¶ … individual is someone who has a distinct personality of his/her own that differentiates him from a group or class of people. This individual has a distinguishing intelligence level, achievement abilities and aptitude. As far as intelligence is concerned, it can be defined as the "ability to reason about personality and personality-relevant information and to use that information to guide one's actions and more generally, one's life" (as qtd. In Mayer, Panter & Caruso, 2012, p. 124). In other words, intelligence is a basic psychological capability in an individual that allows him/her to give explanation, plan and prepare and get to the bottom of troubles. Intelligence is something that is not acquired by reading books or being academically bright. In the similar fashion, achievement is the way a task is performed in a successful manner (Travers. 1970, p. 447). However, aptitude is a natural ability/tendency to carry out a task.
In times gone by, scientists studied about and researched on the individual differences and were able to make the conclusion that it is a different subject when compared with experimental psychology. At the same time as experimental psychology puts emphasis on the processes that find out performance of individuals in certain tentative conditions, the field of individual differences is related with the stable distinguishing psychological traits among people, principally those that simplify across miscellaneous circumstances (Williams, Myerson & Hale, 2008, p. 219). The differences in the behavioral patterns in human beings that have been of most interest to psychologists in this consideration are personality traits and cognitive abilities. In this regard, a number of tests have been devised in order to evaluate intelligence, abilities and personalities of the people. Such tests include vocabulary tests, short-term memory duration tests, analogical analysis and interpretation, pictures' scanning etc. (Williams, Myerson & Hale, 2008, p. 219).
Thus, numerous tests developed in the past have been successful in concluding that intelligence is not the only original ability that helps to differentiate people but there is an assorted set comprising of cognitive skills by which differentiations could be made among people. It is important to note here that the up-to-date findings reveal that an approach towards analyzing individual behavior will be of great value to understand...
219).
In the same connection, scientists marked out the facts, data and skills that are essential for using tests to measure intelligence and abilities of individuals. Therefore, guidelines were developed for test user qualifications by a number of international professional organizations. The latest version of the ethical principles introduced by APA (American Psychological Association) includes various standards that are associated with proper test use that include "specific principles related to the boundaries of competence for psychologists and the appropriate application and use of psychological assessment techniques" ("Report of the Task Force on Test User Qualifications," 2000, p.11).
Even though professionals related to different disciplines have developed and used tests, major contributions have also been rendered by several graduates who have acquired their doctorates in the field of psychology ("Report of the Task Force on Test User Qualifications," 2000, p.16). This is because psychology is widely acknowledged as the historical root for testing individual differences as it has made the research evidence available to the psychologists and has also provided professional training for the advancement of proficient psychosomatic analysis and evaluation ("Report of the Task Force on Test User Qualifications," 2000).
The process to test psychological condition of individuals particularly the intelligence has went through considerable technological transformations over the last several decades. At the outset, the usage of computers for the administration and supervision of tests and for scoring and giving interpretations at the end of the tests has turned out to be a major part of testing on a daily basis ("Report of the Task Force on Test User Qualifications," 2000, p. 69). Furthermore, the rising innovative technologies including the Internet have been able in successfully expanding the related applications from corner to corner covering great distances. It can be said that the new technologies have significantly impacted the relationship between the users, takers, and the consumer of the tests ("Report of the Task Force on Test User Qualifications," 2000).
As far as projective tests are concerned, these are the types of personality tests in which individuals are asked to respond…
