Computers and

Basic
Psychological
Science in
Testing

THE RATIONALE FOR COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL

ASSESSMENT

According to medical model, the overt manifestations of a

disordered psychological condition (e.g., overeating or

undereating) are only symptoms-surface expressions of an
underlying cause.

Treatment in the medical model is based on the idea that

unless the cause of a symptom is removed, a new symptom

may develop.

 In cognitive-behavioral assessment, by contrast,

the behaviors, thought processes, or physiological

responses that define a disordered condition are
considered the real problem.

Cognitive-behavioral assessment often includes

an evaluation of the internal and external factors

that lead to and maintain disordered behavior as
well as an evaluation of the behavior itself.

Cognitive-behavioral assesment is mored direct

than traditional psychological tests.

 Traditional testing procedures would be aimed at

determining the cause of the symptom and the

treatment would be directed at the cause while in
cognitive-behavioral assessment, psychologists would
analyze preceding and subsequent factors and focus on
a direct change in overt behaviors, thoughts, or
psychological processes.

Table 15.2 Traditional Versus Behavioral Assessment

Traditional
Assessment

Cognitivebehavioral
assessment

Target

Underlying cause

Disordered
behavior

Symptoms

Superficial

Focus of treatment

Assessment

Indirect; not related Direct; related to

to treatment
treatment

Theory

Medical model

Goal

Determine cause of Analyze disordered

symptoms
behavior

Behavioral model

PROCEDURES BASED ON OPERANT

CONDITIONING
Psychologists observe the behaviors of an

individual. After the individual has made a

response, they can do something to the
individual to alter the probability of the
recurrence of the response.

One must first identify the critical

responses involved in the disorder.

 Baseline (usual rate of occurence)

According to an early system developed by

Kanfer and Saslow (1969), if the behavior

occur too infrequently, then they are called
behavioral excesses.

If they occur too infrequently, they are

called behavioral deficits.

 After attempting to increase or decrease the

behavior (treatment intervention), psychologists

observe the effect of the intervention on the
behavior in question relative to the baseline.

Table 15.3 Steps in a Cognitive Behavioral Assessment

Step 1

Identify critical behaviors.

Step 2

Determine whether critical behaviors are excesses

or deficits.

Step 3

Exavaluate critical behaviors for frequency

duration, or intensity (that is, obtain a baseline).

Step 4

If excesses, attempt to decrease frequency,

duration, or intensity of behaviors; if deficits,
attempt to increase behaviors.

Example:
Step 1 - The boy wasn't eating enough.
Step 2 - The critical was behavior was a
deficit.
Step 3 - The mother was asked to record the
amount and kind of food that the boy ate
each day. The baseline looked something
like the graph in Figure 15.1. (refer to p.
354)
Step 4 - Increase the boy's frequency of
eating by using a reward system based on
points

 Practitioners can use the operant approach

to solve a variety of problems, including

somking, poor study habits, coping with
chronic pain and poor diet.

SELF-REPORT TECHNIQUES

Not all problems can be so easily and

readily observed.

The practitioner directly observes and

records specific problem behaviors in a

variety of situations and notes the factors
that precede and maintain these behaviors.

One attempt to deal with the problems

inherent in observation is the self-report

technique.

 The typical self-report is a list of statements

about the particular situations.

(Table 15.4 gives examples of the types of
statements used.)

Self-report techniques assume that the person's

responses reflect individual differences and

measure some other observable behavior.

In cognitive-behavioral approach, one sees

situations as the primary determinant of

behavior while in traditional approach, one sees
characteristics that the person brings to a
situations as the primary determinant of
behavior.

FEAR SURVEY SCHEDULE (FSS)

It is the oldest and most researched of the

cognitive-behavioral self-report procedures.

Introduced into the literature by Akutagawa

as a 50-item test, it has undergone a

variety of changes, and various versions
have from 50 to 122 items, with ratings of
fear on either 5-point or 7-point scales

 One adaptation of the FSS was created for

measuring specific phobias.

Items are typically related to situations that

involve fear and avoidance behaviors, such

as fear of open places, fear of snakes, and
fear of dead animals.

The FSS attempts to identify those

situations that elicit fear and thus

avoidance.

ASSERTIVENESS
Clinical practitioners have constructed various

measures of assertiveness.

Table 15.5 illustrates the type of item found in

a self-report questionnaire for assertiveness,

such as the Assertive Behavior Survey
Schedule (ABSS)

The ABSS can help determine whether you can

be assertive if necessary, situations in which

you might have difficulty being assertive, and
your personal attitude toward assertiveness.

SELF-REPORT BATTERY
This incorporates many of the commonly

used self-report techniques, such as a

variety of behavioral self-rating checklists
and the FSS.

The battery contains three types of scales -

primary, secondary and tertiary scales.

EVALUATION OF SELF-REPORT
PROCEDURES
Obviously, any practitioner with a problem to

assess can simply devise and publish a selfreport device.

In their use of self-report techniques, some

psychologists "reinvent the wheel."

For example, Cautela and Upper (1976), do

not hesitate to admit that the prototypes of

current self-report techniques are tests such
as Woodworth Personal Date Sheet.

 Unfortunately, only one of these self-report

techniques, the FSS, has been subjected to

anything close to an adequate
psychometric analysis, with nearly 500
published research articles through 2004.

When used in conjunction with other

sources of data, such as

psychophysiological recordings and direct
observation, self-report data can provide
useful information in clinical as well as
researcg settings.

KANFER AND SASLOW'S

FUNCTIONAL APPROACH
Kanfer and Saslow (1969) are among the

most important pioneers in the field of

cognitive-behavioral assessment.

These authors propose what they call a

functional (behvaior-analytic) approach to

assessment.

Psychologists would focus on behavioral

excesses and deficits.

 Behavioral excess is any behavior or class

of behaviors described as problematic by

an individual because of its
inappropriateness or because of excesses
in its frequency, intensity or duration.

The functional approach assumes that both

normal and disordered behaviors develop

according to the same laws and differ only
in extremes.

 Behavioral deficits are classes of behaviors

described as problematic because they fail

to occur with sufficient frequency, with
adequate intensity, in appropriate form, or
under socially expected conditions.

Again, the behavior, or lack of it, is not by

itself a disorder.

A functional analysis involves other

procedures, including clarifying the problem

and amking suggestions for treatment.

THE DYSFUNCTIONAL ATTITUDE SCALE

A.T. Beck's Cognitive Model of

Psychopathology - major pillar of cognitivebehavioral assesment that focuses

primarily on thinking patterns rather than
overt behavior

Schemas - cognitive frameworks or

organizing principles of thought

According to Beck, schemas serve to

organize prior experience, guide the

interpretations of new experiences, and
shape experiences and predictions.

 To evaluate negative schemas, Beck and

colleagues have developed the

Dysfunctional Attitude Scale (DAS).

It identifies beliefs that might interact with

a stressor to produce psychopathology.

The validity of the scale is supported by a

variety of factor analytic data.

IRRATIONAL BELIEFS TEST

According to the cognitive viewpoint,

human behavior is often determined by

beliefs and expectations rather than reality.

R. A. Jones (1968), for example, developed

a 100-item Irrational Belief Test (IBT) to

measure irrational beliefs.

The IBT requires subjects to indicate their

level of agreement or disagreement with

each of the 100-items on a 5-point scale.

COGNITIVE FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS

What people say to themselves also

influences behavior.

Self-statements have been shown to

influence behaviors as diverse as coping

behavior in cardiac patients, assertiveness,
and athletic performance.

Interestingly, positive and negative self-

statements do not function in the same

way.

 One of the most important examples of

cognitive-behavioral assessment is called

cognitive-functional analysis.

The premise underlying a cognitive-functional

analysis is that what a person says to himself or

herself plays a critical role in behavior.

Research clearly indicates these self-statements

influence your behavior and even your feelings.

 Cognitive-functional analysis is concerned

wit ascertaining the environmental factorss

that preced behavior (environmental
antecedents) as well as those that maintain
behavior (environmental consequences).

If thoughts influence overt behavior, then

modifying one's thoughts can lead to

modications in one's actions.

Parallel to Meichenbaum's technique of

cognitive-functional analysis are procedures

and devices that allow a person to test himor herself, or self-monitoring devices.

 In the simplest case, an individual must

record the frequency of a particular

behavior - that is, to monitor it so that he or
she becomes aware of the behavior.

Some self-monitoring procedures are quite

sophisticated.

Similarly, timing devices and procedures

allow people to assess how long they

engage in an activity.

PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL
PROCEDURES
use such indicators as heart rate, blood pressure, galvanic skin response,

and skin temperature to assess psychological problems

Attempts to quantify physiological responses and then translate it into

psychological factors

PHYSIOLOGICAL VARIABLES
W/ TREATMENT
Ax (1953) demonstrated that the fear response was related to specific

physiological changes such as increases in blood pressure and skin

conductance levels. He found out that he could distinguish gear and anger
based on physiological data.

Polygraph and related devices that measure blood pressure, heart rate, and

GSR have been the primary tools of the psychophysiological assessment

specialist
Ex. Penile transducer- measures penile erection

EVALUATION OF
PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL
TECHNIQUES

Investigations have revealed a systematic covariation between measurable

physiological processes and cognitive processes.

Ahern and Beatty (1979) found that more-intelligent subjects show smaller task-

evoked pupillary dilations than do less-intelligent subjects.

Beatty and colleagues (1982) used measures of heart rate variability and skin
conductance to evaluate processing intensity, the amount of effort or energy
devoted to a cognitive task. They found out that brighter subjects expend less of
their total available processing resources in solving a difficult problem.
Limitations:
artifacts
the long-known effect of initial values by which the strength of a response is
influenced by the absolute prestimulus strength.

Computers
and
Psychological
Testing

2 BASIC WAYS TO USE

COMPUTERS FOR TESTING:
To administer, score, and interpret traditional tests
To create new tasks and measure abilities that traditional procedures

cannot tap

COMPUTER-ASSISTED
INTERVIEW

Used for everything from comprehensive behavioral psychological

assessment and diagnostics to special topic evaluations.

Validity is equal to or better than that of paper-andpencil forms.

May exceed the interview accomplishments of some clinicians.

Ensures that crucial facts are recorded more systematically.
Social desirability is reduced.

COMPUTER-ADMINISTERED
TESTS

Research suggests that tests such as Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI),

and the Ansell-Casey Life Skills Assessment result in similar evaluations when
administered by computer or by paper and pencil.

A small number of psychological tests that measure negative affect tend to

produce different results than their paper-and-pencil forms. Negative affect
scores are
particularly elevated when testing computer-anxious individuals
and using the Beck
Depression Inventory and Spielbergers State-Trait
Anxiety inventory.
Less time-consuming for both the individual being tested and the test administrator.
More cost-effective, better accepted by test takers who are adult or c
more accurate.
Body language is not captured by the computer.

and

often

COMPUTER DIAGNOSIS,
SCORING, AND REPORTING
OF RESULTS

From neuropsychological assessments such as the Halstead-Reitan Battery,

to personnel screening tests, the scoring and report generation of certain

tests seem to be straightforward, efficient and accurate.

EVIDENCES SUGGESTING
COMPUTER DIAGNOSIS
PROVIDES
RELIABILITY
A computer software that has been developed using

criteria for diagnosis taken from the DSM-IV appeared

to serve as a supportive function in the process of
diagnosis.

Projective tests
Holtzman Inkblot test confirmed validity by acceptable
correlations between the computer-scoring methods and
traditional methods of scoring.
Rorschach determined that computer can provide a report
similar to that of a clinician.
Rotter Incomplete Sentence Blank

EVIDENCES SUGGESTING
COMPUTER DIAGNOSIS
PROVIDES RELIABILITY

In educational testing, computer programs have been designed to score essays.

Project Essay Grade (PEG)
Analyses the quality of a writing sample by measuring writing traits such as average word length, use

of rare words and the number of semicolons used.

This system of analysis has consistently shown correlations with human scores as high as .87.

Expository Test Analysis

A software designed to analyze text rapidly and objectively. It accomplishes this task by a

symbolic representation system that segments text into nodes, classifies the unidentified
nodes, and links them with relational arcs.
Intelligent Essay Assessor
Evaluate essays according to content by listing relevant content term used by the writer

and then, terms are weighted and a score is derived by a tally of the terms included.
Highly correlated with human scores.

EVIDENCES SUGGESTING
COMPUTER DIAGNOSIS
PROVIDES RELIABILITY
E-rater (the Educational Testing Services Essay Rater)

Analyzes the structure of the essay in the same way as PEG and measures the

content of the essay as the IEA does.

It also measures syntactic variety by counting the number of modal with verbs
and subordinate, infinitive, complimentary and relative clauses.
Revealed significant correlations between automated essay scoring and non test
indicators of proficiency and returns grades that are highly correlated with grades
given by human scorers.
E-rater assigns scores that were too high.

Computers are a tool, and the

interpretations of the scores, reports and
diagnoses they produce are appendages
to clinical judgment that require the
assessment and expertise of clinicians.

INTERNET USAGE OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
World Wide Web offers free psychological tests such as brain.com which

offers more than 7 types of free IQ tests. Other site offers more than 200
free tests about relationships, health, career, IQ and personality.

Generally been shown to be adequate.

inability to standardize testing conditions when participants are testing at

different locations, using different types of computers, and with different
amounts of distraction in their environments may be compensated by the
massive sample sizes available to Web-based laboratories.

INTERNET USAGE OF
PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
Traditional tests conducted via the Internet are found to have similar

results to their paper-and-pencil versions and have less error in data

collection.
Web-based samples can more closely match the intended sample
Facilitates more thorough self-disclosure from participants.

Also, ease at which participants can be recruited to participate in

online testing, the ease of data collection, and the reduction of error
make Web-based data collection appealing to researchers.

COMPUTERIZATION OF
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL
ASSESSMENT

Seven (7) major applications of computers to cognitive-behavioral

assessment:

1. Collecting self-report data

2. Coding, observational data
3. Directly recording behavior
4. Training
5. Organizing and synthesizing behavioral assessment data
6. Analyzing behavioral assessment data
7. Supporting decision making

COMPUTERIZATION OF
COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL
ASSESSMENT

Factors impeding the widespread use of computers in cognitive-behavioral

assessment:

Lack of acceptance by practitioners

Evaluation of software

computer-based behavioral evaluations appear to have equivalent results as

their paper-and-pencil counterparts
Computer-based cognitive behavioral treatments have been found effective
for reducing stuttering and treating anxiety disorders.
Useful for evaluating body image disturbance, levels of conflict and
cooperation in individuals social interactions and different aspects of
individuals natural, linguistic and psychological lives.

PALMTOP COMPUTER
PROGRAM
-used for evaluating and treating symptoms of
generalized anxiety disorder.
-includes a mobile of self-monitoring
component
-treatment is delivered via three therapeutic
modules (relaxation, cognitive restructuring
and imaginal exposure) that can be accessed
by the client.
Also effective for treating panic disorder

TEST POSSIBLE ONLY BY

COMPUTER
Computer-generated virtual reality programs
Used for psychological testing and treatment of phobias
Ideal for safely and efficiently exposing clients to the objects of their phobias

while evaluating physiological responses, systematically recording those

responses, and evaluating patient improvement.
Reduces the possibility of embarrassment to clients
Requires less time and money to conduct

Ideal for the treatment and measurement of phobic responses.

COMPUTER-ADAPTIVE
TESTING
After each response, the computer updates the estimation of the test

takers ability. The estimation is then used to select the next item on the
test

Considered to be more precise and efficient that fixed-item ratio.

BENEFITS OF COMPUTER-ADAPTIVE TESTING

decrease in time needed for test taking
efficiency is increased as scores are immediately recorded and made
available
expenses are reduced
tests are self-paced and provide accurate scores for test takers whose
abilities ranged from gifted to impaired

COMPUTER-ADAPTIVE
TESTING
LIMITATIONS
presenting long reading passages, intricate graphs, or artwork.
may not be suitable for all test subjects or skills.
administrator facility with a large number of computers is required for
group testing
computer literacy of test takers may affect performance
inability of test takers to go back and change previously answered
questions.

PSYCHOPHYSICAL AND
SIGNAL-DETECTION
PROCEDURES

A signal is presented and the subject is required to report whether he or she

saw it. Many variations in presenting a signal are possible. The examiner can
vary the strength of the signal, use more than one signal and require the
subject to guess which one has been presented, or follow the signal with
noise or another signal to determine the effects of one signal on another.
One can assess information-processing speed by flashing two stimuli in brief

discussion on a microcomputer. If a stimulus, letter T, is presented and then

terminated, the information is first registered by the nervous system. After it is
registered, it enters a perceptual memory system called iconic storage. The person
is not become consciously aware of the stimulus until it is transferred to higher
brain centers. The rate of this transfer of information is the speed of informationprocessing.
Saccuzzo and colleagues have shown that schizophrenic people can be distinguished

from normal people and others on the basis of information-processing speed.

PSYCHOPHYSICAL AND
SIGNAL-DETECTION
PROCEDURES
Applied to ability testing

Reaction time and backward masking tasks are used to measure the speed,

capacity or efficiency of information processing.

Scoring can be simplified
Administration can be easily standardized
The effects of the examiner can be minimized