aptitude

An aptitude is an innate ability to do a certain kind of work. Aptitudes may be physical or mental.

Intelligence and aptitudes

Aptitude and intelligence quotient are related, and in some ways opposite, views of human mental ability. Whereas intelligence quotient sees intelligence as being a single measurable characteristic affecting all mental ability, aptitude breaks mental ability down into many different characteristics which are supposed to be more or less independent of each other.

On the contrary, a casual analysis with any group of test scores will nearly always show them to be highly correlated. The U.S. Department of Labor's General Learning Ability, for instance, is determined by combining Verbal, Numerical and Spatial aptitude subtests. In a given person some may be relatively low and others relatively high. In the context of an aptitude test the "high" and "low" scores are usually not far apart, because all ability test scores tend to be correlated. Aptitude is better applied intra-individually to determine what tasks a given individual is relatively more skilled at performing. Inter-individual aptitude differences are typically not very significant due to IQ differences. Of course this assumes individuals have not already been pre-screened for IQ though some other process such as SAT scores, GRE scores, finishing medical school, etc.^{[citation needed]}

Skills, abilities and aptitudes

Skills, abilities, and aptitudes are similarly related but distinct, descriptions of what a person can do, and should not be conflated. Skills are a backward looking description, and describe what a person has learned to do in the past. Abilities are a present description, and describe what a person can do now, including things which was not explicitly learned skills. Aptitudes are a forward looking description, and describe skills a person has the ability to learn in the future. ^{[citation needed]}

Aptitude Only batteries

Aptitudes are generally tested in the form of an aptitude battery which tests a large number of aptitudes at one time with a series of small tests for each aptitude. Aptitude batteries may lean more toward innate aptitudes or more toward learned skills. Aptitude batteries that lean toward aptitudes are often useful in selecting a career. The leading researchers and purveyors of aptitude tests are:

• The Vocational Research Institute which produces a test used in schools and agencies that combines interest and aptitude for career guidance is Careerscope.
• The Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation (JORF) is the original aptitude assessment organization. It produces the Johnson O'Connor Aptitude Battery (JOAB).
• The Highlands Company is a spinoff of the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation. It produces and the Highland Ability Battery.
• The Ball Foundation produces the Ball Aptitude Battery.
• Aptitude Inventory Measurement Service produces the AIMS Aptitude Battery.

Combined aptitude and knowledge tests

Batteries that lean toward learned skills are frequently called aptitude tests. An example that leans both ways is the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB).

See also

• Aptitude Tests
• Talent
• Intellectual giftedness
• Spatial Visualization Ability

External links

• History of Aptitude Testing
• The Highlands Ability Battery
• Vocational Research Institute
• The Ball Aptitude Battery
• Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation
• Cognitive Styles and Implications for the Engineering Curriculum
• The Rockport Institute
• Aptitude Inventory Measurement Service (AIMS)
• Talent is a Force not a Tool
• Measuring Aptitude - from the Education Resources Information Center Clearinghouse on Tests Measurement and Evaluation, Washington DC.

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