Individuals can vary in multiple ways in regards to their personalities, mental abilities, emotional reactions, skill sets, etc. (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). These differences in people are referred to as individual differences (IDs) and have been a significant area of study in Industrial/Organizational (IO) psychological research due to their presumed effect on work related outcomes (Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). However, focus on IDs greatly declined due to the lack of research supporting the predictive power of IDs in regards to work related variables, such as job performance, as well as, adverse impact caused by the inappropriate use of ability testing (Daus, 2016; Bauer & Erdogan, 2012). Despite these reasons for the decline in studying IDs, many arguments exist to support the importance and practicality of once again studying IDs. Rationales for studying IDs are discussed.
Interest in the study of IDs rose partly due to the introduction of intelligence testing during WWI (Daus, 2016) and the development of the Big Five model of personality (Barrick, Mount, & Strauss, 1993). When Robert Yerkes introduced intelligence testing into the selection procedures used by the military, it allowed the military to efficiently and accurately place recruits into the appropriate positions based on their cognitive ability scores (Kevles, 1968). After the war ended, intelligence testing became much more commonplace in public areas outside of the military, such as schools, immigration offices, and
There are a slew of tests that attempt to measure how intelligent human beings are. They all measure different aspects and those factors will be covered here. One of the misconceptions is that the tests measure inborn intelligence. Few of the activities are designed for that purpose. They actually measure a person’s interaction with the environment and what they have learned from that interaction. The most common tested aspect is critical thinking. Instead of straightforward questions, intelligence tests offer questions with a twist. It is assumed that the most intelligent people will see obvious flaws in the obvious answers (Steinberg & Williams, 2015). Some intelligence tests also measure reflexes, both mental and physical. The assumption is quick reaction times reflect an active brain and in the line of thinking, a more intelligent person.
Sir Francis Galton (1869, 1883) quantified traits that were assumed to be correlated, and developed the first comprehensive test of intelligence. By the end of the 19th century, the foundation was laid for modern day intelligence testing (Wicket, 1998). In 1905, the French psychologist Alfred Binet published the first modern intelligence test to identify students who needed special help in coping with the school curriculum (Neiser, et al. 1996). Shortly thereafter in 1908 and 1911, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon published revisions of the Binet intelligence test (Wicket). The mental age concept was adopted to express the results in adequate units. The concept is based on an individual’s performance in comparison to the average performance of individuals in a specific chronological age group (Kaplin, & Saccuzzo).
The relationship between intelligence and work related outcomes has been found through various empirical studies. A longitudinal studies found that there is a positive moderate correlation (.51) between IQ at 12 years of age and occupational level and a slightly higher correlation (.53) between IQ at 12-year-old and income (.53) aged 40-50. (Judge, Higgins, Thoresen, Barrick, 1999) Thus, we can see that IQ level plays a significant role on work related outcomes from this empirical study. In addition, another study found that IQ level has a low correlation (.23) with performance within low complexity jobs whereas IQ has a strong correlation (.58) with performance in high complexity jobs. (Hunter & Hunter, 1984; See Schmidt & Hunter, 2004 for an overview) To put it another way, high intelligence is not essential for low complexity jobs, for example, waiter and cleaner does not require high IQ. On the contrary, high intelligence is crucial for complex jobs since it represents high reasoning and mental capabilities. Thus, it is not hard to see that individuals’ behaviour at work will be remarkably
The teams were classified depending on the IQ levels which suited those in the war to have those with high IQ to strategies. Another form of using intelligence test is choosing careers that will suit them and help in infrastructural. They started using the IQ levels to pick a career, and they usually would start doing this at the age of twenty but now can be employed at age three (Prieto, 1981). They use intelligence testing to help them categorize people to have them use their full potential and to assist their community around them.
Workplace motivation can be influenced by individual differences. Using Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence Test my personal intelligence is classed as Interpersonal. People with Interpersonal characteristics have the ability to relate to others, they understand the relationship between people and their situation and have excellent communication skills. The preferred learning style is human contact, communications, cooperation and team work. Gardener identified six other types of intelligence:
The purpose of this assignment is to have you explore dimensional facets of, the composite hypothetical construct, “personality.” You will do this by studying, self-administering, and then interpreting and reporting on the results of, several “personality tests.”
After World War II American intelligence had the need to be transformed. The inexperience along with bureaucracy and poor coordination among American intelligence officers obligated the United States intelligence community to change dramatically in order to confront the new challenges that emerged after the end of WWII. From Early America through WWI the intelligence system of the United States of America was involved in operations in which they had to construct intelligence systems virtually from scratch (Andrew 1995). Human intelligence was already developed, but with certain limitations and other intelligence disciplines were underdeveloped and very seldom sophisticated. After WWI America recessed and settled in a period of peace. The
First, skills variety concerns about the capacity a person needs to complete a task; then, task identity defines the energy and enthusiasm a person needs to complete a job; task significance refers to the part of the job from where a worker learns new things; autonomy attribute deals with an individual’s independence; feedback refers to the part of the job where employees see their performance. In fact, there is a part of a given job that stimulates an employee’s mental condition, later mental condition influence a worker’s goals and objectives. There are three mental conditions that affect a person’s performance; primarily, knowledge of the given job and the importance of it, then, information on job results; third the gaining information, which refers to what the employee learns from the job. As a result, an employee increases interest in the job; he/she grows his/her self-esteem and productivity. In the same way, male and female differ on work motivation and job satisfaction. Managers and other professionals develop deep insights into the complexity of the individuals’ motivation and satisfaction of their work (Sultan,
The MBTI differs from the more traditional testing and measuring traits, such as intelligence quotient (IQ) testing, in that the MBTI assesses individuals, and then classifies them into specific “types”. Although originally published by the Educational Testing Service, the MBTI protocol is currently controlled and published by the Consulting Psychology Press (CPP). To keep up with changing social standards and norms, CPP continually seeks to improve the MBTI, and as such the assessment is constantly in flux. In years past, there was only one set of official assessment questions. That has changed over time, and at present there are four unique versions of the assessment.
The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) is a sophisticated assessment developed to not only measure personality but also to predict how people will react in different situation. It is a more indepth version of MBTI. The purpose of this test is to provide a portrait of both personal and work related characteristics. It is a self-report inventory, and a personality assessment. It is empirically derived by test taker’s drives, motivations, interpersonal style, and ways of leading. CPI used common factors that are easier to be understood by test takers to measure their interpersonal skills, self-management skills, motivation and thinking styles, and personal characteristics. Your CPI report is divided into four parts, however, we will only discuss the first, second and the last part of the result in the report.
As human beings, we different from one another. We are created with a lot of character traits. We all can gain knowledge about our own personalities, we develop our perceptive about strengths and weaknesses, and clarify what we truly value as individuals. The Myers Brigg personality assessment classified me as an Introvert, Sensing, Feeling, and Perceiving (ISFP) personality type. Results showed slightly Introvert 16 %, sensing 12%, feeling 19%, and perceiving 3%. Throughout this paper I will analyze the diverse parts of my own personality traits and how those traits have effected both my personal and my working environment.
Allport defines personality as ‘the dynamic organisation within the individual of those psychological systems that determine his unique adjustment to his environment’ (Allport, 1937). An individual’s unique personality traits and attributes are a powerful indicator of how he/she will interact with the work environment. The difference between average and outstanding employees can often be solely personality related. As the employee is the most valuable asset to the company, ‘selecting the right employee during the process is critical’ (Carbery and Cross, 2013, pp. 41-53)
Companies have started to use personality tests in the past five years so that they can find a potential employee’s strengths and weaknesses. If questions and answers are quite accurate and test is done properly it can help an employer to find more about person’s advantages and disadvantages. It is very important to know because one of the most important points is that most of personality tests help to recognize unqualified candidates. “Although experts warn that many personality assessments don't deliver what they promise, legitimate scientifically validated tests are helping employers evaluate job candidates to select those best suited for particular positions. Other tests are designed to measure intelligence, honesty, management aptitude and other qualities.”
Industrial organizational psychology is a field of psychology concerned with the application of psychological theories and doctrine to organizations. This field concentrates on improving workplace output and interrelated issues such as the mental and physical welfare of employees. Experts in the industrial organizational field offer a wide variety of services including investigating worker attitudes and conduct, assessing companies, and perform leadership training exercises. The overall objective of this discipline is to investigate and comprehend human behavior in the office. Occupational issues bear great significance to psychologists, given that most employees spend the majority of their adult lives working in offices. Work acts as the defining factor for all human beings making it an important subject to study (Avsec, 2010: Weinberg, Sutherland, Cooper, & Palgrave Connect, 2010). Other related issues that are of interest to psychologists include correlating between the right job and individual character set and discovering new methods of lowering workplace stress.
Personality has been inherently defined as possession of a particular set of characteristics possessed by people which influences their behaviour and reactions in different situation along with their motivation level to react to difficulties at the workplace. However, understanding personality traits and their development has been a contentious matter. Nonetheless, various theories have been forwarded to rather contribute to this contentious debate. For example employers set goals and encourage involvement with the company to have a better employee performance, which would result in higher motivation level subsequently leading to increased efficiency. Studies regarding the relationship between personality traits of a particular employee