Assessment Training, Practice, and Research in the New Millennium: Challenges and Opportunities for Professional Psychology

A multidisciplinary international context now exists for examining the role of culture in the psychological assessment of human behavior, although using projective assessment methods within professional psychology in the United States is challenged as pseudoscience. This article examines new assumptions for training stemming from globalization and increasing recognition of the role of culture as a proximal variable in assessment. Training exemplars from the United States are contrasted with contemporary international assessment training objectives, instruments, and interpretation requirements. Ingredients for restructured multicultural assessment training are described and a demonstration report using five instruments for delineation of the cultural self is appended. The relevance of assessment practices for psychotherapy and other interventions in a managed care context are discussed. A more comprehensive and international human science of assessment is suggested as an antidote for intra-professional controversy and to unify disciplines focusing on cultural issues.