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
6 - Attitudes, Values, and Interests
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 the measurement of attitudes, values, and interests. These three areas share much in common from a psychometric as well as a theoretical point of view; in fact, some psychologists argue that the three areas, and especially attitudes and values, are not so different from each other. Some authors regard them as subsets of personality, while others point out that it is difficult, if not impossible, to define these three areas so that they are mutually exclusive.
The measurement of attitudes has been a central topic in social psychology, but has found relatively little application in the assessment of the individual client. Interest measurement on the other hand, particularly the assessment of career interests, probably represents one of the most successful applications of psychological testing to the individual client. The assessment of values has had somewhat of a mixed success, with such assessment often seen as part of personality and/or social psychology, and with some individual practitioners believing that values are an important facet of a client's assessment.
In the area of attitudes we look at some general issues, some classical ways of developing attitude scales, and some other examples to illustrate various aspects. In the area of values, we look at two of the more popular measures that have been developed, the Study of Values and the Rokeach Value Survey.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Psychological TestingAn Introduction, pp. 127 - 160Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006