I can understand why you feel that psychometrics assumes deficits rather
than differences. For some reason, when people hear the term
"psychometrics" they immediately think of intelligence testing and from
that they start thinking about people labelled as "below average", "needing
special help", etc. In fact the whole notion of below/above average
reflects a bias in what psychometrics is about.
Psychometrics involves all types of testing. I know few people that would
say one person is:
"deficient" in racism if they score low on a racism scale,
"gifted" in homophobia if they score high on a homophobia scale,
"needing special help" in religious belief if they score low on a measure
of religious beliefs,
Etc.
So, I think the perception that psychometrics is based on "deficits" rather
than "differences" reflects a very narrow view of what the field of
psychometrics is about. In fact, confining a discussion of psychometrics to
only intelligence testing also reflects some biases about the area.
- Marc
G. Marc Turner, MEd
Department of Psychology
Southwest Texas State University
San Marcos, TX 78666
phone: (512)245-2526
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
