What is the difference between aptitude and interest?

Answer 1

Interests vs. aptitudes

Interests are the result of what you do, what you learn, and whom you know.

These factors change greatly from year to year as your knowledge and experience grows. It is difficult to be interested in something if, for example, you do not understand what it is. A job title such as "marine biologist" or "industrial engineer" does not say much about what that career is like, and so how could someone be truly interested in pursuing either of those careers?

Aptitudes are the result of inheritance and early development.

They are not changeable as interests are; our research has shown that a person's aptitudes stabilize at around age fourteen, and remain so for the rest of his or her life. They have little to do with what you know or learn, and our testing program can provide you with an objective source of information about your natural strengths, thus making educational and career planning more precise and effective.

Interests can be influenced by outside factors.

A person may not be interested in financial management because, for example, an acquaintance has that particular job and is dissatisfied or frustrated. Someone else might be interested in being a journalist because of a writer father. Dreams of becoming a mechanic can come from a favorite uncle who collects vintage cars. An interest in old cars or writing or finance could be guided by aptitudes into related directions more suited to natural abilities.

Aptitudes are innate abilities.

Dreaming of being a doctor or being the child of a surgeon does not mean you will have the necessary abilities to be a successful and satisfied physician. Identifying your natural strengths is a way to find out which careers are appropriate for you as an individual, regardless of any other factors.

If you have a strong interest in a particular career or occupation, that is something to consider. Your aptitude test results might be able to indicate which aspect to explore that would best suit you. Being a doctor is not the only role in the field of medicine, just as working in a classroom is not the only way of teaching.