The first part of this series covered the early pioneers of aptitude testing. This section explores the further course of its history up to the present day.
Following the development of the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) and the CPI (California Psychological Inventory), the frequency of use of personality tests increased continuously until the early 1960s, then reached its peak and gradually declined. More than 80% of all large companies used personality tests to select sales personnel. By 1984, this figure had fallen to barely more than a quarter of companies. The reasons for this were the interactionism advocated by Walter Mischel (the interaction of personal and situational characteristics) and growing public resistance to tests. This led to an intense political debate about these procedures, with particular emphasis on aspects of test fairness.
It wasn't until 1980, starting in the United States, that the topic was revived and gained increasing importance. Scientific and practical interest arose anew. From the initially merely translated tests to self-developed procedures, a transformation can be observed that confirms a continued increase in interest to this day.
It is interesting to note that the occurrence of the terms "personality test" and "aptitude diagnostics" in German-language literature between 1900 and 2008 from the "German" corpus reveals some differences, despite the similar meaning of the two terms. This is illustrated by the following figure from the book "Aptitude Diagnostics in Practice – Engineer Remains Engineer":
While the term "personality test" gained popularity relatively early, as early as 1930, the term "aptitude diagnostics" only became truly popular after the Second World War in 1945. After a sharp decline in use in 1957, "aptitude diagnostics" has experienced a steady increase, with several minor fluctuations. In contrast, the "personality test" has repeatedly experienced significant declines in its use. However, there is one thing they do have in common: Both terms have experienced a significant increase since 1996, and this will continue to grow steadily. This means that both terms have entered the 21st century and continue to gain popularity.
Today, aptitude testing is a collective term for career-related procedures for measuring competencies and behavioral tendencies. The fundamental aim of aptitude testing is to provide the most accurate prediction possible of a person's likelihood of success or professional suitability.
It should be noted that aptitude testing can look back on an impressive history, and its development will continue.
Outlook: Our next article in this topic refers to the book "Aptitude Assessment in Practice – Engineer Remains Engineer" by Armin Betz. Do you know what important and typical characteristics define an engineer? You'll learn about these and many other aspects, such as the importance of development areas, in the following article.
About the author
After studying automotive engineering and industrial engineering, he began his professional career in the automotive industry in the areas of sales, development and marketing and also spent a year in Japan with one of the largest automotive suppliers.
He then moved to a globally renowned premium car manufacturer, where he was responsible for product marketing in Japan and South America and for marketing strategy in North and South America.
In 1994, he decided to become self-employed and founded a personnel consultancy in Munich, where he has been driving development and expansion for over 20 years. As Managing Director, his industry focus is naturally on the automotive world as well as mechanical and plant engineering.
His doctorate in the field of aptitude diagnostics ideally rounds off his areas of expertise, particularly with regard to personnel and management consulting. The dissertation deals with the identification and verification of typical personality traits of engineers as well as the definition of development areas for a successful professional career.
These are scientifically derived and presented in the book "Eignungsdiagnostik im Praxiseinsatz".
At the same time, his focus is on the development of networks and cooperation models as well as the continuous further development of systems and processes in personnel consulting.
Over the last 20 years in personnel consulting, he has developed several brands that are still operating successfully on the market today.
