Psychometric Tests

What is a psychometric test?

• Aim to measure aspects of your mentalability, aptitude or your personality

• Used as part of the recruitment or selection process

• Provide employers with a method of selecting the most suitable job applicants or candidates for promotion

• Used by 80% of Fortune 500 and 75% ofTimes Top 100 companies

What do psychometric testsmeasure?

• How well you work with other people• How well you handle stress• Whether you will be able to cope with the

intellectual demands of the job• Your personality, preferences and abilities• Most do no t analyze your emotional or

psychological stability• Best match of individual to occupation and

working environment

What types of test are there?

What are they used for?

Psychometric tests

Selection &Recruitment

CareerProgression

A psychometric test should be:

• Objective:– The score must not affected by the testers' beliefs or values

• Standardized:– Must be administered under controlled conditions

• Reliable:– Must minimize and quantify any intrinsic errors

• Predictive:– Must make an accurate prediction of performance

• Non Discriminatory:– Must not disadvantage any group on the basis of gender, culture,

ethnicity, etc.

Some of the popular psychometrictests are:

• 16 PF• MBTI• OPQ32• Thomas Personal Profiling System• Gordon’s Personal Profile Inventory• Rorschach Ink-Blot Test• FIRO-B• Picture Frustration Test• Thematic Apperception Tests (TAT)

The Five Factors Model

Basis of many tests: Uses five personalitytraits:

• Openness

• Conscientiousness

• Extraversion

• Agreeableness

• Neuroticism

Five Factor Scoring:

-ve +ve

Extraversion

Agreeableness

Conscientiousn ess

Neuroticism

Openness toexperience

FIRO-B:FUNDAMENTAL INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP

ORIENTATION-BEHAVIOUR

• Devised by American psychologist, Will Schutz, in the1950's

• Helps people to understand themselves and theirrelationships with others

• Based on a 2-hour, 54-question questionnaire

• Describes interpersonal behavior in terms of three primary dimensions:

– 1. Need for Inclusion

– 2. Need for Control

– 3. Need for Affection

FIRO-B is used for:

• Team building and team development

• Individual development and executivecoaching

• Conflict resolution

• Selection and placement

• Management and leadership development

• Relationship counseling

MBTI: Myers-Briggs TypeIndicator

• Based on theories of Gustav Jung

• Most widely-used questionnaire based test

• Uses four bi-polar dimensions– Sensing –Intuition (SN)

– Thinking – Feeling (TF)

– Extraversion-Introversion (E-I)

– Judging-Perceiving (J-P)

• To create 16 ‘Personality Types’

MBTI is used for:

• Individual development

• Management and leadership development

• Team building and development

• Organizational change

• Improving communication

• Education and career counseling

• Relationship counseling

The DISC Personality ModelDirect, Influencing, Steady and Compliant behaviors.

• Developed in 1920s to understand ‘why peopledo what they do’

• Simple questionnaire based

• Uses four categories of human behavioral styles– "D" for Dominance-Drive-Direct,

– "I" for Influence

– "S" for Steadiness or Stability

– "C" for Compliant, Conscientious, or Cautious

The DISC Four Quadrant Model

DISC is used for:

• As a learning tool

• For career development

• Training, coaching and mentoring

• Organisational development andperformance

16 Personality Factor model (16PF)

• Developed in the 1940s and refined in the60s

• Attempts to define the basic underlying personality

• Questionnaire based

• Analysis using 16 personality factors

G

Q1

Factor Descriptors

A Warmth Reserved Outgoing

B Reasoning Less Intelligent More Intelligent

C Emotional Stability Affected by

feelingsEmotionally stable

The 16 factorswith their word

E Dominance Humble Assertive

F Liveliness Sober Happy-go-lucky

RuleConsciousness

Expedient Conscientious

H Social Boldness Shy Venturesome

I Sensitivity Tough-minded Tender-minded

L Vigilance Trusting Suspicious

M Abstractedness Practical Imaginative

N Privateness Straightforward Shrewd

O Apprehension Self-Assured Apprehensive

Openness toChange

Conservative Experimenting

descriptors ofeach scale

Q2 Self-Reliance Group-

dependentSelf-sufficient

Q3 Perfectionism Self-conflict Self-control

Q4 Tension Relaxed Tense

16 PF is used for:

• Selection

• Development

• Executive coaching

• Teambuilding

Johari Window

• Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955• Used to help people better understand

their interpersonal communication andrelationships

• subject chooses 5 or 6 is out of a list ofadjectives

55

• Peers of the subject are then pick 5 or 6 adjectives which they think describe the subject

Eachadjective is placed in one of four quadrants

Team members - and leaders - should strive to increase their open free areas, and to reduce their blind, hidden and unknown areas.

BELBIN TEAM ROLEINVENTORY

• Used to place individuals in their mosteffective team roles

• Categorises team roles under three orientations:– Action-oriented roles

– People-oriented roles

– Cerebral roles

The 9 Belbin Team Roles

Co-coordinatorResourceInvestigator

Team Worker

ShaperCompany

Worker/Implementer

Completer/finisher

PlantMonitor/

EvaluatorSpecialist

Belbin team profiling is used to:

• Create balanced working teams:– One Co-coordinator or Shaper (not both) for

leader

– A Plant to stimulate ideas

– A Monitor/Evaluator to maintain honesty andclarity

– One or more Implementer, Team worker, Resource investigator or Completer/finisher to make things happen

Dr. Meredith Belbin:

"Nobody is perfect - but ateam can be"

Aptitude and Ability Tests

• Designed to assess one’s logical reasoning orthinking performance

• Usually consist of multiple choice questions, administered under exam conditions

• Typical test might allow 30 minutes for 30 or soquestions

• At least 5000 aptitude and ability tests on themarket

• On-line testing increasingly popular

Types of aptitude and ability tests

For more information:BOOKS

Anastasi Anne, Urbina Susana, Psychological Testing,Pearson Education, 2003.

Mcshane S, Glinow A M, Sharma R, Introduction to OrganizationBehavior, Tata McGraw Hills, 2006.

E-BooksD.Constantine-Simms,Everything you need to know to pass psychometric tests.

MagazinesHRM Review February 2007

W eb s ites http:/ / ww w . t e a mfoc u s.co.uk/d i f fe r e n t_ t y p e s _ o f_ p s y c h o metri c _t e sts . htm h t t p : / /ch a ng i n g m ind s.or g /d i sc ip l i ne s/hr/s e l e cti o n /p s y c ho m e tric. h tm http:/ / ww w .p e rs o n a l i t y p a t h wa y s.com/ t y p e _ i nv e nt o r y .html http:/ / e n . w ik i p e d i a. o rg w w w .h u m a nm e trics.com http:/ / ww w .o p p.c o .uk