Coaching Clients to Take Psychological and Neuropsychological Tests: A Clash of Ethical Obligations.

The coaching of clients by attorneys on how to "beat" psychological tests in the context of personal injury or disability litigation poses a serious concern for the practice of psychological assessment. This article reviews the empirical literature with respect to the effects of coaching on psychological tests, discusses current ethical and legal standards relevant to coaching on psychological tests, and offers suggestions on how the field of assessment psychology might deal with this challenge. This review has important implications for all clinicians conducting psychological and neuropsychological assessments in forensic settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of the Sugar Pill by Industrial Psychologists.

Argues that it is necessary, for the good of industrial psychology, that the Barnum Effect be discredited as a method for the validation of psychological tests. as a method for the validation of psychological tests. Businessmen, as they become aware of its nature and obvious limitations, should demand sophisticated methods of test validation. In order to avoid ills resulting from the "quick cure," businessmen should, at the same time, exercise a degree of patience in their demand for the services of psychologists. It should be up to businessmen to seek objective validity which goes far beyond mere anecdotal accounts. Decisions based on psychological tests should be delayed until good evidence of the tests' validity is presented. At the same time, it is the ethical duty of industrial psychologists to resist the temptation to use tests which have not been properly validated. It is their duty to educate the persons for whom they perform services; further, it is their duty to create and maintain an atmosphere conducive to test research and validation. In many cases, they will need to "unsell" more persons on testing than they will be called upon to sell, and they will need to caution their clients concerning the many qualifications to be attached to test interpretations. methods of appropriate psychological test validation. By demanding a high level of competency from industrial and consulting psychologists, American business will render unprofitable the currently widespread use of questionable and often misguided psychological test appraisals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological test use in criminal forensic evaluations.

The authors surveyed forensic psychologists and psychiatrists (about 80% of whom were board certified) regarding their use of psychological testing in evaluations for competence to stand trial (CST; n?=?102) and criminal responsibility (CR; n?=?96), as well as their opinions about the importance of psychological testing for these evaluations. Psychological testing was perceived as either essential or recommended by approximately two thirds of the respondents for CR evaluations and by approximately one half for the CST evaluations, with no significant differences between psychologists and psychiatrists. Frequency of reported use of psychological tests was consistent with these opinions among forensic psychologists but was significantly lower for forensic psychiatrists. Data are also provided on the frequency with which respondents report using specific tests and categories of tests, including specialized forensic assessment instruments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Detecting malingering and deception: Forensic distortion analysis.

Reviews the book, Detecting malingering and deception: Forensic distortion analysis by Harold V. Hall and Joseph G. Poirer (see record 2001-18575-000). Therapists who often see clients presenting with posttraumatic stress disorder, memory difficulties, substance abuse questions, and "potential-for-harm" (to self or others) problems can benefit from this text. It is interesting, given their orientation to the field of malingering and deception, that the authors do not dwell specifically on the issues of treatment as such. Instead, they address the concerns of therapists genetically at first, remarking on the assumptions often made about clients by clinicians, and then more specifically, in the context of various forensic topics. Hall and Poirier unfold their approach without rancor toward other clinicians or toward clients, and they do much to rectify the stuffy, over litigious image of forensic psychology in their humane and sensible stance. They do a marked service by reassuring therapists generally that forensic science need not mean decimation of the patient or the therapeutic relationship; in the process of seeking the truth, forensic specialists do not have to abandon decency. The reviewer recommends this carefully written and thorough text to all therapists who may themselves be drawn, or see clients who may be drawn, into the forensic arena. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity, fairness, and group differences: Tough questions for selection testing.

Selection tests, such as those used for college admissions, present multiple dilemmas for psychometricians, who grapple with intractable problems in measurement, and the lay public, whose lives are affected by test scores they often do not understand or trust. Criterion studies utilize convenient criteria that have little meaningful significance, such as grades, and the validity coefficients are necessarily low because of range restrictions and the low reliability of grades. Both supporters and detractors of college admissions tests are correct in their assessment: College admissions tests can account for only a small percentage of the variance in success in school and in life, but even a small reduction of variance substantially reduces uncertainty and improves admissions decisions. Admissions testing can and should be improved. Numerous suggestions for improving admissions testing are presented, including ways to reduce group differences without sacrificing construct validity. The effect of the suggested changes on predictive validity is an empirical question and a question about fairness and values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opinions and use of psychological tests: A survey of clinical psychologists.

Conducted a survey of clinical psychologists, selected from Division 12 of the American Psychological Association, about their use and opinions of psychological tests. 500 psychologists were mailed questionnaires; the return rate was 50.1%. Results show that both objective and projective tests are used by clinical psychologists of all major therapeutic orientations with substantial percentages of clients. Clinicians indicated that personal clinical experience with a test was more important in their test-use decisions than pragmatic or psychometric considerations. In fact, clinicians repeatedly emphasized the subjective, insightful, and experiential nature of the testing process. Although the psychometric limitations of tests were recognized, tests were considered more valuable than suggested by reliability and validity studies, which were typically considered flawed or inaccurate. It is concluded that clinicians are probably unaffected by negative testing research because (a) there are strong needs to assess, (b) clinicians accord personal clinical experience greater weight than experimental evidence, and (c) there are few practical alternatives to tests. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The changed social context of testing.

By contrasting the social context in which tests were developed and the present-day social context, the authors shed light on the controversy about bias in tests. They note that an emphasis on selection—for which tests were designed in the early half of this century—has been largely replaced by widespread concern with equal opportunity. Proponents of tests claim that tests are unbiased because they accurately reflect ability. Critics argue that standardized tests are inappropriate because minority groups have lacked equal opportunity, and therefore their abilities are not accurately assessed. It is argued that current social values demand that testing should now be less concerned with unbiased predictive validity and more concerned with facilitating equal opportunity. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluation of the original Ontario Child Health Study scales

This article presents evaluative information on the use of the original Ontario Child Health Study scales to serve as original-level measures of conduct disorder, hyperactivity and emotional disorder among children in the general (non clinic) population. Problem checklist assessments were obtained from parents and teachers of children aged six to 16 and youth aged 12 to 16 drawn from a general population (n = 1,751); and a mental health clinic sample (n = 1,027) in the same industrialized, urban setting. The results showed that the original OCHS scales possess adequate psychometric properties to be used as original-level measures of disorder. Correlations between individual items and their hypothesized scales were very strong, indicating convergent validity, while correlations between the same items and other (non hypothesized) scales were lower, indicating discriminant validity. Item analyses indicated that individual scale items possess both convergent and discriminant validity. Although the scales were skewed to the positive end of the continuum, they demonstrated good internal consistency (all estimates > or = 0.74) and test-retest (all estimates > or = 0.65) reliability. Finally, three different validity analyses confirmed hypotheses about how the original OCHS scales should perform if they provide useful measures of disorder.     

Redefining the role of the criminal defense lawyer at plea bargaining and sentencing: A therapeutic jurisprudence/preventive law model.

Promising new developments concerning offender rehabilitation and various provisions of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and their judicial construction make it appropriate to reconceptualize the role of the criminal defense lawyer at plea bargaining and sentencing. These new developments provide new opportunities for attorneys to counsel clients about rehabilitative options, to facilitate their rehabilitative efforts, and to seek probation or reduced sentences as a result. The author proposes a new and broader role for counsel on the basis of principles of therapeutic jurisprudence and preventive law. The new approach is described, and the author suggests how counsel can hold conversations with clients about these sensitive issues and play a therapeutic and preventive role in ways that increase client liberty and well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Client preferences and anticipations in career counseling: A preliminary investigation.

Client expectations have been studied infrequently in career counseling. This study provides preliminary data about precounseling expectations, which were conceptualized as preferences and anticipations. 92 university students (22 men and 70 women) who sought career counseling completed an open-ended questionnaire. Results suggested the following conclusions: (1) Clients have fairly clear ideas about what they want (preferences) from career counseling and about what the experience should be like; (2) clients are somewhat less certain about what the career counseling experience will actually be like (anticipations) and less optimistic about it; (3) a number of mismatches exist between clients' preferences and anticipations; (4) clients do not have well-developed expectations about their dislikes in career counseling; and (5) few differences are evident between clients who have had previous counseling and those who have not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring a three-dimensional construct of career indecision among college students: A revision of the Vocational Decision Scale: The Career Decision Profile.

This article describes a revision of the Vocational Decision Scale called the Career Decision Profile (CDP). The CDP was administered to 221 undergraduates. The results support the reliability and validity of the Decidedness and Comfort scales and the four scales of the Reasons dimension: Self-Clarity, Knowledge About Occupations and Training, Decisiveness, and Career Choice Importance. Analyses indicated that: career decided students need career planning assistance; trait anxiety is more strongly associated with how students feel about their career decision status than how decided they are; the vocational decision status model provides a clearer picture of career indecision than current unitary approaches; and the CDP shows promise for differentiating among groups of students for treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological assessment versus psychological testing: Validation from Binet to the school, clinic, and courtroom.

Increasingly, psychological assessment is conducted with clients and patients involved in child custody and personal injury litigation. Clinical neuropsychologists are being asked sophisticated questions by attorneys regarding the validity of practitioners' most highly respected tests. Research reviewed here bears on the validity of test-buttressed clinical opinions, including research related to the following psychometric properties of individual test scores: standard errors of measurement, test–retest stability and subtest-to-subtest intercorrelations. The highest and the lowest subtest scores used as indices, respectively, of an individual's premorbid level of cognitive functioning and the degree of current impairment from that presumed earlier level is not justified when used in isolation from the life history and current medical findings. Although many practitioners use information from the wider research, courtroom experience suggests that a number do not; contrariwise, the attempt of D. Faust and J. Ziskin (see record 1989-11643-001) to undermine the courtroom testimony of every psychologist who serves as an expert witness is also criticized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A study of item weights and scale lengths for the SVIB.

7 SVIB scales were developed and cross validated on 461 managers from 13 varied Minnesota companies. Questions studied were (a) Which item weighting method results in the highest scale validity? (b) Are shorter scales as valid as longer scales? (c) How much may scales be shortened? (d) Why may they be shortened? Controls for scale length, content, validity, and for item weighting method were introduced. Results indicated (a) there was no practical difference in validities between simple unit versus variably weighted scales, (b) shorter scales were as valid as longer scales, (c) Clark's "40 to 60 item optimum scale length" hypothesis was supported, (d) although not conclusive, shorter scales appeared superior partly because their average item validities were greater and thus they perhaps should not be used where developmental item pools are rich in valid items. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counselor hypothesis-testing strategies.

Conducted 2 experiments relevant to the questioning strategies counselors use in testing their hypotheses about clients. In Exp I, 60 undergraduates were asked to select 12 questions from a list of 38 that would be most helpful in getting to know someone. Ss were asked to test a hypothesis that the other person was an extravert or introvert. The questions were categorized by the experimenters as extraverted, introverted, unbiased, or irrelevant. Most Ss selected a strategy that favored unbiased questions over biased ones. In Exp II, 40 Ss played the roles of clients, and 40 advanced doctoral students in counseling or clinical psychology played the roles of counselors. Counselors were advised that they would soon meet with their client to test a hypothesis that the client possessed or lacked self-control. Counselors were instructed to compose 10 questions to ask the client. The actual interviews were then recorded. The frequency with which counselors developed questions that were confirmatory, disconfirmatory, irrelevant, or unbiased in regard to the hypothesis was not influenced by the specific hypothesis. Results of both experiments do not confirm the hypothesis that counselors preferentially seek information to confirm hypotheses about clients. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further validation of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF Response Bias Scale: Findings from disability and criminal forensic settings.

The present study extends the validation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Response Bias Scale (RBS; R. O. Gervais, Y. S. Ben-Porath, D. B. Wygant, & P. Green, 2007) in separate forensic samples composed of disability claimants and criminal defendants. Using cognitive symptom validity tests as response bias indicators, the RBS exhibited large effect sizes (Cohen's ds = 1.24 and 1.48) in detecting cognitive response bias in the disability and criminal forensic samples, respectively. The scale also added incremental prediction to the traditional MMPI-2 and the MMPI-2-RF overreporting validity scales in the disability sample and exhibited excellent specificity with acceptable sensitivity at cutoffs ranging from 90T to 120T. The results of this study indicate that the RBS can add uniquely to the existing MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF validity scales in detecting symptom exaggeration associated with cognitive response bias. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stages of therapist comfort with sexual concerns of clients.

Discusses the necessity for therapists in training to go through a process of examining their personal sexual beliefs and attitudes before they can be comfortable with the kind of sexual material brought up by many clients. The reactions of therapists in training to a course in which they use methods that are specifically intended to help them with the process of becoming comfortable with client sexual concerns are described. Feedback from students suggests that they go through at least 4 overlapping stages of comfort with the kind of sexual material that is likely to be presented by their clients. These stages are (1) an examination of their views and concerns about their own personal sexual issues, (2) increasing awareness and appreciation of problems and emotional reactions as the clients experience them, (3) a new freedom in discussing sexual matters, and (4) an awareness of a new level of comfort with clients and increased willingness to share sexual material. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects and perceived consequences of testing accommodations on math and science performance assessments.

The present study examined the effect accommodations have on test results of students with and without disabilities and documented experts’ judgments about the appropriateness of testing accommodations. Test score data were collected from 218 fourth-grade students with and without disabilities on mathematics and science performance tasks and from eight testing experts who evaluated the fairness and validity of a sample of testing accommodations used with these students. Results indicated that, for most students with disabilities and some students without disabilities, packages of testing accommodations had a moderate to large effect on performance task scores. Expert reviewers rated most accommodations for a student with disabilities as being both valid and fair, and they gave accommodations listed on a student’s individualized education program (IEP) significantly higher validity and fairness ratings than accommodations that were not listed on the student’s IEP. Interpretations of these data are provided and implications for practice and future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Judges' mediation of settlement negotiations.

This study investigates the effects that seven variables have on the level of judges' involvement in out-of-court settlement negotiations. In a nationwide survey, 650 judges and 1,100 attorneys were asked to read a civil case. The judges indicated how strongly they would mediate the negotiation between the opposing attorneys in the case and the specific tactics they would employ. The surveyed attorneys indicated the appropriate level of judicial involvement and the specific steps they felt a judge should take. The responses from the judges (58% response rate) and attorneys (73%) reveal that five variables—judges' and attorneys' attitudes toward judicial involvement, region of the country, respondent (judge versus attorney), size of case, and trial length—affect both the judges' mediation and the attorneys' preferences for judicial mediation. Two additional variables, the trial judge (current versus a different judge) and trier of the case (judge versus jury), had no effect on the dependent measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Utility of the MMPI–2-RF (Restructured Form) validity scales in detecting malingering in a criminal forensic setting: A known-groups design.

The current study examined the utility of the recently released Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory–2 Restructured Form (MMPI–2-RF; Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008) validity scales to detect feigned psychopathology in a criminal forensic setting. We used a known-groups design with the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS; Rogers, Bagby, & Dickens, 1992) as the external criterion to determine groups of probable malingering versus nonmalingering. A final sample of 125 criminal defendants, who were administered both the SIRS and the MMPI–2-RF during their evaluations, was examined. The results indicated that the two MMPI–2-RF validity scales specifically designed to detect overreported psychopathology, F-r and FP-r, best differentiated between the malingering and nonmalingering groups. These scales added incremental predictive utility to one another in this differentiation. Classification accuracy statistics substantiated the recommended cut scores in the MMPI–2-RF manual (Ben-Porath & Tellegen, 2008) in this forensic setting. Implications for these results in terms of forensic assessment and detection of malingering are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Routine inquiry into sexual victimization: A survey of therapists' practices.

Surveyed therapists regarding their practices in assessing clients' sexual abuse history. Of the 105 respondents, 51% reported that they routinely ask all clients or most clients about sexual abuse at some time during the course of therapy; 19% reported that they had asked only a few clients or that they never ask clients directly about sexual abuse. Therapists who were younger, who had been in practice for a shorter period of time, and whose current caseload included a high percentage of sexually abused women were most likely to have asked all or most of their clients about having been sexually abused. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)