Psychological Testing and Assessment

Psychological Testing and Assessment: Tests provide data about specific characteristics;  assessments describe a person. 

This page briefly explains the role of psychological testing and assessment in forensic psychology.

Not all forensic psychological evaluations require psychological testing, but most do because the tests provide more objective (less biased) information about a person. 

Psychological Tests

Wender Utah Rating Scale for Adult ADHD

The Wender Utah Rating Scale (WURS) asks respondents to indicate if they exhibited a behavior or symptom in childhood, and if so, how frequently it occurred.

For example, if you were completing the WURS-45 (one of several versions of the test), one of the items is:

As a child I was: anxious, worrying.

In response, you would endorse one of the following:

• not at all or very slightly
• mildly
• moderately
• quite a bit
• very much

For more information about the Wender Utah Rating Scale for Adult ADHD, see:

• Wender Utah Rating Scale Handbook
  
  
• Wender Utah Rating Scale Scoring
  
  

Rorschach Inkblot Test

Hermann Rorschach, a Swiss psychiatrist, developed the Rorschach Inkblot Test in the 1920s. Although psychologists do not use the Rorschach for psychological testing and assessment as often as in the past, it remains one of the most famous psychological tests. 

What might this be?

An early draft of Card III in Hermann Rorschach's psychological test. Source: Archiv und Sammlung Hermann Rorschach, University Library of Bern via NPR

After asking the respondent to look at the inkblot, psychologists ask the standard Rorschach question: "What might this be?"

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