Assessment Tools The Hartman Profile Axiological Assessment Tool
This Nobel-Prize nominated diagnostic tool was scientifically developed to help individuals and teams create a deeper understanding of their decision-making process. By measuring the thought process in six basic dimensions, this profile serves as a picture of how we assign value to people and situations.
How are Axiological Assessments different from Psychological assessments?
Psychology has been very valuable in our culture and is based on inductive logic grounded in empirical foundations. It is an instance of reasoning from a part to the whole, from particulars to generals, or from the individual to the universal. The general validity of a “law” is inferred from its observed validity by showing that if a proposed law holds true in certain cases, it must also hold in the next and succeeding cases.
Axiology, the science of value, has the distinctive difference of being based on deductive reasoning, a method by which concrete applications & interpretative detail are deduced from axioms, definitions and postulates. Hartman’s “Axiom of Value” provided us with a formal mathematical norm which can be applied to any field of study to structure the value parameters of that field, and then it weighs or measures individuals or teams against that scientific norm. Dr. Leon Pomeroy in his book, The New Science of Axiological Psychology (Pomeroy, 2005), has shown that formal axiology is also empirically valid.
Thus, in our axiological assessment profiles we have the solid support of both scientific methods: the deductive logic-based axiomatic method and the inductive, empirical method. Dr. Pomeroy spent over 20 years collecting statistical data for his book cross-nationally, from numerous and diverse eastern and western countries and cultures, and proving that cultures all over the world make value judgments in the same way. Formal axiology is a discipline that can enhance and improve the effectiveness of psychology – by merging it with a formal, axiomatic method. We see the marriage of psychology and axiology as the very best approach to coaching and improving the skills and talents of teams and individuals. TVSG’s targeted Value Assessments are consistent and non-discriminatory. Since the value profiles are based on formal value science, rather than psychology, responses are compared to mathematical norms, rather than to group or population norms. Race, sex, age, and creed have no bearing on these instruments whatsoever.
What the axiological assessments measure: is the quality of “judgment.” The binary axiological hierarchy defines 18 levels of meaning. As Robert Hartman defined it, “evaluative judgment” is a combination of human rational and emotional capacities. We don’t just “think” about something when we judge it - we also have feelings of liking or disliking it. Using items that relate to a career-specific industry is necessary to capture the components of valuation, both the rational and the emotional, as they relate to the reality of what we are measuring for a specific industry. We select language that corresponds to these 18 levels, mix them up, and present the randomized list as a puzzle to solve. We essentially give the respondent a camera and ask them to focus it the way they see things. We know the camera works – it is up to the respondent to bring things into focus the way they see life, ranking the list from best to worst according to their own judgment. Then, their solution (clarity of focus) is compared to the logic norm resulting in a pattern of judgment that reveals their strengths and growth areas or blind spots. This is relative to a specific special interest or career category such as “dentistry, sports or finance.” We have developed 27 special interest profiles for giving respondents information about their specific field of interest. This “custom” information is the most useful in helping the individual reach higher levels of success and personal fulfillment.
Our targeted value assessments go far beyond the “one size fits all” concept.
The old method is like “carpet bombing” while our new method is more like “precision bombing.” If athletes or let’s say football players are given a generic assessment, it may show how that athlete relates to life in general, but it will likely not tell the coach what he really wants to know: “How, specifically, will this player act on the field, court or ice?” How strong is this player’s mental toughness and competitive fire? Through our sports-specific profile, a coach can quickly identify and further develop a team’s or athlete’s innate potential and make it actual; they can also identify emotional or mental barriers or blocks that may be preventing access to an athlete’s full potential, and finally, they can identify and develop the “health” of a team.
By contrast, the DISC, for example, is a behavioral assessment where the respondent is asked to select what they are most and least like, and is then put into 4 categories – Dominant, Influential, Steady (pace of work) or Compliant (the DISC provides information in 8 categories, the 4 just mentioned times 2 for descriptions of how the person behaves if high or low in all categories). This provides valuable information about a person’s behavioral style and how they are likely to interact with others; however, our TVSG assessments are really 2 instruments in 1 – they not only tell you how clear or sharp a person is and how they feel (emotional programming) about the world they live in, but about their internal world and self-appreciation as well. The Hartman Value Profile Parallel Forms (targeted assessments) are all based on the same axio-logical value hierarchy, and tell us how a person views 2 worlds in 3 dimensions, both rationally and emotionally. This gives any coach, trainer or mentor a great baseline or starting point with which to work.