Measurement of personal characteristics and mental health
The psychological test, also known as a psychological test, is an experimental type instrument used to measure or evaluate a specific psychological characteristic, mental health or those essential and general traits that mark and distinguish a person's personality.
These types of tests can and are usually applied in different contexts and with the most diverse purposes: by a company that is looking for specific personnel to fill a vacant position, to determine someone's vocational orientation, adaptation needs of children at school, among others.
The importance of being carried out by qualified professionals
Meanwhile, these tests must be carried out by specialized professionals, that is, psychologists, psychopedagogues, people who have studies in the field will be able to specify them since they have the necessary knowledge to do so. In any case, we must emphasize that on some occasions they are carried out by people who do not have this knowledge, so the results obtained must be considered with the reservations of the case.
Psychology professionals have in their favor the provision of knowledge of the typical conflicts, traumas and the ways of reacting that people have to certain events, therefore, in the requisition of the test they can be used to identify, rule out disorders of personality, for example.
Now, it is important that we emphasize that the professionals who carry out the tests, as well as the requisition, are as less intrusive as possible so that this does not affect the comfort of the patient or the person who is subjected to the test.
How are the tests carried out?
The individual behavior that the test reagents provoke will be evaluated by comparing them, either statistically or qualitatively with that of other individuals who are subjected to the same test, being able to arrive through this experimental method to a certain classification of the subject or subjects in question. And likewise, that specific behavior observed by the individual when faced with a certain reagent must represent as faithfully as possible the functioning that that subject would have in certain everyday situations in which the capacity that is being evaluated is put into real execution.
Types of psychological tests
There are two types of psychological tests, Psychometric and Projective.
The former measure and assign a value to a certain quality or psychological process, such as intelligence, memory, attention, cognitive performance and verbal comprehension, among others. They are aimed at evaluation and selection activities, such would be the case of job interviews. Almost always, when one applies for a job, in addition to being evaluated in terms of experience and knowledge, they will be subjected to a psychological test to determine if they meet the psychological characteristics that the position in question demands. Many companies make use of these tests to guarantee the hiring of personnel who are normal in psychic matters and to avoid future surprises of course by hiring people who have a psychological problem.
Also, psychometric tests are used at the request of clinical diagnosis. Their organization, understanding, administration, interpretation and even correction are usually standardized and objective.
And the Projective Tests, on the other hand, are registered within what is known as the dynamic current of Psychology. They start from a less structured hypothesis than the previous ones and that will test the individuality of each individual's response in order to infer their personality traits. This type of test is usually more used in clinical, forensic and children's settings.
Traditionally and also to avoid falling into serious errors due to lack of professionalism, it is that conducting psychological tests is mostly reserved for psychologists, although, as we have already pointed out lines above, in some legislations they allow them to be carried out by professionals not received in Psychology but with the due training of a psychologist before carrying them out or leaving them the tasks of interpreting and correcting them. .
Now, we must emphasize that psychological tests, although they are a very important and fundamental resource in the contexts mentioned above, because as we said they allow an intimate knowledge of the people evaluated, they are not entirely sufficient to explain very intimate aspects, for example.
