There are a wide variety of psychometric tools available that assess personality and emotional intelligence

These mostly involve standardised questionnaires where candidates are presented with a bank of questions and then have to choose from a range of options, the answer that describes them best. As with cognitive tests, most of these types of tests are also standardised. They are scored, raw scores are obtained and then compared to a norm group where standard scores are obtained. The standards scores then allow us to draw objective conclusions about the strength of a personality trait or emotional capability, compared to the norm group.

The key differences are firstly that results from personality questionnaires are generally much more complex to understand and require much deeper interpretation by the psychological practitioner. Whereas cognitive tests are generally standardised to stanines (a score out of 9), personality type inventories standardise to a score of 10 which is called a sten. All the principles of standard scores discussed in module 3 also apply to stens.

Keep in mind…

Because personality type measures require skilled interpretation, the effectiveness with which they are used does depend on the skill and expertise of the psychological practitioner. Their effectiveness is also dependant on how well researched the test is.