For those that don’t know, psychological testing is used for assessment and evaluation purposes and they are taken by a skilled and competent examiner. The trick of the test is that you need to be completely honest in the answers you’re giving in order to minimize the chances of error happening. Naturally, there are advantages and disadvantages of psychological testing, and while we’ll get to them shortly, here are some useful scenarios of testing in case you want to get one or you want one to be performed on an individual.
Important uses of psychological testing
One might believe that it is unnecessary to run psychological tests on applicants for a particular task, but in a lot of cases, it actually becomes a necessity. One applicant’s credentials might fit a job category perfectly, but they might not be mentally prepared to undertake that job so for that, a psychological test will become a necessary measure of evaluation.
There are also some jobs that are extremely sensitive when it comes to altering the nature of an individual. For example, law enforcement personnel can come under duress in a variety of situations. In any circumstances, this law enforcement personnel are supposed to act as responsible peacemakers and must act very responsibly. In short, they must act in such a manner where it does not look like they have put themselves above the law. To see if a candidate is mentally fit enough to undertake this profession, a psychological test is run.
Advantages of psychological testing:
- It is very difficult to lie when taking a psychological test and a candidate is always recommended to answer truthfully. This helps determine if one person is attempting to cheat their way towards securing a job position or acing a test.
- Psychological tests help determine the aptitude of an individual. If the individual was not able to clear that test, a thorough result is provided in some cases, so they are able to apply again in the future. However, it’s highly unlikely that the same test will be taken again, so potential candidates who have been rejected must only use that document as a form of a guideline.
- Such tests take a lot of less time to complete, meaning people have more productive time to tackle other tasks.
- These tests have little chance of biases.
- Hidden talents or other potentials can often be recognized by these psychological tests. This means that just because a candidate has applied for one area of expertise, doesn’t mean he or she will excel in that. There could be other areas where his or her skills could come in very handy.
Disadvantages – Limitations of the psychological test:
- The tests are conducted in such a manner that makes them unreliable in some cases.
- Depending on the test, candidates can lie, and it might deliver a completely different outcome.
- At the end of the day, it’s the person taking the tests that will determine the applicant, not the test itself. In some cases, even the most skilled evaluation experts can falter, hiring someone that didn’t deserve the role in the first place.
- When a society develops into something better and more productive, a particular test might not be relevant any longer, and it will require a more advanced test to be replaced. This can become counterproductive and might inhibit the person taking the test to get a better result of the candidate that is being interviewed.
A professional writer with over a decade of incessant writing skills. Her topics of interest and expertise range from health, nutrition and psychology.
