Introduction
Psychological testing is simply described as the standard evaluation applied to portend peoples conduct in terms of their skills and cognition to handle different issues. The assessment involves a combination of information from a range of tests on the ability of a person’s response to questions. It further examines peoples skills to act on problems and the recommendations made. The process requires people to take the same tests in similar conditions so as to avoid favoritism in result provision. Psychological testing is done by examining behavior samples and personalities of people. The assessment has developed through many events; these comprise testing by use of alpha and beta in the First World War, assessment tests used for selection in the Chinese civil service, error tests used in Wundt’s laboratory and the MMPI development among others.
Selection of civil servants in China
This paper discusses the history, advance and the main events of psychological testing applied in China to select the officials in the civil service. This system was employed to substitute the recruitment system which was mainly based on political and family connections. In China, people were examined in various fields of philosophy and classical literature. The tests were used to evaluate the recruits ability and skill where by the highest scoring candidates were considered for the available positions in the civil service. This means of psychological testing played a key part in the rational and social life of China between the years 650 and 1905. The tests also involved the assessment of the civil servants’ competence in speaking and writing the Chinese language.
The earlier forms of psychological testing in china assisted in the development of social education skills, human way of thinking and expertise in languages among others (Higgins, 2002). Although the western countries brought in modern ways of psychological testing, the Chinese had developed unique ways of assessments. The approaches employed in China were of great benefit to the development of psychological examination despite disregard from western countries. According to (Higgins 2002), the tests did not favor the main population which comprised of poor local people since they did not have access to the examinations. The tests were however, taken by people with high level profiles.
One of the outcomes as a result of these events was the increased number of failures. The people who did not pass the tests however used their acquired skills to practice informal errands such as carpentry and trading. This greatly helped for the development of china even though the tests were not intended for this purposes. The tests also helped people to recognize the psychological stability and use their linguistic prowess in poem writing and essay writing lessons. Women, along side Buddhists, used their skills to carry out their duties and passing knowledge to their children since they were not allowed to take the tests (Elman, 2000).
Assessment tests used to select the people in the civil service acted as a way to promote social and cultural understanding in the Chinese community. The tests examined the capability of individuals in classical learning and literature. This enabled the development of cultural education systems which promoted the social life in the community. The examinations led to the introduction of social groups, which were described according to the merits. These groups included the merchant and gentry groups founded from the recommendations of the tests. However, the end of the tests had several costs to the gentry’ social groups since their powers were reduced and reforms introduced to the educational systems. This was a result of the modern approaches of mental assessment brought by western countries (Elman, 2000).
In addition, psychological tests were closely linked to the political systems in China. Politics of the imperial government aided the introduction of interpreting classical songs in the examinable syllabus. This affected the social and cultural effects of the examinations which were implied to help people get in to the civil service. Politics influenced competition which created tension to people taking the examinations since there were incidents of corruption and examination venues were administered by the military. This led to boycotts which enhanced development of the testing practice. The examinations were also used as a means to segregate the illiterate from entering the imperial exam centers. It was further used to distinguish between the low class and the high class since education monopolized the cultural facilities.
People in the low social class decided to concentrate on learning social arts and religion in order to pass the competitive examinations set by the imperial government. However, the examination system was adjusted, and several additional topics were introduced to the syllabus. This was intended to reduce the number of qualifying candidates since there was stiff competition for the civil service jobs. It was also done politically by the government to widen the syllabus and the social life status in the Chinese community. After a long struggle without succeeding, several groups introduced their learning systems which conferred to the western education system. These approaches were introduced to improve on the social, political and cultural education system. This took place in the late 1890s and early 1900s (Higgins, 2002). There was a steadfast rise in implementation of the traditional system of education. This led to the termination of earlier methods of assessment hence transformation to the modern ways of psychological evaluation.
Conclusion
In China, the writing tests were used to enroll candidates in the civil system. The system was associated with lots of political interference, which affected the social and cultural ways of the Chinese community. Presence of the imperial government made it difficult for the less advantaged to qualify for the civil servant positions. However, this complexity enabled the failures to apply their skills in other unofficial fields. The continued unfairness from the imperial government then led to protests and introduction of radical changes in the education system. This offered a key role in the development of psychological tests since the system engrossed the modern ways of psychological evaluation tests.
References
Elman, B. (2000). A cultural history of civil examinations in late imperial China. Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Higgins, T. L., & Sun, H. C. The development of psychological testing in China. International Journal of Psychology, Volume 37, Issue 4, 2002, Pages 246 – 254.