The human subjects under professional psychological influence: the expert role of the psychologist in assessment, intervention, and professional selection

Abstract

Abstract. This article considers the broad and multifaceted impact that psychologists have on people placed in the roles of patients, research participants, or applicants to various profession-based settings. Far from acting as disinterested observers or passive administrators of standardised batteries of questions, psychologists play an active, and often a poorly recognised, role in the construction of psychological subjectivity. Their impact is exercised across three main areas: psychological examination, therapeutic or institutional intervention, and selection to the professions. Based on the latest empirical and theoretical literature, this article examines how psychological testing is not only a diagnostic technology but also a practice that shapes identity, with long-term consequences for the individual. The psychologist as intervener is also explored in terms of ethics codes, situational pressures, and community-based empowerment models. In the area of selection for the professions, psychologists have decision-making power that determines people's career paths and access to opportunities, frequently in circumstances where fairness, cultural bias, and procedural openness are paramount issues. In organising the analysis, a comparative model is constructed, charting psychologist roles in different application domains and setting out commonality as well as challenges across domains. Special emphasis is placed on evidence-based interventions, digital technologies, and socio-political demands that condition psychological practice today. Recent research is synthesised to demonstrate that as psychological technologies have become more sophisticated, their deployment continues to depend upon the interpretive authority and ethical competence of the practitioner. The article concludes by calling for a more reflective and ethically grounded practice, in which psychologists recognise the inescapably interventionist nature of their work and reflect upon the guidelines that underpin their actions. Through such reflexivity, coupled with research rigour and cultural sensitivity, psychological influence can remain constructive, fair, and respectful of human complexity.