Psychological Testing and Assessment: An Introduction To Tests and Measurement, 5/e
| Acculturation | The process by which an individual's thoughts, behaviors, values, identity, and worldview develop in relation to the general thinking, behavior, customs, and values of a particular cultural group, 358-361
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| Acquiescence | A test response style characterized by agreement with whatever is presented, 334
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| Criterion | The standard against which a test or a test score is evaluated; this standard may take many forms, including a specific behavior or set of behaviors, 160-161, 347
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| Criterion group | A reference group of testtakers who share characteristics and whose responses to test items serve as a standard by which items will be included or discarded from the final version of a scale; the shared characteristic of the criterion group will vary as a function of the nature and scope of the test being developed, 347-348.
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| Empirical criterion keying | The process of using criterion groups to develop test items, wherein the scoring or keying of items has been demonstrated empirically to differentiate among groups of testtakers, 347-348.
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| Error of central tendency | Less than accurate rating or evaluation by a rater or judge due to that rater's general tendency to make ratings at or near the midpoint of the scale; contrast with generosity error and severity error, 182, 331
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| Forced-choice format | A type of item sometimes used in personality tests wherein each of two or more choices has been predetermined to be equal in social desirability, 338
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| Frame of reference | In the context of item format, aspects of the focus of the item such as the time frame (past, present, or future), 338-340
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| Generosity error | Less than accurate rating or evaluation by a rater due to that rater's general tendency to be lenient or insufficiently critical; also referred to as leniency error; contrast with severity error, 181-182, 331
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| Halo effect | A type of rating error wherein the rater views the object of the rating with extreme favor and tends to bestow ratings inflated in a positive direction; a set of circumstances resulting in a rater's tendency to be positively disposed and insufficiently critical, 182, 331
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| Identification | (1) A process by which an individual assumes a pattern of behavior that is characteristic of other people; (2) thoughts, feelings, or behavior on the part of one person that resonates in some familiar way with the experiences of another person, 360
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| Identity | A set of cognitive and behavioral characteristics by which individuals define themselves as members of a particular group; one's sense of self, 360
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| Idiographic approach | An approach to assessment characterized by efforts to learn about each individual's unique constellation of personality traits, with no attempt to characterize each person according to any particular set of traits; contrast with nomothetic, 340-341
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| Impression management | Attempting to manipulate others' opinions and impressions through the selective exposure of some information, including false information, usually coupled with the suppression of other information; in responding to self-report measures of personality, psychopathology, or achievement, impression management may be synonymous with attempts to "fake good" or "fake bad," 334
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| Instrumental values | Guiding principles in the attainment of some objective; for example, honesty and ambition, 360
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| Ipsative scoring | An approach to test scoring and interpretation wherein the testtaker's responses and the presumed strength of a measured trait are interpreted relative to the measured strength of other traits for that testtaker; contrast with class scoring and cumulative scoring, 201-202, 341
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| Locus of control | One's perception of the source of things that happen to one, 335
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| Nomothetic approach | An approach to assessment characterized by efforts to learn how a limited number of personality traits can be applied to all people; contrast with idiographic approach, 340-341
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| Personality | An individual's unique constellation of psychological traits and states, including as-pects of values, interests, attitudes, worldview, acculturation, sense of personal identity, sense of humor, cognitive and behavioral styles, and related characteristics, 323-328
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| Personality assessment | The measurement and evaluation of psychological traits, states, values, interests, attitudes, worldview, acculturation, personal identity, sense of humor, cognitive and behavioral styles, and/or related individual characteristics, 324, 328-363
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| Profile | A narrative description, graph, table, or other representation of the extent to which a person has demonstrated certain targeted characteristics as a result of the administration or application of tools of assessment; also a verb, to profile, 327
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| Q-sort technique | An assessment technique in which the task is to sort a group of statements, usually in perceived rank order ranging from "most descriptive" to "least descriptive"; the statements, traditionally presented on index cards, may be sorted in ways that reflect various perceptions, such as how respondents see themselves or would like to see themselves, 339-340
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| Response style | A tendency to respond to a test item or interview question in some characteristic manner regardless of content; for example, an acquiescent response style (a tendency to agree) and a socially desirable response style (a tendency to present oneself in a favorable or socially desirable way), 334-335
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| Self-concept | One's attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and related thoughts about oneself, 329-330
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| Self-concept measure | An instrument designed to yield information about how an individual sees him- or herself with regard to selected psychological variables, the data from which are usually interpreted in the context of how others may see themselves on the same or similar variables, 329
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| Self-report | The process wherein an assessee supplies information about him- or herself in forms such as responding to questions, keeping a diary, or reporting on self-monitored thoughts and/or behaviors, 329
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| Semantic differential technique | An item format characterized by bi-polar adjectives separated by a 7-point rating scale on which respondents select one point to indicate their response, 338, 539
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| Severity error | Less than accurate rating or error in evaluation due to the rater's tendency to be overly critical; contrast with generosity error, 182, 331
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| Stress interview | An interview purposely designed to pressure or stress the interviewee in order to gauge reaction to that stress, 412
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| Terminal values | Guiding principles and a mode of behavior that are an end-point objective; for example, "a comfortable life" and "an exciting life"; contrast with instrumental values, 360
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| Trait | Any distinguishable, relatively enduring way in which one individual varies from another; contrast with state, 13-14
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| Type | As in personality type, a constellation of traits and states similar in pattern to one identified category of personality within a taxonomy of personalities, 326-328
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| Type A personality | In Friedman and Rosenman's typology, a personality characterized by competitiveness, haste, restlessness, impatience, feelings of being time-pressured, and strong needs for achievement and dominance, 327.
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| Type B personality | In Friedman and Rosenman's typology, a personality characterized by traits that are opposite of the Type A personality; "mellow" and "laid-back," 327.
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| Values | That which an individual prizes; ideals believed in, 360
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| Welsh code | A shorthand summary of a testtaker's scores on the MMPI clinical and validity scales, 353
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| Worldview | The unique way people interpret and make sense of their perceptions in light of their learning experiences, cultural background, and related variables, 360
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education