Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART ONE BASIC ISSUES
- PART TWO DIMENSIONS OF TESTING
- 4 Personality
- 5 Cognition
- 6 Attitudes, Values, and Interests
- 7 Psychopathology
- 8 Normal Positive Functioning
- PART THREE APPLICATIONS OF TESTING
- PART FOUR THE SETTINGS
- PART FIVE CHALLENGES TO TESTING
- Appendix: Table to Translate Difficulty Level of a Test Item into a z Score
- References
- Test Index
- Index of Acronyms
- Subject Index
- References
8 - Normal Positive Functioning
from PART TWO - DIMENSIONS OF TESTING
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- PART ONE BASIC ISSUES
- PART TWO DIMENSIONS OF TESTING
- 4 Personality
- 5 Cognition
- 6 Attitudes, Values, and Interests
- 7 Psychopathology
- 8 Normal Positive Functioning
- PART THREE APPLICATIONS OF TESTING
- PART FOUR THE SETTINGS
- PART FIVE CHALLENGES TO TESTING
- Appendix: Table to Translate Difficulty Level of a Test Item into a z Score
- References
- Test Index
- Index of Acronyms
- Subject Index
- References
Summary
AIM This chapter looks at a variety of areas that reflect normal positive functioning. The chapter is not intended to be a comprehensive review of normality; it covers a small number of selected areas chosen either because of their importance in psychological testing, or because of some illustrative innovative aspect, and perhaps because of our feeling that some of these areas, although important, are often neglected by instructors. Much of psychological testing has developed within a clinical tradition, with the emphasis on psychopathology. As we saw in Chapter 7, psychologists have developed some fairly sophisticated measures of psychopathology; even intelligence testing covered in Chapter 5, developed originally within the context of assessing retarded children. The assessment of normality has in many ways been neglected, primarily because assessment occurs where there is a need – and the need to “measure” what is normal has not, in the past, been very strong. Keep in mind also that the dividing line between normality and abnormality is not absolute, and so tests of psychopathology such as the MMPI can also be used with presumably mentally healthy college students.
SELF-CONCEPT
Perhaps a first question about normal functioning has to do with a person's self-concept. How do you feel about yourself? Do you like yourself? Do you have confidence in your abilities? Do you perceive yourself as being of value and worth? Or are you doubtful about your own worth, do you have little confidence in yourself and often feel unhappy about yourself?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Psychological TestingAn Introduction, pp. 197 - 222Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006