Human personality is a combination of multiple traits. Different aspects affect a person’s personality in different ways. Both attitude and aptitude are interesting aspects that help in predicting an individual’s abilities and behaviour patterns.
Aptitude is a measure of a person’s ability to acquire a new skill. it is the reflection of a person’s intellectual ability to learn via experiences. Attitude, on the other hand, is a result of one’s opinions and beliefs concerning a person or a topic.
Attitude vs Aptitude
The main difference between aptitude and attitude is that Aptitude is a measure of ability and is loosely associated with intelligence, whereas attitude is a characteristic associated with one’s personality. Aptitude is a relatively consistent trait, while attitude is more fluid and is likely to change.
Comparison Table Between Attitude and Aptitude (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of Comparison | Aptitude | Attitude |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aptitude is the ability of a person to acquire a specific skill. | Attitude is the set of beliefs, emotions and ideas. |
| Impact Centre | Aptitude is loosely associated with intelligence. | Attitude affects behaviour and personality. |
| Origin | Aptitude is an innate characteristic | Attitude is a result of experiences. |
| Nature | Aptitude is relatively rigid and does not change drastically | Attitude is fluid, it consistently changes. |
| Scale | It is a measure of competency, hence it is not relative. | It is usually good or bad, positive or negative. |
What is Attitude?
Attitude is defined as a set of beliefs, emotions and behaviours directed towards a person, object or idea. ‘Attitude’ in psychology, is an acquired tendency of humans to evaluate certain things in terms of a predefined frameset. Attitude is a reflection of a person’s personality. It is associated with his/her belief system.
Attitude is a product of multiple factors. Factors like age, experience, social structures like gender and culture together result in the formation of a certain attitude.
Academic and empirical research indicates that attitude has three components also known as the ABC component. These stand for;
- Cognitive Component– This includes things that are processed within the mind such as thought and beliefs.
- Affective Component– The specific object, person or idea which is subjected to the attitude.
- Behavioural Component- The impact on the attitude on the person’s behaviour.
Attitudes can be both explicit and implicit which means they can be a very much a part of a person’s consciousness or can be unknown to the person.
Attitude can be equated with one’s mental energy. Like electrical energy, attitude can be both positive and negative. Positive attitude towards certain things can be beneficial, for example, a positive attitude toward learning new things.
However, there can be circumstances when a negative attitude towards things can have better prospects, for example, a person who has a strong negative attitude towards risk behaviour is like to be safer.
What is Aptitude?
Aptitude stands for a person’s ability to acquire new skills through learning experiences. It is associated with a per’s readiness to learn something new. Aptitude is an innate and inborn capacity.
Aptitude is closely associated with intelligence, however, it is not the same as intelligence quotient. Aptitude is a measure of human ability that becomes particularly relevant for employers and career counsellors in the modern world.
Aptitude is often confused with abilities and skills. Even though Aptitude is a function of both abilities and skills, it is not the same thing. Skill indicates what a person has already learnt in the past (backwards looking), the ability is concerned with the present (present description) and aptitude is concerned with what a person can do in the future (forward description).
In psychology, aptitude is concerned independent of intelligence. Different types of aptitudes indicate positive learning abilities in a variety of fields. The different types of aptitude include verbal ability, numerical ability, general ability, mechanical, visual, symbolic, creative, inductive learning etc.
Psychologists often use battery tests to measure the aptitude of individuals. A high score on a specific type of aptitude indicates that the said individual has better chances of performing better in a related field.
A major characteristic of aptitude is that it is innate, however, exposure to certain concepts can significantly improve battery scores. In general life, the term aptitude is more or less used to indicate someone’s ability.
Example – She has the aptitude for medical school.
Aptitude is a judgement of one’s abilities. Like most predictions, it is not a full-proof indication. Although it is considered to be hereditary, environmental factors can have a significant impact on aptitude. It is commonly believed that aptitude is a better indicator of success if compared with IQ.
In simple terms, aptitude is an indicator of a persons’ ability to apply their intelligence in a given field.
Conclusion
Humans have a complex personality. Different segments of their personality affect their functioning in varied ways. Psychology attempts to understand the human mind by identifying various factors that make people distinct from each other.
Aptitude and attitude are often discussed together. The main difference between aptitude and attitude is that aptitude is a measure of competency, while attitude is a set of beliefs and emotions. The former is relatively permanent, while the latter is likely to change frequently.
References
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0743558400151004
- https://stars.library.ucf.edu/rosenscholar/133/
- https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED028672