Psychological Assessment

Abstract

Psychological assessment is one of the key disciplines of scientific psychology. During this century it has been confused with psychology itself. The activity of any psychologist—whether in basic and applied fields, with sophisticated equipment in the laboratory, or when employing psychological tests or other assessment methods in applied fields—involves assessment at some stage. In this article, a series of challenges at the end of 20th century and avenues for development for the forthcoming decades are described. First of all, a continuation of the progress made during this century can be expected. A second avenue reviewed is related to the relationships between new technologies and the cognitive and neuropsychological sciences. Moreover, it can be expected that new social needs will produce several challenges. Finally, it can be predicted that there will be advances in the control of the assessor's as well as of the subject's behaviors during the assessment process.