COGNITIVE AND PERSONALITY TESTS

NOTE FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS: see at the end of the textbook section.

Objectives of the course

- Historic developments of psychological tests and their methodological background.

- Discrimination among different test typologies and aims of use.

- Possible technical errors in the application and interpretation of the tests, incorrect use of the results.

- Quantitative and qualitative levels in psychometric approach.

- Criteria for choosing the cognitive and personality tests and correct use of them.

- Scoring and interpretation of the most used psychodiagnostic instruments.

Lessons, laboratories.

The course of cognitive and personality tests presupposes the knowledge of the fundamentals of psychometrics, and of general and developmental psychology, acquired in the three-year degree. In particular, the references to reliability and validity and to the other psychometric characteristics and the classification of cognitive tests have already been objects of the diagnostic course of the three-year degree (or equivalent for those coming from other courses or for foreign students) and will be considered pre-requisites to be deepened in this course of master degree.

For Erasmus students, it should be noted that the tests in Italian versions and standardizations will be presented and studied, and this could be of little utility for those who will have to use them in other countries.

• Definition, characteristics, and history of psychological testing.
• Reliability and validity, standardization of tests.
• Test of level and development of intelligence.
• Psychometric and criterion tests.
• Differences between tests and questionnaires.
• Traits and dynamics in the evaluation of personality.
• Clinical use of psychometric instruments.
• Projective tests.
• Inventories
• Tests for the assessment in work and organizations.

1. DI NUOVO S. Misurare la mente. I test cognitivi e di personalità, Laterza, Bari-Roma (pages: 176). Second Edition.

2. GRANIERI A. (a cura di) I test di personalità, Utet, Torino (chapters 4-7, pages: 180). Second Edition.

The laboratory will deepen and exemplify the use of the WAIS test (pp. 172-173 of the new edition of the book printed by Laterza) and the Rorschach (pp. 131-189 from the book edited by Granieri).

For potential Erasmus students:
The applicative aspects of this course deal with tests that are standardized and mainly used in Italy. This part of the program, and the associated exam, may be of less interest to aspiring psychologists who will use the tests in their country. Anyway, the pages about the specific tests, retrieved in Wikipedia or similar in other languages different from Italian, can INTEGRATE not SUBSTITUTE the textbooks.