Applications of Aptitudes - The Ball Foundation

Aptitudes predict the ease and speed with which one acquires new skills and knowledge. Because different careers require different patterns of aptitudes, aptitude tests can be effectively applied in three main areas: career assessment & counseling (including self-understanding for career choice), personnel selection, and employee training & development.

These applications of aptitudes can be represented as positioned upon a triangle (see sidebar), with career counseling, personnel selection, and employee training and development representing distinct and separate applications that emanate from the use of aptitudes. These separate applications have different purposes and validation needs.

We now elaborate upon these three applications of aptitudes, featuring the names of important contributors within each realm that have served as influential to our work.

Career Counseling.

This application of aptitudes helps individuals to identify the preparation, work tasks, skills, and performance environments that fit their aptitude profile.

• Frank Parsons. Parsons played an early role in awareness of aptitudes with his 1909 classic Choosing a Vocation. This groundbreaking work advocated for a talent-matching approach to choosing a career – – i.e., of aligning one’s aptitudes with those required of the job in question.

• Donald G. Paterson. Paterson influenced and contributed to the fields of differential psychology, industrial psychology, and vocational guidance. Along with colleagues, Paterson directed the efforts of the Employment Stabilization Research Institute throughout the Great Depression. His research and work on aptitudes formed the basis of large-scale, multi-aptitude test batteries including the GATB. He also initiated a renowned program of research at the University of Minnesota known as the Work Adjustment Project.

• Rene Dawis. Out of Paterson’s Work Adjustment Project came the Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA), advanced by Rene Dawis, George England, and Lloyd Lofquist. The TWA stands as one of the most comprehensive models of the complex relationship between an individual and his/her work environment in existence, featuring the role of aptitude alignment upon success in the workplace. Dr. Dawis served on The Ball Foundation research advisory board for many years.

Personnel Selection.

This application of aptitudes helps to identify individuals who possess the types of aptitudes that have been established to support successful performance on the job.

• The United States Government. The job-analytic work overseen by USES has contributed tremendously to our understanding of the aptitude requirements of a wide range of occupations. Notably, Donald G. Paterson’s work influenced the entire USES enterprise.

• Marvin Dunnette. Dunnette extensively studied ability differences in job performance and the moderating role of motivation in that linkage. Protégé of Donald G. Paterson and co-editor (along with Leaetta Hough) of the Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (1995).

• Edwin Fleishman. Fleishman and his colleagues (e.g., Maureen Reilly) provided an exhaustive and detailed framework for thinking about the domain of human abilities within the context of job task requirements. This work has been incorporated into O*NET.

Training and Development.

This application of aptitudes can be used to help an individual or organization enhance performance, pinpoint possible contributors to difficulty on the job, or identify areas of currently untapped potential that can be explored and capitalized on in the workplace.

There are many contributors to our growing understanding of how aptitudes relate to important training and instruction outcomes. The published work of these scientists represent conceptual and practical approaches that are consistent with how we believe aptitudes can and should be used in a training context: Lee Cronbach, J. Kevin Ford, Robert Gagne, Robert Glaser, Irwin Goldstein, Kurt Kraiger, Robert Linn, Eduardo Salas, Richard Snow, and Robert Sternberg.