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On the basis of a test, a persons intellectual level represented by a number determines his/her IQ level. The higher the number, the more intelligent the person is. Does high intellect guarantee success in life? At first glance, most would believe so. This belief is borne on the perception that many of the worlds great names of successful individuals have been gifted with high IQ or intellect. There is no denial, although not all monetary or personal success attributed to fame are products of intellectual minds. Various other factors contribute to the success of an intellectual person. These factors also apply to individuals with average intellect.
In the same context, not all intellectually gifted individuals reach the pinnacle of success. Some hardly touch the base. One of the irony of a highly intellectual individual with reference to success is the pressure he or she feels from within. The people around, especially those who know about the individual being highly intellectual, expect success out of him or her. The pressure is stronger when the individual is compelled of the expectation. Somehow, this kind of forceful pressure runs contrary to the flow of achieving the success aimed for. The push creates anxiety. While perseverance is somewhat a kind of pressure, we have to distinguish the difference between the two. Perseverance is pressure exerted on ones self, not by external forces. Perseverance is pressure that leans towards positive action and optimism. The commitment is to self, not to others. It may be worthwhile to note that the intelligence of a person can be very variable. An intelligent person can come up with a myriad of ideas. Life does not offer any guarantee of success and neither does ideas, no matter how numerous they are. However, even a single simple idea becomes golden if it aptly fits into the possibility of attaining success that may change ones life; turning it around completely from nothing to something. At times, ideas can do funny things to ones life. The more a person forcibly thinks to come up with an idea to succeed in life, the more the idea seems to play the role of the unreachable star. There are instances a person hardly apply any force whatsoever and still comes up with an idea or a formula for success. Ideas come by chance. A person may chance by a place, saw something insignificant (but significant to the person), and an idea pops up. And this hardly has bearing to intelligence, if ever. Intelligence and ideas are loosely interrelated. One doesnt need to be an above average or intelligent person to come up with great ideas and vice versa. The notion that intelligence cannot be acquired is wrong. Neither is intelligence in a person fixed. Intelligence can be equated to building ones physique, for instance. How does one develop a muscular body? The gym can help. A body building equipment can help. But the main component to a muscular body is continuous exercise and repeated patterns of toning the muscles. Nobody gets a muscular body overnight. It takes time. The same thing is true with a boxer. It takes practice to be good in boxing. And this is true with just about any kind of sports activity. Hard work, perseverance, and commitment to an endeavor are some key components to sports and success in life. Intelligence is just part of success in life. Intelligence alone does not guarantee success. Simply, success is like a dish; many ingredients contributed to the taste. With success, intelligence is one of them but it is not the only one. And if intelligence is lacking, it can be developed. Resourcefulness and perseverance are the other components. More importantly, the love for work should be present.
Personality Measurement: Assessing the Dimensions of PersonalityTo measure, say, a person's height, one uses a ruler. Scientists call height a physical dimension. Length, width, and weight are also physical dimensions. Such dimensions are often easy to measure, if we have the proper instruments. What are the dimensions of personality? How can we measure them? Generally, we are not dealing with physical measurements, nor with physical objects. Also, personality is complex. It is not simply black or white in the sense of simple typology. Rather, there are many in-between shades of gray. For example, when we say that Sally is "warm", or "friendly", we mean that she behaves warmly more often and in a greater variety of situations than many other people. Psychologists would call social warmth a dimension of personality. Psychologists can measure warmth and other personality dimensions, such as intelligence, honestly, happiness, and so on. They have developed tests, scales, and experimental situations to compare one person with another. The simplest procedure is to observe what people say and do in real-life situations. All of us do this when we are with other people. We watch and compare their habits, speech, and dress, thus learning much about them. Then why are we not all experts in personality? There are a number of reasons. First, we cannot observe everybody in all situations. Second, we cannot remember every situation and what happened in it. And, third, we have our own personal opinions about people and events. These opinions make it difficult for us to be scientifically accurate. In other words, our own personalities influence our perceptions of other people. To make personality observation and measurement an exact science, psychologists collect information under controlled conditions. That is, they test and record people's behavior under the same set of conditions. This is the only way they can compare people's personalities accurately. Large-scale personality measurements must use convenient methods to accommodate the number of people that they encompass. Here, written tests are important. One example of a written test is the personality inventory. The subject answers questions about his or her life, attitudes, habits, and problems. The questions often call for short and clear-cut answers. The subject may only have to answer "true" or "false". Or he may have to choose one of several answers already given to each question. Other personality tests are less structured. A subject may be asked about his reactions to drawn patterns or pictures. He may even be requested to draw pictures and write stories. The subject may answer by speaking rather than writing. These kinds of tests are called projective tests: the subject throws, or projects, his/her feelings and attitudes onto the persons and objects he/she sees or discusses. There are other kinds of psychological examinations and measurements, conducted by interview, in mental clinics, and in make-believe situations that the subjects, however, think are real. There are no right or wrong answers. Only the truth is important. But many people knowingly lie in these tests, because they are afraid to reveal themselves. Or they try to give answers they think the examiners will like, especially if they want to get a job or to leave a prison or a clinic. If we could measure a person in each dimension of personality, we would get a pattern, or cluster, of scores that represents him or her alone. However, no single test measures all the possible dimensions. Rather, different tests measure different dimensions, depending on the purpose of the test.
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