Discussion:
Psychological testing and Steinbeck
The book excerpt John Steinbeck - Quotes from the Log of The Sea of Cortez in Course Materials. This excerpt contains some thoughts about how we learn about things. Steinbeck discusses the specific case of how we learn about nature, but the thoughts can certainly be generalized beyond fishing.
Talking about his expedition, Steinbeck says is that "what we would see and record would be warped. by the collective pressure of our time and race [and] by the thrust of our individual personalities."
Think about the quote above as it might apply to how we study people in psychology. Steinbeck and his buddies were observing the ecology of the Sea of Cortez.
In psychological testing, as in other psychological activities, we are observing people's behavior, recording our version of what we observed, and interpreting it.
What are two questions psychologists could ask themselves to determine if what they see and record when they perform psychological testing is warped as Steinbeck described? Explain why the questions you chose are good ones.