People deal with two types of information every day: non-verbal, that is, numbers or images , and verbal - text.
Employers evaluate information processing skills not out of curiosity. Research shows that nonverbal tests reliably predict job performance
employee at the interview stage, which saves the company’s resources, increasing its profits. These observations are confirmed by international experience.
Is there a nonverbal logic test coming soon?
Get ready
Concept of human intelligence
In modern psychology, intelligence is viewed as a person’s ability to adapt to new circumstances and situations. This concept also includes the ability of an individual to learn new material and master new skills.
In the course of many years of research into this concept, carried out by many specialists, it was found that intelligence can be divided into two main substructures - verbal and non-verbal. Each of them has its own area of functioning, individual level of development and potential ways of evolution.
What is verbal ability?
Well-developed verbal abilities allow a person to master the language system. It includes various elements and rules for using and connecting these elements. The language system includes:
- phonetic side of speech;
- grammatical structure of speech;
- lexical side of speech;
- syntax.
The phonetic side of speech is the sound composition of the language. Verbal abilities allow you to distinguish sounds by ear and determine the correctness of your pronunciation. In grammar, verbal abilities are manifested by correctly constructed utterances, the words in which are consistent, cases and prepositions are used correctly. In syntax - beautifully and correctly formed sentences that make up a coherent text. The vocabulary of a person with well-developed verbal abilities is usually rich.
All of the above helps in the verbal side of communication, that is, communication that occurs using speech. Highly developed verbal thinking helps to convey your thoughts to your interlocutor, convince you that you are right, and establish dialogue and joint activities. With insufficient development of these abilities, the communication process is difficult (see Dysarthria in children). Only the non-verbal side of communication (facial expressions, pantomime and gestures) does not provide sufficient information. High-quality use of speech to convey information is necessary in the communication process.
The concept of the nonverbal component of intelligence
The concept of “non-verbal intelligence” means a type of intelligence that uses visual image and spatial representation as support. It is worth noting that this substructure develops in each person in the same way as the verbal component. However, the level of nonverbal intelligence varies from person to person.
Human nonverbal thinking is based on operations associated with visual objects. By imagining these objects, a person gets the opportunity to evaluate the similarities and differences between different objects or images. Also, thanks to this substructure, people can determine the position of an object in space. By developing nonverbal intelligence, a person begins to better understand diagrams and drawings. Also, the level of development of the nonverbal component of intelligence affects abilities in the field of drawing and design.
Intuitive Thinking
An even more rarely observed phenomenon in business. Intuition does not live in a head filled with problems. Characteristic features: rapid progression, lack of clearly defined stages, little awareness.
It should not be confused with reflexive-instinctive behavior, which is usually characteristic of the effective and verbal levels of thinking. This is rapid decision-making based on the “fight-freeze-flight” principle, a manifestation of cognitive instinct, interest and other products of the reptilian mind and limbic (emotional) system according to McLean. Which is also a very useful thing. But that's not what we're talking about here.
The third part of the triune brain according to McLean - the neocortex is the sixth (mental, intuitive) sense organ. Its development activates the so-called mental sense, which allows you to sense the subtlest vibrations of the universe, the thoughts of other people - to perceive all unconscious processes, to be aware of, and, consequently, to manage them.
It is in the neocortex that there are limitless possibilities for the process of cognition and their implementation in life. This area of the brain controls not only linguistic and intellectual-logical, but also telepathic and extrasensory abilities. Only through the development of the neocortex can a person realize himself creatively and make ambitious breakthroughs.
At this level of thinking, people do not constantly engage in management, much less operational activities. They have long freed themselves from routine work. They have the opportunity and usually like to engage in reflection and meditative practices. They understand that emptiness is the source of everything and can calmly stop their internal dialogue, being in harmony and receiving intuitive clues about the best trajectory of their life. The more developed the intuition, the less a person worries about the future, he does not make plans. He simply lives in the moment here and now. And it is always very clear to him what to do in the next moment.
Such a person is a sage. And a teacher, if he wants to be one. And if he is somehow still involved in business, then this is not at all the main thing in his life.
This is how, in short, I described for myself a scale of levels of thinking.
The more levels of thinking a person has mastered evolutionarily, the fewer such people are found in the general population. An approximate distribution graph, in my opinion, looks like this:
Rice. 1
What do you most often have to deal with? Sometimes you need educational programs at the verbal level, seminars, consultations. At the logical level, plowing and plowing means setting up regular management, project management and the transition to a process model of activity and its improvement, development of strategies and tactics. The abstract level is necessary for organizational design and construction of organizations, for coordinating the work of employees (assigning coordinates to them in space and time). It is not possible to use the context level often. This is usually a long process of cooperation and consulting support.
Online course “Breakthrough Thinking in Management” (135 hours)
. A certificate of advanced training of the established type from the “Manage the Future” Business School is issued.
I don't specialize in working with imagination. I just understand that visionaries need a team with developed thinking from previous levels, and I help them figure out who is needed and why, what abilities and competencies they should have, and what exactly they should be able to do and want to do.
At the beginning of the article, I mentioned that my work as a development director and business consultant forced me to create this tool. But it’s difficult to work because there is often no one within the organization to implement decisions and projects for business transformation and development.
We need people with a certain level of thinking above the second, especially the third to fifth. And they are sorely lacking. Today, the system of higher education and business education does not purposefully prepare such people. If we want to make a breakthrough in the economy, we need to educate, upgrade thinking, create such people, gather them into a community. This is what we are working on now.
Background photo created by freepik – www.freepik.com
General principles for diagnosing the nonverbal substructure
Today, there are many ways to diagnose verbal and nonverbal intelligence. The differences lie in the tasks and materials on the basis of which the tasks are formed.
Nonverbal intelligence is diagnosed using tasks based on visual materials. Often common test tasks involve composing figures from individual elements, manipulating objects, or comparing visual material provided for the test. In most cases, the state of non-verbal intelligence is assessed using Cos cubes, Raven's progressive matrices or Seguin form board.
However, there are also techniques that give the psychologist the opportunity to evaluate the verbal and nonverbal substructure simultaneously. The most used is the Wechsler test. However, it is worth noting that diagnosing both components takes quite a lot of time. Most often, the test takes one and a half to two hours.
Description of the Wechsler test
This test, also known in psychology as the Wechsler scale, is the most common and best known method for determining the level of human intelligence. It was created by David Wexler in 1939. The test is based on Wechsler's hierarchical model of intelligence, which makes it possible to consider all components of intelligence simultaneously.
This diagnostic technique includes 11 subtests, divided into two groups. 6 tasks are aimed at testing verbal intelligence, and 5 tasks are aimed at determining the level of development of the non-verbal component. Each test contains from 10 to 30 tasks, the complexity of which gradually increases. Each completed subtest is scored. The final result is converted into a unified score on a scale, which makes it possible to evaluate the spread. When assessing the results, the general IQ, the ratio of the level of development of the verbal and non-verbal components is taken into account, and the performance of each individual task assigned to the test taker is analyzed.
Processing of Wechsler test results
After a person has completed all the subtests, the scores must be correctly calculated and interpreted into the final result. For this process, you need to have the necessary tables on hand.
The assessment is carried out at three levels:
- Calculation and interpretation of general intelligence scores, verbal and non-verbal components.
- Analysis of the profile of performance scores based on coefficients.
- Qualitative interpretation of assessments, taking into account observation of the test taker’s behavior and other diagnostic information.
Standard processing consists of the psychologist calculating the primary scores for each of the tasks, that is, summing up the subject’s “raw” scores. After this, using special tables, the “raw” result is converted to a standard one and displayed in the form of a profile. The summed results in a standard form determine indicators of general, nonverbal and verbal intelligence.
The classification of results is as follows:
- 130 points or more is a very high IQ.
- 120-129 points - high level.
- 110-119 points is a good standard.
- 90-109 points - average IQ.
- 80-89 points are a bad norm.
- 70-79 points are a segment of the border zone.
- 69 points and below indicate that the subject has a mental defect.
Control
When taking a test online, applicants are tempted to cheat: find nonverbal tests with answers on the Internet, or ask friends for help. The developers have provided for this.
The most effective way to combat dishonest approaches is considered to be a retest: after the candidate successfully passes the remote part, he is invited to an in-person interview.
On it, in the presence of the examiner, he is asked the same questions, but in random order. If it turns out that while taking the test from home, he scored 75%, and in the presence of the examiner 25%, he will be disqualified.
In addition to retesting, to control validity they use:
- Audio and video recording;
- Desktop recording;
- Control of running processes and open browser tabs.
Age-related adaptations of the Wechsler method
Depending on the age of the person being tested, the study of non-verbal intelligence and other components of the concept of “intelligence” is carried out using one of three age-specific adaptations of the Wechsler test. This is due to the fact that at different ages a person’s intelligence develops in a specific way, which significantly affects the tasks that can be completed.
Today, the WPPSI modification is used for children from 4 to 6.5 years old. WISC is adapted for ages 6.5 to 16.5 years. For everyone over 16.5 years old, the WAIS version is used.
If you fail
Since the purpose of the online stage is to weed out insufficiently qualified candidates, if you fail it, there will be almost no chance of getting a job. If the company uses a full-fledged applicant assessment system, the initial selection is carried out by HR employees. They rate work experience and technical skills nominally. Until the candidate passes this stage, he will not get an interview with the technical director. Therefore, you should not expect that a negative assessment on testing will be compensated by experience or recommendations.
How can you develop the nonverbal component of intelligence?
Nonverbal intelligence can be developed. Today, there are special techniques and exercises for this, the systematic implementation of which will help develop this substructure of intelligence.
First of all, a person seeking to develop the non-verbal structure of intelligence must learn not just to look, but to see. For example, when you see cars colliding on the road, you should not limit yourself to a superficial inspection of the situation. Attempts to see the full picture and understand the causes of the incident contribute to the development of the nonverbal component. By restoring all the factors that have fallen out of sight and the holistic picture of the situation, a person trains his intellect and develops the level of observation.
Breaking thought patterns is an equally progressive technique. At the initial stage, you can change such simple things as the route from home to work or the path taken around the store while shopping. Any change in habitual actions and pictures prompts the brain to change the picture of the environment, which becomes familiar and pulls the person into the comfort zone.
The development of the nonverbal substructure of intelligence is facilitated by reading difficult-to-perceive literature and understanding each step described in this literature. No less useful is thoughtful reading of literature concerning activities unusual for humans.
Creative thinking
Imaginative thinking is thinking that uses images and the power of imagination. This is the ability to create and broadcast bright, distinct and detailed images of the future, desired, ideal state. Strong, successful, large-scale entrepreneurs are usually good at imaginative thinking - they see the goal.
Such owners and managers of the enterprise want to have a future, which they must first invent. They are attracted to inventing the future - Vision development, the foresight method, the Delphi technique and the like.
But so that this is not empty fantasy, manilovism, in addition to this, they must have developed the power of intention and will. It also requires a desire to commit, invest existing resources, and a strong ability to attract scarce resources to realize this vision.
They form an image in their minds and begin to move in the chosen direction. Moreover, what is remarkable is that the movement towards a conscious future is supported by unconscious actions and instincts. As they say, “our body is smarter than our head.” If the head sees something ahead, the body itself, without unnecessary prompts and reminders, carries the head to where it is needed or where it is not needed, but really wants to. And, in addition to instincts, the next level of thinking is included in the work - intuition.
When an organization develops its Vision, the psychological mechanism of pulling from the past is instantly activated, because, as Eastern wisdom says, “we do not move towards the future, starting from the past, but the future pulls us out of the past and attracts us to itself.”
The further we move along the scale, the less common these levels of thinking are in reality. And if you cross paths with such an owner or TOP, you need to understand that they are absolutely not interested in delving into drawing flowcharts or engaging in project management on their own. Their thinking is no longer linear, but three-dimensional. Even from strategic transformational sessions using thought process tools, they are likely to run (and run) - bored. They instantly grasp the essence, contextual thinking works great for them. But they haven’t developed it for years, they were born with it.
If, as a result of diagnosing the organization and the solution developed on its basis, such an owner or general director sees the meaning-picture he needs, he is unlikely to roll up his sleeves. Usually they say: “It’s clear - I need people who are able to do all this and bring it to the result I need.” And he will find, motivate, inspire, provide resources and lead this journey to a brighter future.
But it is important to distinguish true visionary leaders from empty-headed projectors with whom you should not mess with.
