Psych Test Reliability For Personality Tests Vs. Cognitive Ability Tests Argumentative Essays Example

Introduction

Achieving reliability for a test of personality poses a greater challenge when compared to the test of cognitive ability. In the cognitive ability tests, it involves the assessment of the abilities in thinking such as perception, reasoning, problem-solving, and verbal ability. According to most psychologists, the cognitive ability test has proven to be more reliable if compared to other psyche tests (Hunter, 1986, p.340). Psychologists have stated that the cognitive ability tests usually looks at the intelligence of a person. The tests are generally done using questions that will determine whether, an individual has the potential to be able to solve problems and to use the mental processes. In some of the cognitive ability tests, questions are usually categorised into numerical, mechanical, verbal and spatial (Braaten, 2003). An example of the cognitive ability test that has proven to be very reliable is the verbal reasoning ability tests. The verbal reasoning ability tests usually formulates questions that will determine or measure how a person’s ability to interpret and understand the information that is presented to them (Hunter, 1986, p.342).
Personality tests are defined as the techniques, which are used to measure people’s personalities. There are many factors that are making the personality tests unreliable in psych tests. There are two types of personality tests called the self-report inventories and the projective tests. In the self-report inventories tests, the people doing the tests can be able to be deceptive easily while answering the questions. There are a number of people who can be able to give false information in order to be socially accepted or pretend to be something they are not (Arendasy, 2011, p.212). The other reliability problem that occurs is that there are some people who are not able to describe themselves accurately. This fact means that they tend to ignore some of their character traits believing that it is not good or will not be accepted in the society. The projective test involves looking at one’s body language during questioning (Gregory, 2011). In these tests, a person can easily lie by pretending or not changing their body language. Most psychologists believe that the personality tests especially these two types of tests lack reliability and validity thus causing greater challenge in finding the results.
In conclusion, there are many reliability challenges that occur in the personality tests. These issues came when accurate results cannot be achieved because individuals can be able to falsify their answers easily. In the cognitive ability tests, the questions formulated will measure the ability of a person’s interpretation and understanding of information.

Reference

Arendasy, M. (2011). Modeling effects of faking on an objective personality test. Journal of Individual Differences, 210–218.
Braaten, E. (2003). Straight Talk About Psychological Testing for Kids. New York: Guilford Press.
Gregory, R. J. (2011). Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications (Sixth ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Hunter, J. E. (1986). Cognitive ability, cognitive aptitude, job knowledge, and job performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 340-362.