The Movement of Psychological Extras Into Ability Assessment

To circumvent some problems associated with traditional ability assessment, psychologists have searched for extra information during testing. In recent years, efforts have been developing to turn these "psychological extras" into more formal psychological assessment practice. These strategies include (a) learning-potential assessment, (b) paired-associate learning, (c) diagnostic teaching, and (d) child development observation. The current status of these proposed assessment strategies is reviewed, their advantages and disadvantages discussed, and some areas of future research are proposed. To answer the question of whether these procedures can serve a position of standard psychological practice, research must: (a) outline how such strategies contribute to greater sophistication in prescription, (b) determine what populations can best be assessed through these approaches, (c) demonstrate how the resulting diagnostic information will generalize across different tasks, situations, and individuals, and (d) develop a theoretical orientation through which systematic research efforts can be directed.