Which of the following best describes the purpose of psychological as…

Sarah is a 25-year-old woman who is seeking career guidance and wants to understand her personality traits better. She has been feeling dissatisfied with her current job and wants to explore other career options that align with her interests and strengths. Sarah decided to undergo a formal assessment of her personality attributes to gain insights into her unique characteristics. The psychologist conducting the assessment uses a variety of methods, including interviews, psychological tests, and a case study approach.

Which of the following best describes the purpose of psychological assessment in Sarah's case?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → To understand and evaluate Sarah's personality attributes

Option	Reason
Option (1): To measure Sarah's reaction time to stimuli. Incorrect.	Reaction time is the time taken to react to a stimulus, a single narrow attribute of a person.
Option (2): To predict Sarah's future career success from her intelligence. Incorrect.	Prediction of later success is drawn from what the assessment shows, and intelligence tests give a global measure of cognitive competence.
Option (3): To understand and evaluate Sarah's personality attributes. Correct.	Assessment means the measurement of psychological attributes of a person and their evaluation, done with several methods against set standards.
Option (4): To assess Sarah's cognitive abilities for academic performance. Incorrect.	Cognitive ability tests report general cognitive competence, including the ability to profit from schooling.

NCERT (2026-27): “ASSESSMENT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES
Psychological attributes are involved in very simple phenomena like in time taken to react to a stimulus, i.e. reaction time, and also in highly global concepts like happiness. It is difficult to count and specify the number of psychological attributes that can be assessed. Assessment is the first step in understanding a psychological attribute. Assessment refers to the measurement of psychological attributes of individuals and their evaluation, often using multiple methods in terms of certain standards of comparison. Any attribute will be said to exist in a person only if it can be measured by using scientific procedures. For example, when we say, “Harish is dominant”, we are referring to the degree of ‘dominance’ in Harish. This statement is based on our own assessment of ‘dominance’ in him. Our assessment may be informal or formal. Formal assessment is objective, standardised, and organised. On the other hand, informal assessment varies from case to case and from one assessor to another and, therefore, is open to subjective interpretations. Psychologists are trained in making formal assessment of psychological attributes.”

Which of the following best describes the purpose of psychological assessment in Sarah's case?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 3

The correct answer is Option (3) → To understand and evaluate Sarah's personality attributes

Option	Reason
Option (1): To measure Sarah's reaction time to stimuli. Incorrect.	Reaction time is the time taken to react to a stimulus, a single narrow attribute of a person.
Option (2): To predict Sarah's future career success from her intelligence. Incorrect.	Prediction of later success is drawn from what the assessment shows, and intelligence tests give a global measure of cognitive competence.
Option (3): To understand and evaluate Sarah's personality attributes. Correct.	Assessment means the measurement of psychological attributes of a person and their evaluation, done with several methods against set standards.
Option (4): To assess Sarah's cognitive abilities for academic performance. Incorrect.	Cognitive ability tests report general cognitive competence, including the ability to profit from schooling.