Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Cognitive Assessments
1
Intelligence As It
Came to Be
3
Aptitude They come
in all Shapes & Sizes
6
Cognitive
Assessments
Industrial
Applications
Table of Contents
8
Cognitive
Assessments The
Good. The Bad.
12
Cognition Common
Myths Debunked
18
Cognitive
Assessments:
Performance
Predictors
20
Its Complicated:
Aptitude & Creativity
21
Parting Note
Intelligence As It Came to Be
Smart, Genius, Intelligent all words that describe someone a cut above the rest of the field. A man or woman separated by their mind
from those less gifted if one had to say. Take the eccentric Leonardo Da Vinci for example; pundits and peers alike often likened him to
being wildly intelligent.
However, what does Intelligence mean?
A standard dictionary definition states,
intelligence
[in-tel-i-juh ns]
Left brain
strategic
accurate
analytical
- Freeman (1971)
practical
linear
What Freeman tried to explain was the predictive nature of aptitudes. When we say that
Krishna or Radha has an aptitude for teaching, we imply that he or she has the capacity
or ability to acquire proficiency in teaching under appropriate conditions.
Bearing this in mind, there is also a long-standing debate about whether aptitude is an
absolute product of heredity or environment. Of course, certain aspects of many aptitudes are inborn.
F=ma
e=mc2
For example, it is very likely for a person showing musical aptitude to possess a musical
throat, and someone showing an aptitude for typing or carpentry to have long and dexterous hands.
Right brain
creative
free spirit
sensual
passionte
vivid
However, this is merely one side of the picture. It is equally possible that said persons aptitude for music is a result of his or her living in the company of good musicians. Therefore,
it is safer to conclude that the aptitude of an individual at a particular moment in all probability remains dependent upon both heredity and environment.
Now that you know this, it is easy to assume you feel cheated. Yes. Aptitude by no means
is restricted to trying to solve English comprehension, numerical ability and data interpretation. In fact, aptitude is diverse musical, clerical, art, law, and medicine among others.
In all honesty, there is no end to it, because aptitudes simply vary.
Nevertheless, the world did require a comparative scale to assess people. It was Alfred
Binet, French psychologist and inventor of the first practical intelligence test the Binet-Simon scale, who emerged with a heroic answer. In early 20th century, he altered the French
schooling system by ascertaining intelligence levels of children, thereby grouping them
into grades. Inadvertently, it was this assessment that revolutionized the education system
to what we came to know of it.
However, the more important question to ask is how cognitive and aptitude tests sept
into the organizational atmosphere.
The answer lies within when all psychological inventions had begun development. We have World War I to thank for that by the way; humankind always did progress well ahead of the natural curve during conflict. Robert Yerkes, American psychologist, ethologist, and primatologist, used his time then to devise an Alpha Test, which the army later used to test for basic aptitude in their recruits. Not very surprisingly,
this test found industrial application for hiring employees much later.
To add to that further, renowned psychologist David Wechsler, renowned psychologist did not fully acknowledge the G factor despite
studying under its inventor, Spearman. During World War I, he worked with the United States Army to develop psychological tests. By splitting the verbal and non-verbal components, and incorporating factors like education and socio-economic background into the mix, he improved upon the General Intelligence Test, or so he believed. Unsurprisingly, this also found its way to corporate use in the future.
With the turn of the 21st century, the application and implications of cognitive tests evolved to a level far beyond the comprehension of a
non-professional. Cognitive tests no longer remained limited to sheer basic formats, but specific fields.
Simply put, Oxford tests aptitude in history, astronauts test spatial aptitude, while pilots are tested on psychomotor aptitude to ascertain fitness for the sky. After all, with air routes most commonly used as a mode of transport, our lives remain largely in a pilots hands. We had
better hope the test made sure he is competent enough to be up there with us.
All in all, aptitude testing has been one of humankinds most important inventions; it helps put the right people on the job, and also doubles
up as a crystal ball through which a candidates future growth is somewhat assessed while measuring current potential.
Now let us have a look at some of its Industry Applications.
While quotes serve as a great source of inspiration, companies are beginning to understand, the hard way, that enthusiasm is not nearly
enough. According to a host of industrial psychologists, aptitude will be marked as a key determining factor for success. Passion &
Inclination are components not to be taken lightly, but assessments backed by science and numbers tend towards reliability more than an
employers instinct on successful hires.
So, how do you think cognitive and aptitude assessments will make it worth your while?
Get them early, train them fast. Good talent does not remain far from employment, even in the worst of economies. You can quote
that. Aptitude Testing ensures the right skillset. With the right aptitude comes the ease with which you can train them for the future.
Easier Enculturation. If you hire right, you place them right. Leaps of faith are for the soul, not corporate life. Use logic in assuming they
are the more likely fit for the job.
Focus on what matters. General Aptitude matters, most definitely. Nevertheless, overriding it for specific aptitude will not yield you the
crme de la crme of candidates. For job roles of high specificity and specialization, specific aptitude tests to measure what matters is
more than reasonable, and even worth the cost incurred.
Having made it this far, it is easy to assume that you think rather highly of aptitude testing. True. False? We are not here to judge. However,
it is always essential to have a look at when cognitive tests work, and when they do not.
FILTRATION
NATURE OF
THE JOB
SPECIFICITY
OF TECHNICAL
SKILLS
HIGH JOB
COMPLEXITY
A larger candidate base often requires filter. Aptitude testing is always an easier, faster and more efficient process to narrow down
the candidate pool. In fact, at Mettl, we have stepped up our game to introduce a remote proctoring technology for the assessments
in question for a much larger outreach.
When the job is more technical in nature than managerial, the measurement of a candidates aptitude will provide a much better
understanding of his or her potential.
When said job requires specific technical skills. For example, we expect content writers to weave some magic with their words, which
is why they test for high verbal comprehension. A physically demanding job would require a physical fitness test. Therefore, if the skills
are specific, measuring aptitude in that domain improves the validity of that result.
For a highly complex job, cognitive ability is a better indicator of performance than other non-cognitive factors. Take spy work, for
example. Being an asset to RAW is by no means an easy task; an agent trained to be the eyes and ears of their country outside its
borders requires superior intelligence. It is not all fancy Bond gadgets and cars. In fact, agents of RAW are screened through several
intelligence tests physical, language, logical, to name the few.
One Big
Piece of a
Puzzle
For
Managerial
Roles
When
Experience
Trumps
Numbers
Cognitive assessments are only one piece of the bigger picture. Making decisions about anything based solely on one, or even a series
of aptitude tests, leave much to be desired for in a candidate. There are competencies. Intrapersonal skills. These assessments are not
one bit a substitute for all forms of pre-employment testing.
Sure, intelligence is a factor, but for a role heavily dependent on competencies such as leadership, influence, and networking, cognitive
assessments will provide no more than half-baked results.
You must have heard about succession planning. How about hires made due to performance shown in specific situations? Meritocracy
trumps hard numbers sometimes. Tim Cook rightfully succeeded Steve Jobs for that very reason. Hiring in certain cases should value experience over scores in an assessment.
10
Overall, it is important to understand that hiring is part science and part art. While instinct is not something to ignore, people, more often
than not, get the science bit wrong. Cognitive Assessments give a good criterion for evaluating candidates, but can never stand alone as
the only one for a hire.
Then again, aptitude tests were often associated with several myths, primarily because cognitive studies by itself were subject to dispute.
Let us take a look at those, shall we?
11
What can we say today that we could not have said only ten years ago? That what neuroscience pioneer
Santiago Ramn y Cajal claimed in the 20th century may well be a reality in the 21st, and influence
education, health, training, and hiring in the process.
We have only scratched the surface of what science based structured cognitive exercise can do for brain
health and productivity. This birthed a new industry that crossed traditional sector boundaries, and helped
understand, assess and train our brains. Even Cognitive Assessments emerged from these very studies, and
for that reason, it becomes imperative to debunk myths, still too prevalent, that may prevent us from seeing
the full potential of these assessments.
12
13
Myth #3
Left-brain is purely associated
with logical and analytical
reasoning, while right brain is
more inclined towards creativity
and intuitive thinking.
Reality. According to the theory of left-brain or right-brain dominance, each side of the brain does control
different types of thinking. Additionally, people are said to prefer one type of thinking over the other. Does
one side of the brain control specific functions? Are people either left-brained or right-brained? As with
many popular psychology myths, this one grew out of observations of the human brain that were
dramatically distorted and exaggerated.
Logic and creativity somehow seem to contradict each other here. There is neither proof nor reason behind
the claim of one having to override the other. Yet, time and again, we continue to stereotype analytical
minds as lacking in creativity and vice versa. In fact, there is no correlation between creativity and the right
hemisphere or logic and the left hemisphere.
Research has shown that the brain is not nearly as dichotomous as was once thought. For example, abilities
in subjects such as math are strongest when both hemispheres of the brain work together. In fact,
neuroscientists know that the two sides of the brain collaborate to perform a broad spectrum of tasks
through the corpus callosum the link between the two hemispheres.
Myth #3
Calculation | Mathematical Skills |
Logical Reasoning
Albert Einstein
Pablo Picasso
14
Reality. In reality, there is strong evidence that the predictive power of GMA tests
extends well beyond the short-term when used as a hiring tool.
Reality. From some very large scale studies that often appear
in professional literature, the authors of the article on review
found that the research consistently yielded favorable results
with respect to the effectiveness of GMA tests.
This conclusion was based on large scale research validated by a study that tracked
employees performance over the course of ten years. Here the researchers
determined that across various occupations, test validity was relatively constant
through the ten-year period.
Based on this information, it is easy to conclude that GMA test scores are predictive
of a variety of long-term indicators of academic & career success.
15
Myth #3
The Effectiveness of GMA Tests Is Limited to Very Low Ability Levels
Another common criticism often levied against GMA is that they are useful only in screening out applicants with very low ability levels. With this idea afloat, it
made no sense to prefer higher-scoring individuals to low-scorers once a minimal score was achieved.
Addressing this issue, researchers looked at 174 studies involving about 36,000 individuals. Based on this review, they concluded with certainty that there is
strong evidence that higher scores are associated with higher levels of job performance throughout the range of test scores.
Myth #4
GMA Tests Are Not Fair to Racial Minorities
Reality. Are they fair? That is, does a specific test score have the same meaning regardless of subgroup, or will employees who perform at the same level tend to
earn similar test scores even when they are from different subgroups?
To answer the question, there is extensive evidence, particularly from the educational domain that indicate that GMA tests are not biased. This is regardless of
an individuals racial subgroup status.
16
MYTHS: CONCLUSION
Overall, a cognitive assessment is the most predictive test of employee performance. Whether you are hiring a Zen gardener likely to arrange rocks and water plants or a top-line executive likely to learn and solve complex daily problems, you would be foolish not to include
some form of GMA testing.
But the important point is the matter of predictors. Throughout this chapter, we mentioned at length a correlation between high scores and
high performance. What are these performance predictors? Now, this is where things get interesting. Move on to the next chapter, why dont
you?
17
18
0.26
0.18
0.13
EDUCATION
LEVEL
Another major flaw is how a correlation between high intelligence and job
performance is supervisor rating dependent. Now, we all know that this is
rarely bias free. Research on something as vibrant and ever changing as
assessments should always be taken with a pinch of salt. Now we know.
JOB
EXPERIENCE
INTERVIEWS
COGNITIVE
APTITUDE
TESTS
Theres more actually. Youll know when we highlight the one thing that
Cognitive Assessments falter at completely. Keep turning the pages.
19
Parting Note
This small book has been a sincere attempt to not state the obvious, but state in obvious terms. Our intention was to reach readers far and
wide, irrespective of ones educational or professional background; know that cognition is important for everyone. After all, in the human
body, nothing is about as mystifying as how our brain works.
Inclusive of the business implications, we hope that you enjoyed the read a humble attempt from our end. In an ecosystem as diverse
and intricate as that of the assessments space, it is essential for all test makers to remain on their toes, adapt, and recalibrate. You now
have the information you seek. What are you going to do with this information?
Godspeed.
Thank You
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