Posing risks and personality questions

By CHRIS DANIELS

Psychologists are worried that their ability to treat people could be at risk because the secret tests they use are available online.

Dr Gina Priestley, a clinical psychologist who teaches at the University of Auckland and has a special interest in psychometric teaching, says she has found the restricted tests available on the internet.

She immediately emailed the site - she is keeping its name confidential - warning of the damage that publishing the tests can cause.

The site Dr Priestley found came from someone purporting to be a psychiatrist and offering diagnosis. It showed the restricted tests, which the profession deliberately keeps secret, alongside actual scoring sheets.

These tests are restricted, or protected so that people cannot easily fake the results by knowing how the answers to the various questions are scored.

If the tests get too widely circulated their usefulness wears out, meaning it is harder for professionals such as Dr Priestley to do their job.

"I really need a good tool, not one that is worn out and no longer very sensitive, because too many people know the answers, or have had practice and expect what is going to happen."

On the general subject of online personality and IQ testings, Dr Priestley says there is nothing wrong with them - just so long as they are not taken too seriously, or instead of professional help.

"Mostly they're quite amusing, but some of them I have to admit I've looked at it and thought 'mmmm, if someone really took this seriously, I'd be a bit worried for them'.

"Many of the tests I have seen have been complete nonsense, and I don't think many people would fall for them.

"When you are taking a test like that you need to compare your performance with the wider range of abilities that are out there in the real world."

A proper comparison requires enough respondents so that the results reflect the distribution in society.

Another aspect of online personality testing is that not everyone who takes the test is doing so under the same circumstances.

Others may have had some practice, or had seen the questions before, or took half an hour when you only had 10 minutes, she says.

Another issue that she has with online personality and IQ testing is the kind of reaction that can come from finding out something that may be worrying.

"My concern is the issue of interpretation.

"Most of these are quite light-hearted and I don't think people take them too seriously.

"But I would be concerned if someone took a test and got stressed if they thought they had done poorly."

Attempting online self-diagnosis is unwise.

A professional who administers a test would take many other factors and areas of life into consideration.