Question

Select a psychological test, and describe how it is used in the workplace. What are some ethical issues arise when using psychological testing?

Answer 1

Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

The one of the useful psychological test is Myers Briggs Personality Test which helps to identify the decision making ability of an employee in the workplace. This test was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isable Briggs Myers. Many popular Private organizations and government organization using this test to identify the correct employee for their organization.This personality test has four different scales to analys the personality type of someone.

Method of using

This test is basically based on a questionnaire that helps to collect information on how a person reacts on a situation. So the interviewer need to ask questions according to the Questionnaire of this personality test.The answers of the questions are calculated to identify the personality type of an employee.

Result of the Test

It helps to identify the personality traits of an employee by assuming 4 pairs of opposite traits.This is also called the four scale test.

First Scale( Extraversion and Introversion)

An extrovert person is always expressive. They are basically popular in gaining attention. So a business organization always like to choose an extrovert person as their employee.

In other hand an introvert person always like to be quiet. Their socialization skill is poor than an extrovert person. Not only that they are mostly like to work individually rather than as a group. They sometimes even feels uncomfortable for being surrounded by other people. This kind of attitude is not so preferable for a business organization.

Second Scale(Sensing and Intuition)

Sensing ability helps to know the actual reason behind an incedent. This test helps to identify that if an employee using his sensation to gather sensory information or he only using his intuition to find a fact. As we all know intuition is not a reliable method for reaching in an ultimate solution.

Third scale(Thinking and Feeling)

This scale helps to identify if the employee is making his decision by a logical thinking or he is just making a decision on the basis of his personal feeling or beliefs. An Interviewer always expects rational and logicl thinking from his selected employee. This scale helps to assume the thinking way of an employee.

Forth scale(Judging and Perceiving)

This scale identifies wheather the person is judgemental or not.If he is a judgemental person then his judgemental attitude will affect the work environment. A open minded, well perceiver person is always the first preference of any working organization.This scale helps to identify the attitude of an employee towards the world.

Conclusion

A working organization need to choose an appropiate employee for having a healthy and unbiased working place. This test helps to find an ideal employee for every working organization. So we can conclude that this psychological test is really useful in the workplace.

Ethical Issues in Psychological Testing

Privacy Factor

The one of major ethical issue of psychological testing is the privacy factor. As we need to ask personal questions to individual while collecting data for the psychological testing. This is hampering the privacy of the participant. Sometimes they are not interested to share personal things with a psychologist, but without their personal information a psychological test cant able to predict or assume the final result of that participant.This is a biggest ethical issue to deal with.

Biasness

Another popular ethical issue of psychological testing is Biasness. This could be Data collectional bias, Participant bias and also administering bias.This kind of biasness fails to predict the actual result and also can arise the ethical issues.

As example- If a psychologist is biased for a particular community, then her administration of the test would be biased against that particular community.So the result of the test also will be a biased result.

Informed Consent

Another major ethical issue of psychological testing is informed consent. The basic rule of a psychological testing is keeping private some matters like the goal of the test, the procedure of the test and the actual motive of the test.But sometimes psychologists need to tell everything to the participant. So after knowing all the things the participants can be alert about the test. This can create an ethical issue in using a psychological test.

As examle

If a participant knows the fact that the psychologist is going to test his fatigue level for doing a quick task. The participant can act as he is not fatigued for doing that quick task.