Page 291 - DEDU502_GUIDANCE_AND_COUNSELING_ENGLISH

Unit 26: Testing and Non-Testing Techniques: Psychological Tests

• Assisting in diagnosis counselors can make use of achievement test data to diagnose problems Notes
faced by the students in different subject areas. Accordingly corrective remediation can be
planned and carried out.
• Attitudes are expressions of how much we like or dislike various things. We tend to approach
and seek out to be associated with things we like, we avoid, shun or reject things we do not
like. Attitude represent our evaluations and performance towards a wide variety of objects,
events, persons, and situations.
• Attitudes need to be tested because our social life depends on some desirable attitudes. The
success in certain vocations also depends on some attitudes. Attitudes can be tested through
various techniques.
• The method of ‘equal - appearing intervals’ was originally developed by Thurstone and Chave.
The attitude score of an individual obtained by this method has an absolute interpretation in
terms of the psychological continuum of scale value of the statements making up the scale.
• Attitude scales are used to measure the degree of positive or negative feeling associated with
any slogan, person, institution, religion, political party etc. Attitude scales are also used in
public-opinion surveys in order to make some important and crucial decisions.
• The term “Personality” however, signifies much more than simply the physical looks of a
person and has a very broad meaning. It includes the emotional, motivational, inter-personal,
attitudinal and even moral aspects of a person. some researchers have included intelligence
also as part of personality. Personality refers to a unique combination of characteristics of an
individual, which pre-disposes the person to behave in a particular and consistent way.
Personality testing is necessary to achieve the following purposes.
• lt helps the students in proper educational and vocational choice. Personality plays an important
role in an individual, personal, educational and vocational adjustment and success.
• The term “Personality” however, signifies much more than simply the physical looks of a
person and has a very broad meaning. It includes the emotional, motivational, inter-personal,
attitudinal and even moral aspects of a person. some researchers have included intelligence
also as part of personality. Personality refers to a unique combination of characteristics of an
individual, which pre-disposes the person to behave in a particular and consistent way.
Personality testing is necessary to achieve the following purposes.
• It helps the individual in resolving emotional conflicts. Personality diagnosis becomes essential
when the difficulty the individual encounters in making proper adjustment with the educational
and occupational choices.
• An autobiography is an introspective report of one’s own experiences. The psychological tests,
it is often pointed out, cannot provide adequate information, for observations could be
introduced artificially within the test situation.
• The recorded observations usually made by teachers are called anecdotal records. This technique
assists in the understanding of each student better.
• According to Prescott (1957), the characteristics of a good anecdote are :
1. It gives the date, place, and situation in which the action occurred. This is called the setting.
2. It describes the actions of the individual (pupil/child), the reactions of the other people
involved and the responses of the former to these reactions.
3. It quotes what is said to the individual and by the individual during the action.
• Cumulative records provide an organized, progressive record of information regarding the
student which distinguishes him from all other individuals.
• Sensitive information concerning extreme behaviour likely to be harmful if made public, should
be carefully dealt with and kept in the counsellor’s confidential file.

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