ETHICAL & SOCIAL

IMPLICATION OF
PSYCHOMETRICES
AVANI K.K
 INTRODUCTION

ETHICAL STANDARDS IN TESTING

MAJOR ETHICAL ISSUES
• COMPETENCE OF PSYCHOLOGISTS
• INFORMED CONSENT
• KNOWLEDGE OF RESULT
• CONFIDENTIALITY

CONTENT
• TEST SECURITY
• DIVIDED LOYALITY
• INVASION OF PRIVACY
• LABELING
• DEHUMANIZATION

SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF
TESTING
 INTRODUCTION
Ethics refers to the correct rules of conduct necessary
when carrying out research . Test administrator have a
moral responsibility to protect participants who are
likely to involve in psychological tests. There are moral
issues relating to psychological testing, like competence
of psychologists, informed consent, knowledge of result ,
confidentiality …etc.
we are also going to discuss about the
social implications of the psychological tests.

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ETHICAL STANDARDS IN TESTING
• There are ethical standards in psychological testing due to the unique
involvement of observing and conducting research on human subjects .
when dealing with people and sensitive information.
• Ethical code of conduct is a set of rules that provide values and willingness
of participants to want to be involves in experiments.it also help the
researchers to be clear on what they going to do in tests and what they
plan to do with the results.
According to APA ,the rights of test taker are ,

• Be treated with courtesy ,respect ,regardless of age, ethinicity

,gender, national origin or other personal charectoristis.
• Receive a brief explanation prior to testing about the purposes
for testing , the type of test to used
• Individual freedom to decline ,and freedom to withdraw is
respected
• Test administration must be follow the professional code of
ethics

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The major ethical issues
❖Competence of psychologists
❖Informed consent
❖Knowledge of result
❖Confidentiality
❖Test security
❖Divided loyalties
❖Invasion of privacy
❖Labeling
❖Dehumanization

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COMPETENCE OF PSYCHOLOGISTS
The competence between all mental health professionals have to
maintain and the responsibility is shared by all of them.
• Monitor the limits of their competence in psychometric testing
• Ensure that they have undertaken the mandatory training and
they have specific knowledge and skills for each tests.
• Ensure they have follow the APA ethical code of conduct
• Maintain the awareness of current professional information in
their field or activity

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INFORMED CONSENT
Test administrator have to obtain proper informed consent from
participants before the tests , and also they have to explain
everything clearly to them.
• The participants consent has been appropriately documented
• The participant has been informed the details of test
construction and other information
• The participant has freely express consent without any
manipulation from test taker

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The three elements of informed consent
• The disclosure is that the client receives sufficient
information(e.g. about benefits , risks) to make a thoughtful
decision about participation in the testing
• Competency refers to the mental capacity of the examinee to
provide consent(in case of child and person with disability will
have to provide legal consent)
• The voluntariness implies that the choice to undergo an
assessment battery is given freely and not based on any
manipulation.

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KNOWLEDGE OF RESULT
Conveying test result in understandable language to the parents ,
teachers and clients.
Must fully disclose the result and avoid technical terms
Avoid use of theoretical constructs e.g. crystallized intelligence,
When reporting group results, information need to be
supplemented with background information that can help with
result with cautions and misinterpretations.

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 CONFIDENTIALITY
• Practitioners, have a primary obligation to safe-guard the confidentiality
of information, including test results that they obtain from clients in the
course of consultations.
• Information can be ethically released to others only after the client or a
legal representative gives unambiguous consent, usually in written form.
• Release of results should only be made to another qualified professional
after client’s consent.
• In unusual circumstances in which the withholding of information would
present a clear danger to the client or suspected abuse in children and
vulnerable elderly persons then the health care

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TEST SECURITY
• Psychologists make reasonable efforts to maintain the integrity
and security of tests and other assessment techniques consistent
with law, contractual obligations, and in a manner that permits
compliance with the requirements of the Ethical Code.
• Test materials must be kept securely.
• Test items are not revealed except in training programs and
when mandated by law, to protect test integrity.
• Test items are private property.

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DIVIDED LOYALIRY
• Divided loyalties is today a major dilemma for psychologists who use the test in
different fields such as industry, schools, clinics, government, military, and so on
• A psychologist has to face a conflict, which arises when the individual’s welfare is
put at odds on the one hand and that of the institution that employs the
psychologists the other. Conflicting commitments of the psychologist who uses
tests.
• Psychologist must maintain test security and not violate the client’s right to know
the basis for an adverse decision. Psychologists must tell clients or subjects in
advance how tests are to be used and describe the limits of confidentiality
• The person’s right to know the basis of an adverse decision may Provide an test
security.

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The conflict is currently being resolved as follows.
• Psychologists must inform all concerned where their loyalty lies.
They must tell clients or subjects in advance how tests are to be
used and describe the limits of confidentiality.
• To the institution, they provide only the minimum information
needed, such as “This subject has a low probability of breaking
down under stress.

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INVASION OF PRIVACY
• The right of privacy is the right to be left alone to be free of
inspection and scrutiny of others.
• Invasion of privacy is the intrusion into one’s private affairs and/or
exposure of one’s paper to the view of others and if it causes one
emotional distress, it is actionable.
• While libel and slander involve false or malicious statement aimed at
damaging the victim’s reputation, invasion of privacy usually arises
from truthful but damaging publications.

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• Person’s privacy is invaded when such information is used
inappropriately Psychologists must inform subjects of the limits
of confidentiality.
• Subjects must cooperate in order to be tested.
• People have the right to know the limits of confidentiality.

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 LABELING
In standard medical practice, a person’s disease or disorder is first
identified (diagnosed). Once diagnosed, the disease can be labelled
and standard medical intervention procedures implemented.
However, labeling people with certain medical diseases, such as
acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and psychiatric
disorders can be extremely damaging. The public has little
understanding of the label schizophrenia, for example. Therefore,
those who receive this label are often stigmatized, perhaps for life.
Labels may also affect one’s access to help.

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Labelling people with certain medical diseases can be extremely
damaging,
• Theoretical issue labelling may imply that a person is ill or
diseased , Individuals who feel they have a sense of control feel
less stress/frustration.
• Labels that imply a person is not responsible may increase the
risk that the person so labelled will feel passive.

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DEHUMANIZATION
• One social issue in the testing field concerns the dehumanizing
tendencies that lurk in the testing process. Some forms of testing
remove any human element from decision-making process.
• With high-speed computers and centralized data banks, the risk
that machines will someday make important decisions about our
lives is always increasing. Thus, society must weigh the risks against
the benefits of the growing application of modern technology to
the testing field.
• As psychologists and the public allow test results to be stored and
analyzed by computers, it may become extremely difficult to
reverse this trend.

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USER QUALIFICATIONS
• The requirement that tests be used only by appropriately
qualified examiners is one step toward protecting the individual
against the improper use of tests. Of course, the necessary
qualifications vary with the type of test. Thus, a relatively long
period of intensive training and supervised experience is
required for the proper use of individual intelligence tests and
most personality tests, whereas a minimum of specialized
psychological training is needed in the case of educational
achievement or vocational proficiency tests.

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TESTING INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURES
• The purchase of tests is generally restricted to persons who
meet certain minimal qualifications. The catalogues of major test
publishers specify requirements that must be met by purchasers.
Usually individuals with a masters degree in psychology or its
equivalent qualify. Some publishers classify their tests into levels
with reference to user qualifications, ranging from educational
achievement and vocational proficiency tests.

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SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF PSYCHOMETRICES
Testing Individuals Representing Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
• Cultural background affects test results due to enhanced sensitivity to
cultural variables. Specific factors include language and tones, perceptions
about life and death, positions on education and mental wellbeing, family
responsibilities, problem-solving tactics, attitudes toward education and
mental health, and phases of acculturation (Gregory, 2014). Therefore, a
cautious interpretation of test outcomes is recommended.
Consideration of Individual Differences
• Knowledge of and respect for individual differences is highlighted by
all professional organizations that deal with psychological testing. The
American Psychological Association lists this as one of six guiding
principles.
• The relevance of this principle to psychological testing is that
practitioners are expected to know when a test or interpretation
may not be applicable because of factors such as age, gender, race,
ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability,
language, and socioeconomic status.

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• The suitability of existing tests for the evaluation of diverse
populations cannot be taken for granted. The assessment of ethnic
minority individuals raises important questions, especially when test
results translate to placement decisions or other sensitive outcomes,
as is commonly the case within educational institutions.
• DuBois (1939) found that Pueblo Indian children displayed superior
ability on his specially devised horse drawing test of mental ability,
whereas they performed less well on the mainstream Goodenough
(1926) Draw-A-Man test. From these early studies onward,
psychologists have maintained a keen interest in the impact of
language and culture on the meaning of test results.

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TEST-RELATED FACTORS.
In testing culturally diverse persons, it is important to differentiate
between cultural factors that affect both test and criterion behavior and
those whose influence is restricted to the test.
Special efforts should be made to reduce the operation of these test-
related factors when testing persons with dissimilar cultural backgrounds.
Specific test content may also influence test scores in ways that are
unrelated to criterion performance. In a test of arithmetic reasoning, for
example, the use of names or pictures of objects unfamiliar in a
particular cultural milieut would obviously represent a test-restricted
handicap.

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• specific test content may spuriously affect performance is through the
examinee’s emotional and attitudinal responses. Stories or pictures
portraying typical suburban middle-class family scenes.
OBJECTIVITY OF TESTS.
When social stereotypes and prejudice may have distort interpersonal
evaluations, tests provide a safeguard against favoritism and arbitrary or
capricious decisions. Commenting on the use of tests in schools, Gardner (
1961, pp. 48-49) wrote: “The tests couldn't see whether the youngster
was in rags or in tweeds, and they couldn't hear the accents of the slum.
The tests revealed intellectual gifts at every level of the population."

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REFERENCES
• American psychological association(2010). Ethical principles of
psychologists and code of conduct.
• Kaplan.M, Saccuzzo.P,(2009)Psychological testing ,principles,
applications and issues (7^th ed).Wadsworth publishing co
limited.
• Anastasi.A(1976).Psychological testing(4^th ed).Macmillan
publishing co.inc Newyork.

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thank you
AVANI K.K