Psychometric Testing

Psychometric tests are designed to determine an individual's characteristics and behavioural patterns. They can be used by organisations for recruitment, team building, coaching and management development puposes. If you are looking for psychometric testing services, Zest Learning is qualified to provide two psychometric tests, MBTI and EWB.

About Psychometric Tests

The British Psychological Society defines a psychometric test as ‘an instrument designed to produce a quantitative assessment of some psychological attribute or attributes’. The term ‘psychometric’ comes from the term ‘psycho’, meaning ‘mind’ and ‘metric’, meaning ‘measure’; in short, a tool for measuring the mind.

Attempts to measure the differences in individuals’ psychological characteristics have been around for centuries, and can even be traced back to 400BC, when Hippocrates defined four basic temperament types with the Four Humours: black bile (melancholic); yellow bile (choleric); blood (sanguine); and phlegm (phlegmatic).

Psychometric testing was adopted by industry around the 1960s. It is used mainly for recruitment and selection, personal, team and leadership development and career coaching and management. Tests can be roughly divided into two main types: aptitude tests, designed to assess a person’s abilities or competencies; and personality assessments, which are used to build up a profile of an individual’s characteristics and behaviours.

The word ‘test’ when referring to psychometrics is a bit of a misnomer, as there is no right or wrong answer, no pass or fails score. Unlike aptitude tests, psychological assessments do not so much measure our competencies at a certain task as the patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviour that make up our unique ‘personality’, the implication being that we can then predict how we are likely to behave under certain circumstances.

Psychometric Testing from Zest Learning

Zest Learning are qualified to provide and favour these two psychometrics

1. Myers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) -The MBTI endeavours to classify individuals based on 8 different traits and describes 16 basic personality types. The test can give insight into why different people react differently to certain situations, make decisions differently and prefer different jobs for example, and can be used by organisations to improve communication, teamwork and leadership.

2. Emotions and Behaviours at Work (EBW) - Emotions and Behaviours at Work is a model of Emotional Intelligence that looks at how people manage the key behaviours and emotions that determine success in different situations.

What next?

• Contact us for more information.
• Read more about the MBTI and EBW.
• Find out mroe about the skills workshops we provide.
• Read our case studies.