Aptitude - Intelligence and Aptitudes

Intelligence and Aptitudes

Aptitude and intelligence quotient are related, and in some ways opposite views of human mental ability. Whereas intelligence quotient sees intelligence as being a single measurable characteristic affecting all mental ability, aptitude refers to one of many different characteristics which can be independent of each other, such as aptitude for military flight, air traffic control, or computer programming. This is more similar to the theory of multiple intelligences.

Concerning a single measurable characteristic affecting all mental ability, analysis of any group of intelligence test scores will nearly always show them to be highly correlated. The U.S. Department of Labor's General Learning Ability, for instance, is determined by combining Verbal, Numerical and Spatial aptitude subtests. In a given person some are low and others high. In the context of an aptitude test the "high" and "low" scores are usually not far apart, because all ability test scores tend to be correlated. Aptitude is better applied intra-individually to determine what tasks a given individual is more skilled at performing. Inter-individual aptitude differences are typically not very significant due to IQ differences. Of course this assumes individuals have not already been pre-screened for aptitude through some other process such as SAT scores, GRE scores, finishing medical school, etc.etc.