Measuring Personality and Interests

• As one consultant put it, most people are hired based on qualifications, but are fired because of attitude, motivation, and temperament.
• Industrial psychologists often focus on the “big five” personality dimensions:

  • extraversion,
  • emotional stability/neuroticism,
  • agreeableness,
  • conscientiousness, and
  • openness to experience.
• Extraversion - represents a tendency to be sociable, assertive, active, and to experience positive effects, such as energy and zeal.
• Openness to experience - is the disposition to be imaginative, nonconforming, unconventional, and autonomous.
• Agreeableness - is the tendency to be trusting, compliant, caring, and gentle.
• Conscientiousness - is comprised of two related facets: achievement and dependability.
• Some other types of test:

  1. Projective - Make a Picture Story (MAPS)
  2. Self-reported
  3. Myers-Briggs test
  4. DiSC Profile learning instrument
• Make sure the personality tests you use predict performance for the jobs you are testing for
• Interest Inventories - compare one’s interests with those of people in various occupations
• Achievement Tests - measure what someone has learned.