Science Behind How People Think: Using Axiology in Hiring Assessments

No two people are exactly alike. We are each unique with individual ways of thinking. Our thinking directly influences our decisions and actions. Axiology is the science that studies how people think and determine value. It joins a mathematical system and the dimensions of value, which create an objective deductive science that measures how people value the world and themselves. Whether you realize it or not, you are constantly making comparisons, evaluating, and assigning value. You evaluate things, people, and even yourself.

To value is to set priorities. It is to choose one thing over another—assigning higher value to some things and lower value to others. We assign these valuations in a consistent pattern that is unique to us. This valuing process results in our pattern of thinking. It involves filtering, processing, storing, and analyzing data. It includes thinking about and discerning the different aspects of things, making judgments, and choosing. Our unique pattern of thinking and assigning value is called our value structure.

Why is it important to understand an individual’s value structure?

• Identify and address the sources of a person’s strengths and weaknesses

• Discover a person’s motivations and drive sources

• Recognize the causes of someone’s natural stresses

• Assess a person’s partnership and team compatibility

Why is value structure relevant at the office?

An organization’s performance is tied to its employees. Companies with happy, motivated employees are often more successful than companies with employees who are disengaged from their work. To hire and retain the best person for the job, companies first need to identify top talent and then develop that talent. The best way to do that is to use tools like hiring assessments and development programs.

Hiring assessments and employee development that utilize axiology provide data for measuring an individual's biases and provide clarity in thinking.

The results are distinctive and useful for the following:

• Pre-selection and selection of employment candidates

• Team building

• Personal and managerial growth and development

• Designing and measuring training specific to the needs of the team

• Team design—assembling a team for a specific function

Axiology-based assessments are successful because the questions are formal representations, preventing the person taking the assessment from determining what is being measured and therefore removing the possibility of manipulating the results.

Try an Axiology-Based Assessment

Axiology is used at ZERORISK HR as the science behind the ZERORISK Assessment. This advanced science enables hiring managers to make accurate hiring decisions based on objective data. Request a free trial assessment to see how it works!