ABSTRACT
Things that teachers and psychologists assess formally or informally include educational attainments, intelligence, aptitudes, personality and character. Assessment can be done with varying degrees of objectivity. Teachers who know pupils well over a long time can make their own assessments is limited by local frames of reference and is more inclined to mix general personality assessments in with purported intellectual assessments. One of the most commonly used assessments is simply to describe a person in terms of the traits he most obviously manifests—cheerful and resilient and cautious but reliable. Sociometry is a form of assessment akin to personality testing, although it concentrates more on the social psychology of a small group of people. The guidance interview does not abolish motivational distortion automatically, for people can cheat themselves as well as others when it comes to personality assessment. Some may choose to classify the clinical or diagnostic interview separately from the selection or guidance interviews in their broader sense.
