Human personality is a combination of multiple traits. Different aspects affect a person’s personality in different ways.
Both attitude and aptitude are exciting aspects that help predict an individual’s abilities and behaviour patterns.
Aptitude measures a person’s ability to acquire a new skill. It reflects a person’s intellectual ability to learn via experiences.
On the other hand, attitude results from one’s opinions and beliefs concerning a person or a topic.
Key Takeaways
- Attitude is a person’s mental disposition or feelings toward a particular subject or situation, which can influence behavior and actions; aptitude is a person’s natural ability or talent for a specific task or skill.
- Attitude is influenced by a person’s beliefs, values, and experiences and can be developed or changed over time; aptitude is an innate ability that may be further developed through training and practice.
- Both attitude and aptitude can impact a person’s success and performance, but attitude relates to feelings and opinions, whereas aptitude focuses on inherent abilities and talents.
Attitude vs Aptitude
The difference between aptitude and attitude is that Aptitude is a measure of ability 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.
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Comparison Table
| 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 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 their belief system.
Attitude is a product of multiple factors. Factors like age, experience, and social structures like gender and culture form a confident attitude.
Academic and empirical research indicates that attitude has three components, the ABC component. These stand for;
- The cognitive Component includes things processed within the mind, such as thoughts and beliefs.
- Affective Component– The specific object, person or idea subjected to the attitude.
- Behavioural Component- The impact of the attitude of the person’s behaviour.
Attitudes can be both explicit and implicit, meaning they can be very much a part of a person’s consciousness or be unknown to the person.
Attitude can be equated with one’s mental energy. Like electrical energy, mood can be both positive and negative.
A 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 with a strong negative attitude towards risky behaviour is like to be safer.
What is Aptitude?
Aptitude is 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 the intelligence quotient. Aptitude is a measure of human ability that has become particularly relevant for employers and career counsellors today.
Aptitude is often confused with abilities and skills. Even though Aptitude is a function of both capabilities and skills, it is not the same thing.
Skill indicates what a person has already learnt in the past (backwards looking), ability is concerned with the present (present description), and aptitude is involved with what a person can do in the future (forward report).
In psychology, aptitude is concerned with the independence of intelligence. Different types of talents 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 individual has a better chance of performing in a related field.
A significant characteristic of aptitude is that it is innate. However, exposure to certain concepts can significantly improve battery scores. In general, talent 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.
Aptitude is commonly believed to be a better indicator of success than IQ.
In simple terms, aptitude indicates a person’s ability to apply intelligence in a given field.
Main Differences Between Attitude and Aptitude
- Aptitude is the ability of a person to acquire a new skill, while Attitude is the result set of beliefs and emotions.
- Aptitude is innate; they are present by birth, while experiences and environmental factors entirely form attitudes.
- Aptitude is loosely associated with intelligence, while attitude impacts personality and behaviour.
- Aptitude is relatively rigid in that it remains more or less the same, while attitude is fluid. Attitude changes consistently.
- Aptitude can be measured via battery tests, as it measures competency, while attitude is relative. Hence it is positive or negative.
- https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0743558400151004
- https://stars.library.ucf.edu/rosenscholar/133/
- https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED028672
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Emma Smith holds an MA degree in English from Irvine Valley College. She has been a Journalist since 2002, writing articles on the English language, Sports, and Law. Read more about me on her bio page.
