Cognitive Abilties Tests: Paper and pencil or individualized assessment measures of an individual's general mental ability or intelligence.

Advantages

highly reliable

verbal reasoning and numerical tests have shown high validity for a wide range of jobs

the validity rises with increasing complexity of the job

combinations of aptitude tests have higher validities than individual tests alone

may be administered in group settings where many applicants can be tested at the same time

scoring of the tests may be completed by computer scanning equipment
lower cost than personality tests

Disadvantages

non-minorities typically score one standard deviation above minorities which may result in adverse impact depending on how the scores are used in the selection process

differences between males and females in abilities (e.g., knowledge of mathematics) may negatively impact the scores of female applicants

Cognitive Ability Tests:Types

Employee Aptitude Survey A battery of employment tests designed to meet the practical requirements of a personnel office. Consists of 10 cognitive, perceptual, and psychomotor ability tests. Nine of the 10 tests have 5-minute time limits. The remaining test requires two to ten minutes of testing time. Is a tool for personnel selection and a useful diagnostic tool for vocational guidance and career counseling. For situations in which it is desirable to retest an individual on an alternate form, special retest norms are provided for interpreting retest scores.

Test 1--Verbal Comprehension. Each item consists of one word in capital letters followed by four words in small letters. The respondent is to choose the word in small letters that means about the same as the word in capital letters. Scoring is the number right minus 1/3 the number wrong.

Test 2--Numerical Ability. A battery of three tests: integers, decimal fractions and common fractions, each is timed separately. Designed to measure skill in the four basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Test 3--Visual Pursuit. Designed to measure the ability to make rapid scanning movements of the eyes without being distracted by other irrelevant visual stimulation. Involves the visual tracing of lines through an entangled network.

Progressive Matrices, Advanced Sets I and II. A nonverbal test designed for use as an aid in assessing mental ability. Requires the examinee to solve problems presented in abstract figures and designs. Scores are said to correlate well with comprehensive intelligence tests. Set II provides a means of assessing all the analytical and integral operations involved in the higher thought processes and differentiates between people of superior intellectual ability.

Short-term Memory Tests A form of cognitive ability test that are exemplified by short-term memory tasks such as forward digit span and serial rote learning, which do not require mental manipulation of inputs in order to provide an output. Short-term memory tests lack face validity in predicting job performance.

Information Processing Tests Selection tests that have the same information processing requirements that occur on the job. In other words, the tests are tailored for each particular job. There is some evidence that adverse impact is reduced.