What are psychometric assessments?

The term "psychometric" is made up of the words "psyche," which means "mind," and "metre," which means "measure." As a result, the term "psychometrics" refers to measuring the mind. Psychometric testing is a technique for assessing a person's mental ability and behavioural style. Initially, psychometric tests were solely intended to be used in educational and therapeutic settings. Today a psychometric assessment is also a method of determining a person's eligibility for a job based on their cognitive abilities and personality traits. Secular organisations that utilise psychometric assessments feel that administering a standardised exam to candidates can objectively assess the best fit for the job.

Types of psychometric assessments

Personality testing, capabilities, projective assessments, aptitude tests, such as intelligence tests and emotional intelligence, are the basic categories of psychometric assessments. Objective assessments are also used to determine whether an individual presents with symptoms of a mental illness, such as depression or anxiety. Even though these objective assessments are not used for diagnostic purposes in isolation, they provide helpful information to complement clinical judgement, patients reports and collateral information. Personality assessments refer to the estimation of an individual's makeup or the individual's characteristic behaviour patterns that are salient and stable in adults. Aptitude tests determine everything from cognitive ability to more specific skills such as numerical reasoning. IQ scores are measured against a standard or norm, and an individual is assessed in comparison to the norm. The following are examples of standard tests:

• Error checking
• Numerical Reasoning
• Diagrammatic Reasoning
• Spatial Reasoning
• Verbal Reasoning

A few psychometric tests include:

• Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV)
• Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised Fourth Edition (WISC-IV)
• Becks Depression Inventory (BDI)
• Draw a Person Test (DAP)
• Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PDF)
• The Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator
• The Work Personality Index
• The Strong Inventory Interest Assessment
• The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument Test