Psychological Testing Paper
Brandy N. Dean
University of Phoenix

Introduction: Testing in the World of Psychology
Within the boundaries of modern psychology the term test has many different meanings to all the different disciplines. Across the many subspecialties, testing methods vary due to the circumstances or said patient’s mental health records. To truly explore the depth and meaning of psychological testing there is a veritable plethora of items in need of exploring. The following study will focus on the definition of testing with context pertaining specifically to the science of studying the inner workings of the human mind.
Defining Test: Psychological Focus
At its root the definition of the word test has a simple explanation. As defined by Merriam-Webster, within the context required, a test is a series of questions or exercises for measuring the skill, knowledge, intelligence, capacities, or aptitudes of an individual or group (Merriam-Webster, 2014). Within the bounds of psychology though, the definition becomes exponentially more complex. Psychology uses a plethora of different tests designed to elicit a variety of results.
Defining testing in the aforementioned field is a bit more difficult than the traditional meaning of the word. Psychological tests are used to diagnose some of the most elusive disorders in the medical field. To make understanding these psychological tests easier, they have been broken down into separate categories for the sake of simplification. The following is a bulleted list of said categories in no particular order (Black, 2006). * Mental Ability Tests * Achievement Tests * Personality Tests * Interest and Attribute Tests * Neuropsychological Tests
Categorizing these many different tests can be difficult, considering the sheer amount of tests that are available in the field of psychology (Black,