Technical Foundations for Measuring Ego Development: The Washington University Sentence Completion Test (Personality & Clinical Psychology (Hardcover)) - Softcover

Hy, Le Xuan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0805820590 ISBN 13: 9780805820591

Publisher: Psychology Press, 1998

Synopsis

This book describes the evolution of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (SCT), a major measure of ego development, from an intuitive rating scale to an empirically derived reliable and valid personality test. The authors recount the complete history of the SCT, which begins with the Family Problems Scale, an objective test of mothers' attitudes. Work with that test led to a concept of ego development, testable by the SCT, which was elaborated and refined in further work.

The book discusses uses of the SCT in other languages and other cultures, offers suggestions for giving the SCT in translation, and presents computer programs for handling SCT responses. Data on reliability and validity of the SCT are brought up to date. These include evidence of the equivalence of the male and female forms of the current version, Form 81, and the equivalence of the two halves of Form 81, each usable as a short form. Rules for obtaining total protocol ratings for 18-item as well as 36-item forms are given. Frequently used forms of the SCT, including a new form for adolescents and children over eight years old, are presented.

About this title

Synopsis

Prior to the 1950s, most subjects for psychological research in the United States were "normal, white, native-born men" or children. The few studies of girls and women tended to be about the nature and extent of sex differences in intelligence or occasionally other abilities. In the 1950s and 1960s, several investigators independently began studies of women's attitudes towards problems of family life. Evidently it was their function as mothers that finally brought women to the attention of research psychologists. This is the complete history of the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT), beginning with the Family Problems Scale, an objective test of mothers' attitudes. Results with that test led to a concept of ego development. The SCT was meant to test that concept and its results led to the elaboration and redefinition of the concept of ego development. This volume presents a new version of the WUSCT - the WUSCTY - developed specifically for testing children and adolescent youths.

In addition, it includes a review of cross-cultural applications of the SCT, including SCTs given in translation and SCTs given in English in other cultures or subcultures, as well as instructions for how to give the test in translation.

Edition details

• Publisher: Psychology Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0805820590
• ISBN 13: 9780805820591
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 142
• Editor: Loevinger Jane