Psychological Assessment v. Testing

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Recommended: Importance of psychological assessment

Psychological assessment is an important part of the counselling process. Quite often psychological assessment is confused with psychological testing, even though they are different. According to Cohen & Swerdlik (2009), psychological testing is: “the process of measuring psychology-related variables by means of devices or procedures designed to obtain a sample of behavior” (p. 14). Cohen & Swerdlik (2009) also define psychological assessment as: “the gathering and integration of psychology-related data for the purpose of making a psychological evaluation that is accomplished through the use of tools such as tests, interviews, case studies, behavioral observation, and specially designed apparatuses and measurement procedures” (p. 14).

The procedure of Psychological assessment encompasses psychological testing. Instead of relying on the results of one particular test, it incorporates data collected from other sources like interviews, present complaints, information from significant others, behavioural observations, and historical data. The psychological testing is mere administration, scoring, and interpretation of a particular test score (usually numeric) that gives us an idea of an attribute or characteristic; whereas psychological assessment is a logical problem-solving process, that can be therapeutic for the client and help them realize their potentials and achieve their goals (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2009; Hood & Johnson, 2007). The process of psychological assessment is more individualized, however psychological test involves an individual or a group administration (Cohen & Swerdlik, 2009). The process of psychological assessment is a complex procedure as compare to psychological testing (Weiner, 2003) that according to M...

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...rk, NY: Springer.

Hood, A. B., & Johnson, R. W. (2007). Use of assessment procedures in counseling. In Assessment in counselling: A guide to the use of psychological assessment procedures. (4th ed.). (pp. 3-11). Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association.

Meyer, G. (2000). Incremental validity of the Rorschach Prognostic Rating Scale over the MMPI Ego Strength Scale and IQ. Journal of Personality Assessment, 74(3), 356-370.

Meyer, G. J., Finn, S. E., Eyde, L. D., Kay, G. G., Moreland, K. L., Dies, R. R., . . . Read, G. M. (2001). Psychological testing and psychological assessment: A review of evidence and issues. American psychologist, 56(2), 128-165. doi:10.1037//OOO3-O66X.56.2.128

Weiner, I. B. (2003). Education and training in psychological assessment. In I. B. Weiner (Ed.), Handbook of psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 182-205). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

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