Psychological Assessment Essay

Psychological assessments have been used for many years. They are used to help measure students’ aptitude, to make career choices, to hire people, to measure personality, etc. They are used in many different professions. In therapy, assessments can help therapists gain more knowledge about a situation that a client may be dealing with. Also, therapists should understand that sometimes people may falsify their answers in order to make the therapist happy or to make themselves look better (Grieve, 2012). On the other hand, assessments can be useful in determining the appropriate methods to use for their clients. Assessments can help therapists measure the growth of their clients. This paper will discuss the importance of assessments, as well as the things counselors need to know and their history.

Historical antecedents of psychological testing

Psychological testing has been around since the late 1800s (Whiston, 2009, p.16). It has been used to measure many things. It has also been expanded to include many different types of tests. It is closely related to assessments; however, in assessments, the counselor is seeking to measure the quantity of a problem (Whiston, 2009, p.4). The use of assessments can give the therapist an overview of the client’s symptoms. There are many categories of assessments. One type of assessment is a standardized test. This type of test consists of instructions and ways to measure the information that do not change (Whiston, 2009, p14). There are also group and individual assessments. Another category of the test encompasses objectivity or subjectivity. With objective tests, the giver of the test does not have to make a judgment on how to score the assessments; on the other hand, the giver of the subject...

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...rking for a client and what is not working for a client. Assessments are good ways to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment.

What did I learn?

After reviewing the assigned readings, I learned that assessments are used all of the time. They are used in schools, with jobs and in therapy. They are helpful in seeing what is working for a person and what is not. I also learned that a person’s personality can affect whether they are honest on an assessment (Grieve, 2012). It is important to pay attention to the way a person responds to questions whether verbally or nonverbally. It is also important to understand how to utilize assessments so that they are beneficial for everyone involved. Furthermore, therapists should use assessments dealing with the theory they are using. It is also important to use the assessments to measure your effectiveness as a therapist.