Online psychometric tests are becoming more and more popular using any types of psychometric assessment. People are taking a greater interest in developing their identified skills and want to use their increased self-knowledge to improve their life choices, be those choices, for example, career-related ones, or ones that can be more family-orientated, like home and family management.
To facilitate the above, there are many to choose from, and, as a starting point towards greater understanding, the meaning of the words ‘psychometric assessment’ can be broken down. The first half of the word psychometric derives from the Ancient Greek goddess of the mind and soul, Psyche. Psyche was renowned for her beauty and was the wife of Eros, the God of Love. In this respect, psychometric assessments can be viewed as something useful and beautiful to participate in. They are intended to increase self-knowledge and therefore contribute to wisdom. They should not be feared, as such, but be thought of as part of the positive step towards improvement and appreciation.
How much a psychometric assessment reveals the improvements?
Both achieved and possible, is what the second part of the word ‘psychometric’ is about. ‘Metrics’ are the standards by which things are measured and evaluated. The origins of this word stem from the French word métrique, which came to prominence in the English language as the Metric System gradually took over from the Imperial System to become the standard of measurement for length (the metre) and for weight – in grammes and kilograms. The metric system is now the dominant measurement system across the world.
The word ‘assessment’ has an interesting etymological background. It derives from Anglo-French for ‘to fix an amount’, something important in the early 15th century when deciding upon how much tax was to be levied. The word goes back further to the Latin ‘assessus’, the past participle of ‘assidere’, or ‘adsidere’. This meant ‘to sit beside’ and was termed when someone was sitting beside a judge to assist them make decisions. Therefore, try to think of psychometric assessments as things that accompanying people as they find out more about themselves.
Types of Psychometric Assessment:
As such, there are many types of assessment, ones which give feedback relevant to many aspects to life, like cognitive intelligence, that is, the ability of people to understand and respond to their surroundings, including their changes in circumstance, and the resolution of the problems that they encounter. This is very much in-line with what the goddess Psyche is about, and the related myths which have grown around her. According to Carl Gustav Jung, one of the most famous psychologists of the 20th Century, Ancient Greek myths recount the fundamentals of existence and reveal much of the collective unconsciousness of humankind. To an extent, psychometric assessments do this as well, the unconscious mind, as well as the conscious mind, responding during the assessment process.
Furthermore, the assessment of intelligence, and the development of some factors of that, including reasoning, word meaning, correct word usage, perceptual speed, and people’s spatial awareness, can grow in fascination, so this explains, in part, the increase in interest in various types of psychometric assessment. Whereas Psyche had a relationship with Eros, the God of Love, it is so that psychometric assessment also covers other aspects of life experience, such as emotional intelligence.
Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, can be developed and can help in addressing how well others’ intentions are understood, plus how well humans react emotionally to events and others around them.
Related Word Meanings
It is interesting to note that the origin of the word emotion comes from Latin, ‘emovere’, which was an amalgamation of the word ‘ex’, meaning ‘out’, and ‘movere’, which means ‘to move’. The word ‘emovere’ also means ‘to agitate’, so increasing the ability to control emotions takes on another significant passage towards understanding, whereby agitation is learnt to be controlled. Clearly this can be beneficial in many aspects to life and assist in maintaining good health.
The types of psychometric assessment include ones orientated towards finding out more about people’s personality. The word ‘personality’ comes from the Latin ‘persona’, which was a mask worn by actors, so a means by which the actor projected certain people types. People figuratively wear masks as they go about their daily lives, though the fundamental person behind each mask remains relatively fixed throughout life. The consistent factors which are expressed by people are called traits. Information about these traits can be gauged positively, as the traits which help people develop, and those which appear to hold them back, and all of them, in the end, are a means by which improving life and gaining optimal outcomes, while living in the modern, rapidly changing world, can be achieved.
The types of psychometric assessment available also include those which involve the analysis of potential. ’Analysis’ comes from Greek word ‘lysis-, ‘to break’ and ‘ana’, which means ‘up’ or ‘through’. The word ‘potential’ is about power (Late Latin ‘potentia’) and ‘being able to do something’ (Late Latin ‘potent’). ‘Potentialis’ evolved into Middle English as ‘potential’. So, the analysis of the power to do things can be useful to know and open-up possibilities for development and advancement.
Taking psychometric assessments:
Overall, then, the increased interest in taking psychometric assessments can be viewed positively and be a means of improvement in self-knowledge, plus how to steer that knowledge favourably in many aspects of life. So, given the above, why not join in and try some types of assessment?
