What is neurodiversity?
Neurodivergence refers to differences in the way individuals analyse and process information. Neurodiversity is the view that neurological differences in people reflect normal variations in brain development. It commonly refers to conditions such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficient hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). There has been a push in recent years to move away from the idea that these conditions are disorders that should be treated to a more nuanced perspective with variations of what is considered typical.
Why is it important to consider neurodiversity in psychological assessment?
Organisations have a moral and legal obligation to ensure that their use of psychological assessments does not discriminate against protected groups. Neurodivergent people may be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA; 1990), meaning that an organisation legally cannot treat applicants or employees less favourably because of their qualifying disabilities. Because psychological assessments inform many employment decisions, it is critical that the assessments be free from bias and predict outcomes equivalently across protected groups. In other words, assessment items should be understood similarly across neurodivergent and neurotypical individuals, and scores on the assessments should relate similarly to outcomes (e.g., being selected for a job or promotion) across groups.
Are Hogan assessments valid for measuring psychological characteristics of neurodiverse groups?
We have no reason to expect that the validity of our personality assessments will differ for neurodivergent people. Validity concerns the degree to which our assessments predict outcomes of interest. Our assessments ask about a person’s behavioural tendencies (e.g., “I am careful about my work”), and provide fit recommendations based on tendencies that are important for success in that job. In many cases, the behavioural tendencies related to job success are empirically derived (i.e., we have done studies to show that people who score higher on a given scale perform better at a certain job). While there is limited research on this topic, there is no reason to think that the relationship between these behavioural tendencies and in-role performance would change for neurodivergent candidates. The existing research suggests that neurodivergent people often have lower levels of personality characteristics (Lodi-Smith et al., 2019), but there is not enough research to indicate if there are differences in the relationships between personality and performance (Wegmeyer & Speer, 2023). Based on our past research on assessment equivalence, we suspect that we will find similar assessment functioning and validity between neurodivergent and neurotypical groups of people. However, based on current research we would expect to see small mean differences on some HPI scales.
Are Hogan assessments fair for measuring psychological characteristics of neurodiverse groups?
Hogan Assessments strives for fairness when measuring psychological characteristics, including for neurodivergent individuals. We focus on normal personality characteristics that predict workplace behaviours, rather than clinical or pathological characteristics. We also employ robust validation methods. While currently not specific to neurodivergence, the principles of fairness are applied consistently, likely benefiting neurodivergent populations as well.
Our approach to fairness ensures that our tools assess psychological characteristics relevant to professional success and development, minimising potential harmful biases against specific groups. Our research demonstrates that the Hogan assessments are comparable across all demographic groups tested (Hogan Assessment Systems, 2023a-g). Additionally, scale scores have been linked to performance in virtually every job in the global economy. The links between assessment scores and job performance do not differ by demographic groups (Hogan Assessment Systems, 2021); therefore, we believe our assessments would be equivalent across additional groups such as various types of neurodivergence.
Accessibility features such as untimed assessments and an accessibility portal further enhance fairness for neurodivergent candidates. Our personality assessments are always untimed. We provide respondents with the accessibility portal at www.gotohogan.com/accessibility. Hogan follows the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure our assessments are accessible to all users. These features allow for equitable participation by addressing individual needs and fostering inclusivity in the assessment process.
Can Hogan assessments be used to diagnose types of neurodivergence?
Our assessments are not clinical assessments and are specifically designed to assess typical, non-clinical, behavioural patterns. They cannot be used to diagnose any clinical conditions. We have tested our assessments alongside clinical assessments and the results indicate that our assessments are, psychometrically speaking, measuring different phenomena (Hogan Assessment Systems, 2024).
Does Hogan recommend using cognitively loaded assessments for people who self-identify as neurodivergent?
Assessments such as the HBRI or the Judgement report which are cognitively loaded or have a cognitive component were not validated on neurodivergent peoples. Due to the content and timed nature of these assessments we currently do not recommend using them for people who are neurodivergent.
What research is Hogan doing regarding neurodiversity and psychological assessment?
As of 2025, Hogan added additional optional demographic questions that can be turned on in HALO. These questions include ones about neurodivergence. Further, we are actively working with domestic organisations and Hogan distributors internationally to collect data from neurodivergent individuals. Having assessment scores from a large number of neurodivergent individuals will allow us to provide quantitative evidence showing the equivalence and validity of our assessments for this group.
