Functions and Uses of Psychological testing

1. Detection of specific Behavior

Psychological test is used to measure and to detect the abilities of a person.

2. Individual Differences

A psychological test is used to measure the individual differences, that is different between abilities of different persons and the performance of the same person at different time.

3. To diagnose by the Psychological Test

The psychological tests are usually used in clinical psychology.In clinical psychology a test's function is to diagnose mental disorders.So tests are used in mental hospitals and coaching and guidance centers for the assessment and diagnose of mental disorders.Major tests are
MMPI, (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory)
RISB, (Roter Incomplete Sentences Blank)
Bender Gestalt Test,
and RPM, (Revon Progressive Matrices) etc.

4. Legal Classification

A psychological test helps in classifying a number of people into different categories For example normal and abnormal, criminal and innocent, intellectual and mental retarded, able and disable etc.

Methods of Legal Classification

Selection

The person who express certain level of performance on a test are selected and others are rejected.

Screening

An ordinary test refers to a quick survay to located individuals who may need or be eligible for special treatment.

Certification

At the end of certain training program a test is used to recomended that the objectives of training program has been aciehved and the person has the acquired the desired skill to perform in the relevant field.

Placement

Placement is a sorting process that provides different level of serving for different persons.

5. Promoting Self Understanding

A psychological test provide standardized information about the abilities, capabilities, aptitudes, potential competencies interest, trait and states of a person which helps in understanding one's personality and planing future prospective.

6. Program Evaluation

An effectiveness of a particular program is assessed by the applications of some kind of test.This function is usually perform by an achievement test.

7. Scientific Inquiry or Research

Some experts use tests for research purpose which provide information about the mental level and personality of the subject.

8. Military Selection

A closely related application of psychological testing is to be found in the selection and classification of military personal.From simple beginnings in the World War-I, the scope and variety of psychological tests employed in military situations underwent a phenomenal increase during World War-II. Subsequently research on test development has been containing on a large scale in all brands of the normed services.

9. Industry

In industry and business tests are helpful in selection and classifying personal for placement in jobs that range from the simpler semiskilled to the highly skilled, from the selection of filling clerks and sales-person to top management for any of these position, however test results are only one source of information , though an important one.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology (also known as I-O psychology, industrial-organizational psychology, work psychology, organizational psychology, work and organizational psychology, industrial psychology, occupational psychology, personnel psychology or talent assessment) applies psychology to organizations and the workplace. In January 2010, the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) announced that, as a result of a membership vote, it would retain its name and not change it to the Society for Organizational Psychology (TSOP) to eliminate the word "Industrial". "Industrial-organizational psychologists contribute to an organization's success by improving the performance and well-being of its people. An I-O psychologist researches and identifies how behaviors and attitudes can be improved through hiring practices, training programs, and feedback systems."

Common research and practice areas for I-O psychologists include:

• Job performance
• Job analysis
• Personnel recruitment and selection
• Performance appraisal/management
• Individual assessment (knowledge, skills, and ability testing, personality assessment, work sample tests, assessment centers)
• Psychometrics
• Compensation
• Training and training evaluation/Development
• Employment law
• Work motivation
• Job attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, commitment, organizational citizenship, and retaliation)
• Occupational health and safety
• Work/life balance
• Human factors and decision making
• Organizational culture/climate
• Organizational surveys
• Leadership and executive coaching
• Ethics
• Diversity
• Job design
• Human resources
• Organizational development (OD)
• Organizational research methods
• Technology in the workplace
• Group/team performance
• Employ safety and health

I-O psychologists are trained in the “scientist-practitioner” model. The training enables I-O psychologists to employ scientific principles and research-based designs to generate knowledge. They use what they have learned in applied settings to help clients address workplace needs. I-O psychologists are employed as professors, researchers, and consultants. They also work within organizations, often as part of a human resources department where they coordinate hiring and organizational development initiatives from an evidence-based perspective.
Industrial psychology is a relatively new branch of psychology that was created for corporations and organizations that needed more structure. Industrial psychology is able to provide this structure by evaluating employee behavior for the good of the company. It is often referred to as organizational psychology because of its emphasis on analyzing individuals who work for various organizations.

Essentially, industrial psychologists study the behavior of employees in a work setting. Although industrial psychology didn't begin until the 1920's, the discipline has evolved rapidly and revolutionized the workplace within the last century. Because the workplace is a social system, the application of industrial psychology is useful in understanding its complexity.

10. Education

Psychological tests especially those of general intelligence and of specific aptitudes have very extensive use in educational classification, selection and planing from the 1st grade (and sometimes earlier) through the university.Prior to World War-II schools and colleges were the largest user of psychological tests.

Educational psychology is the study of how humans learn in educational settings, the effectiveness of educational interventions, the psychology of teaching, and the social psychology of schools as organizations. Educational psychology is concerned with how students learn and develop, often focusing on subgroups such as gifted children and those subject to specific disabilities. Although the terms "educational psychology" and "school psychology" are often used interchangeably, researchers and theorists are likely to be identified in the US and Canada as educational psychologists, whereas practitioners in schools or school-related settings are identified as school psychologists. This distinction is however not made in the UK, where the generic term for practitioners is "educational psychologist."
Educational psychology can in part be understood through its relationship with other disciplines. It is informed primarily by psychology, bearing a relationship to that discipline analogous to the relationship between medicine and biology. Educational psychology in turn informs a wide range of specialties within educational studies, including instructional design, educational technology, curriculum development, organizational learning, special education and classroom management. Educational psychology both draws from and contributes to cognitive science and the learning sciences. In universities, departments of educational psychology are usually housed within faculties of education, possibly accounting for the lack of representation of educational psychology content in introductory psychology textbooks.

11. Mental Hospitals

In clinical or mental hospitals psychological tests are used primarily for individual diagnoses of factors associated with personal problems of learning, behavior attitudes or specific interpersonal relations.
Another areas are JAILS, CORRECTIONAL CENTERS and TRAINING INSTITUTIONS etc.