University of Phoenix Material

Issues in Psychological Testing Worksheet

Using the text for this course, the University Library, the Internet, and/or other resources answer the following questions. Your response to each question should be at least 200 words in length.
1. What are at least two ethical issues associated with psychological testing? What impact do these issues have on the field of psychological testing? Psychological testing is used to measure or observe a client’s behaviors, thoughts, personality, and feelings. There is a numerous amount of reasons and ways tests can be conducted such as educational or clinical purposes. Since the beginning of psychological testing many ethical and legal issues have been risen (Hogan, 2007). One ethical issue associated with psychological testing is confidentiality. Results of tests need to be kept in a private manner and there can be a couple of instances where the results of a tests end up being revealed to other parties before the client knows the results or the client could never be informed. Minors can be a part of this confidentiality issue. APA has specific guidelines that are supposed to be followed but these guidelines can clash with the ethical and legal issues when dealing with minors or special needs individuals. Another ethical issue that can be associated with psychological testing is consent (Hogan, 2007) Consent must be obtained by the proper party before psychological tests can be conducted. Again, issues with minors and special needs individuals can come into play. The psychologist will need consent from the parent and guardians and sometimes the parent and minors consent will clash with one another. These issues can make testing more difficult and tedious to conduct (Hogan, 2007).

2. What are at least two legal issues associated with psychological testing? How do these issues