The Arab-Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan) has long been at the center of cultural, social, and geopolitical changes in the region, which have been central in shaping the development of psychological practice and science in the region. The region has been at the cross section of multiple foreign influences (French, British, US, Arab), all of whom have impacted academia. This resulted not only in multiple ideologies and schools of psychological thought that remain until today, but also in a trilingual academic system that further deepens the disconnect among psychologists and test-takers in the region. Additionally, the Levant’s experience of occupation, trauma, diaspora, and political instability has led to an increased need and interest in mental health services and displaced populations, and hence the measurement of related constructs. More recently, with increased funding for research on such populations, non-Arab researchers have gained a renewed interest in the region, which has led the way to increased collaborative efforts in the development of psychometric tools. This chapter discusses how these contemporary historical developments have impacted testing-related practices academia, research, and practice in clinical, educational, and industrial/organizational practice.

This chapter introduces the rationale for the book and provides some context for the chapters. Chapters are not just narrative accounts of the development of psychological assessment in a particular country or region. Authors were asked to situate the chapters somewhere between narrative and historiography. Hence the chapters assume a more critical stance in reporting the history of psychological assessment that recognizes that history is never fact and always represents the subjective position of the author. Authors have drawn from existing sources and research but have simultaneously explored the social positionings of such research. We hope that this allows for a richer and perhaps even more interesting account of the international history of psychological assessment. The book begins with the chapters from Africa, followed by those from the Arab-Levant, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, and concluding with chapters from the Americas.