referral questions aid psychologists in selecting what types of assessment data to gather, what factors to address in reviewing these data, and what implications of their results to stress in their reports.

Principles of Assessment

Researchers have identified the following principles, on which an ideal assessment method is based upon:

  • Holistic Assessment: The holistic evaluation principle is based on a systematic approach to knowing the individual. This idea encompasses several data collecting methodologies. The psychologists normally consider three critical criteria to make the assessment process more methodical: what to evaluate, when to assess, and in what condition to assess.

  • Ongoing Assessment: The initial difficulties and current functioning of any individual can be compared through ongoing assessment. It notifies the psychologist of any new or urgent needs that may arise after the first evaluation. As a result, psychological assessments must consider the dynamic character of human behavior, which includes his or her needs, ambitions, talents, and many more.

  • Balanced Assessment: Assessment employs both normative and personalized data. When both types of data are integrated, they attempt to provide greater customer knowledge. The goal and the scenario determine the evaluation data required.

  • Accurate Assessment: The assessment method utilized must be accurate, and the psychologist must be capable of interpreting the results. He/she must keep the likelihood of errors in mind, as not all instruments are 100 percent accurate; thus, they must use standardized methods to reduce the errors.

  • Confidential Assessment: The assessed individual must be guaranteed the confidentiality of their personal information during the assessment process. Based on mutual trust and respect, Psychologists can establish a positive relationship with their clients.

Assessment Methods

There are various methods used in psychology to measure psychological attributes; significant of them are discussed below:


Observation: Observation is a method of studying someone’s behaviors through observation. It comprises of an individual's behavior under natural conditions by other individuals and then interpretation and analysis of the perceived behavior. In fact, we can assess other persons' mental processes through observing their external behavior, which is an indirect approach to studying the mental process. There are three types of observation methods are direct, participant and laboratory. In the direct method, the researcher studies people going about their daily lives without participating or interfering. This type of research is often unknown to that understudy and must be conducted in public settings where people do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. For example, a researcher might observe how strangers interact in public as they gather to watch a street performer. Participant observation is similar to direct observation; however, with this one, the researcher also participates in the action or events to observe others and collects first-hand experience in the setting. In a laboratory observation, the subject is called in a controlled environment and then researcher studies the behaviors of the subject. For example, a researcher might want to observe infants' reactions to a mirror image of themselves and record the reactions with a camera mounted behind a one-way mirror.

Self-report: People are asked to report their knowledge, attitudes, feelings, experiences, or behaviour in self-report surveys. There are several ways to collect this data, including through surveys or interviews. The capacity and willingness of people to answer truthfully is crucial for self-report accuracy. People that make an effort to present themselves favourably have social desirability effects, which are particularly significant.

Interviews: Researchers conduct interviews and ask set of pre-designed questions or random questions from the participants on one-on-one basis.

Psychological Test: Psychological test is the systematic use of tests to quantify psychophysical behavior, abilities, and problems and to make predictions about psychological performance of an individual. However, for this test, a trained evaluator is required to administer psychological tests.

Case Study: A case study is one of the most important non-experimental or descriptive research types. A case study refers to an in-depth study of one situation of the case, which may be a subject group or event. Usually, the case is a person, but a case study is a very different form of research from a different single N experiment that does not involve the manipulation of any independent variables. By studying a single case in great detail, the researcher typically hopes to discover principles of behavior that hold true for people or situations in general.

Conclusion

The psychological assessment measures different psychological attributes, such as intelligence, cognitive abilities, personality, and emotional states. It contains interviews, observations, case studies, self-reports, and psychological tests. The use of a specific method depends upon the need and requirement of the situation.

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