Student Advising Based on Aptitudes and Personality

Dwane H. Dean

TASTE Conference

May 27, 2015

Overview of Session• The main point

• About aptitudes

• About personality

• Case history of aptitude and vocation mis-match

• Group administration of test of three-dimensional aptitude

• Interpreting results of test

The Main Point• Currently, student choice of a major (career path)

is influenced by uncertain factors and students receive limited guidance from the university.

• Ideally, the university would help students make a more informed career decision by testing students for selected aptitudes and personality and provide information on which occupations best “fit” their aptitude profile and personality.

Why Aptitudes and Personality?• There is evidence that different occupations tend to

attract people with different aptitudes and personalities (suggesting the need for a “match”).

• Personal happiness in one’s work is believed to be highly dependent on the level of congruence between aptitudes possessed by the worker and the aptitudes demanded by the occupation as well as one’s personality “fit” with the vocation.

• Aptitudes and personality do not change over time (like interests, situational influences, knowledge), so it is best to focus on these two factors.

Avoid Being a Square Peg in a Round Hole

Square Peg, Round Hole – Michael Dennis, CBF500 x 375 | 209KB creditmanagementassociation.org

Definition of Aptitude

• “Aptitudes are natural talents, special abilities for doing, or learning to do, certain kinds of things easily and quickly. They have little to do with knowledge or culture, or education, or even interests. Musical talent is an example of such an aptitude”

The Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation website - 2015

http://www.jocrf.org/about_aptitudes/what.html

What Are Natural Talents?• Natural talents are innate abilities for doing

particular tasks; they are not related to intelligence or knowledge, or values, or interests.

• For example, ideaphoria is the ability to rapidly generate ideas, an aptitude needed by writers.

• Structural visualization is the ability to think in three dimensions, an aptitude needed by engineers, but not at all necessary for writers.

• Finger dexterity and tweezer dexterity are abilities needed by surgeons but not writers.

Resource for Aptitudes

Your Natural Gifts: How to Recognize and Develop Them for Success and Self-Fulfillment Paperback – Aug 1991 by Margaret E. Broadley (Author)

http://www.amazon.ca/Your-Natural-Gifts-Recognize-Self-Fulfillment/dp/0939009560

About Aptitudes• The range for an aptitude among people is very

large, it is common to find a six-fold difference (much larger than the range in IQ or height).

• Strong aptitudes cry out to be used; if not used in work or play, a sense of unfulfillment may occur.

• Aptitudes exist as “potentials” such that people are limited to the potential they possess and cannot simply gain ability through practice. In other words, aptitudes are truly “gifts” rather than something that can be acquired.

Effect of Practice

Effect of Practice• "Deliberate practice is unquestionably important,

but not nearly as important as proponents of the view have claimed," said Macnamara.

• Commenting on Macnamara’s work, David Lubinski, a professor of psychology at Vanderbilt who has studied talent identification and development, said "The view that essentially anyone can do essentially anything is not scientifically defensible."

Evidence for AptitudePerformance of Occupational Groups on Ideaphoria

http://www.jocrf.org/research/occupational_plots.html

More Evidence for Aptitude

http://www.jocrf.org/research/2DPlot.html

About Personality• “Personality refers to individual differences in

characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas. One is understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as sociability or irritability. The other is understanding how the various parts of a person come together as a whole.

American Psychological Association

http://www.apa.org/topics/personality/

Resource for PersonalityPlease Understand Me: Character and Temperament Types Paperback – January 1, 1984 by David Keirsey (Author), Marilyn Bates (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Please-Understand-Me-Character-Temperament/dp/0960695400

Resource for Personality

http://www.amazon.com/Type-Talk-Personality-Types-Determine/dp/0440507049

Type Talk: The 16 Personality Types That Determine How We Live, Love, and Work Paperback – September 1, 1989 by Otto Kroeger (Author), Janet M. Thuesen (Author)

MBTI Personality Dimensions

Information gathering function

Sensing versus Intuition

Decision making function

Thinking versus Feeling

Source of energy

Extraverts versus Introverts

Life-style orientation

Judgers versus Perceivers

Personality and Work• ISTJ – The Accountant

• ENTJ – The Executive

• INTP – The Scientist

• ESTJ – The Manager

• ESFJ – The Salesperson

• ISFJ – The Nurse

• ESTP – The Entrepreneur

• ISTP – The Artist

• ESFP – the Performer

Evidence for Personality

Putting It All Together• Aptitudes are not generally correlated with each

other (meaning that a person scoring high or low on one aptitude is not more or less likely to score high or low on another). Also, aptitudes are independent of personality type. And, aptitudes and personality are both stable over time.

• The result is similar to a one-time pull of a slot-machine lever. You get what you get, there is no “do-over”, and you are stuck with the complex problem of finding the best job fit for your aptitude profile and personality type.

Analogy to One-Time Slot Play

slot-machine500 x 600 | 28KBblogs.denverpost.com

Case History

• A real-life example is presented illustrating how mis-match between aptitudes and occupation led to multiple problems.

• The case suggests that intervention (aptitude and personality testing and guidance) at an earlier stage in the career-path might have avoided an unfortunate sequence of events.

The ROT Test• The Purdue Visualization of Rotations test will

now be administered.

• There is a strict 10-minute limit for the test.

• This is a group-administered, paper and pencil version of the structural visualization test.

• A high level of structural visualization is needed by surgeons, architects, engineers, mechanics, and sculptors, among other occupations.

Bodner, GM, and Guay, RL, (1997), The Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test, The Chemical Educator, 2(4), 1-18.

ROT Answers

#1 A #11 B

#2 D #12 E

#3 A #13 A

#4 B #14 E

#5 E #15 D

#6 C #16 A

#7 B #17 B

#8 E #18 D

#9 A #19 D

#10 C #20 E

ROT Score Distribution

ROT Test

• You may keep the test booklet.

• DO NOT further reproduce the test booklet.

• The ROT test belongs to Dr. Bodner and Purdue and I have limited permission to use it for education and research (non-commercial) purposes.

• Contact Dr. Bodner if you have additional interest in the test.

Conclusions• There is no “good” or “bad” aptitude profile or

personality type. Rather, it is simply that some aptitude profiles and personality types are better suited for certain occupations than others.

• Knowing one’s aptitude profile and personality type at the time of entering college may help students make a more informed career decision. That is, the aptitudes and personality of the student should be consistent with those of the intended occupation.