What does this test measure?
Two fundamental motivational systems: BIS (anxiety, threat sensitivity) and BAS (reward sensitivity, divided into Drive, Fun-Seeking, and Reward Responsiveness).
Personality: questions and answers
61 questions across 13 tests in this category.
Behavioral Activation & Inhibition Test
How long does it take?
About 8-9 minutes.
Is this test scientifically validated?
It uses 35 public-domain IPIP items targeting the BIS/BAS constructs of Carver & White (1994), grounded in Gray's reinforcement sensitivity theory, with scale reliabilities of α = 0.68-0.84. The BIS/BAS framework is one of the most cited models of motivation in personality neuroscience.
What do high and low scores mean?
A high BIS score means threat and punishment cues weigh heavily on you; a low one means you stay calm under risk. High BAS scores mean rewards pull you strongly — through drive, fun-seeking, or reward responsiveness. The profiles are independent: you can be high or low on both systems at once.
Big Five Personality Test (IPIP-NEO-120)
What does this test measure?
It measures the Big Five personality traits — Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism — each broken down into 6 specific facets, for a total of 30 facet scores.
How long does it take?
Most people complete the 120 items in about 25-30 minutes.
Is this test scientifically validated?
Yes. IPIP-NEO scales show strong convergent validity with the NEO-PI-R (correlations of 0.77-0.94 at the domain level) and have been used in hundreds of published studies worldwide.
Who should take this test?
Anyone 18 or older who wants a detailed understanding of their personality. It is suitable for personal growth, career exploration, and relationship insights.
How is this different from the Mini-IPIP?
The IPIP-NEO-120 provides facet-level detail (6 facets per domain) while the Mini-IPIP measures only the 5 broad domains. The 120-item version offers much higher precision and a richer personality profile.
Big Five Personality Test (IPIP-NEO-300)
What does this test measure?
It measures the same Big Five domains and 30 facets as the IPIP-NEO-120, but with 10 items per facet instead of 4, yielding higher reliability and precision.
How long does it take?
Approximately 45-60 minutes. The 300 items require more time but deliver the most precise results.
Is this test scientifically validated?
Yes. The IPIP-NEO-300 was the original IPIP representation of the NEO-PI-R, developed by Goldberg (1999). Facet-level alpha reliabilities typically range from 0.78 to 0.92.
When should I choose this over the 120-item version?
Choose the 300-item version when you want the highest possible measurement precision, are willing to invest more time, or need research-grade accuracy in your facet scores.
Character Strengths Profile (IPIP-VIA-R)
Is this the VIA Survey?
No. The VIA-IS is a separate instrument licensed by the VIA Institute on Character. This one is the IPIP's public-domain representation of the same 24 strengths, rebuilt from a different item pool by different authors. Expect the two to broadly agree and to differ in the details, and do not treat a result here as a result there.
Why are my scores not compared to other people?
Because no per-scale averages have been published for this version, and inventing them would be worse than going without. Your score on each strength is the average of your own four answers, so a high score means you recognised those statements in yourself, not that you scored above anyone. That is a smaller claim than a percentile and it is the one the data supports.
Half the statements are negative. Is that a trick?
It is a safeguard, and a deliberate one. If every statement were flattering, a person who tends to agree would come out strong on all 24 and the profile would say nothing. With half the items reversed, agreeing with everything cancels out. It makes the questionnaire slightly more tiring to answer and the result considerably more informative.
Should I aim to be high on all of them?
You will not be, and that is the point. A profile where everything is high usually means the answers described an ideal rather than a person. The strengths you score lowest on are not faults to correct; they are simply not the ones you lead with.
Will my results change if I take it again?
The top and bottom of the profile tend to hold. The middle moves, because a lot of strengths sit close together and a small shift in mood or recent events reorders them. If you retake it, compare the shape rather than the individual positions.
Dark Tetrad Test (SD4)
Does this test diagnose psychopathy, narcissistic personality disorder, or anything else?
No. All four traits are subclinical by definition: ordinary dimensions of personality studied in community samples, on which everybody sits somewhere. The source article states plainly that brief subclinical measures of this kind cannot replace clinical measures of personality disorders, and research on subclinical samples has found little sign of psychological dysfunction attached to them. A high score means you endorsed more of those statements than most people who answer honestly. It is not a forensic finding, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction about what you will do. If a result worries you, that concern belongs in a conversation with a mental health professional, not in a questionnaire.
The fourth scale is called sadism. What do its questions actually ask?
Read this before you read your score, because the name promises more than the questions ask. Four of the seven items are about watching: a fist fight, violent films and video games, violent sports, someone falling flat on their face. The other three are about words and attitude: that some people deserve to suffer, that you have said mean things online for fun, that you know how to hurt someone with words alone. Not one item claims any pleasure in physically hurting a person. That is by design and the authors explain why: the items that best separate this trait from psychopathy turned out to be the vicarious ones, so they deliberately minimised physical sadism items. A mid range score on this scale means, in practice, that you enjoy combat sports and violent films. The theoretical distinction from psychopathy is about reward rather than severity, in the article's own words: psychopathy is indifferent to other people's suffering, sadism finds it appealing.
Could my employer see my results?
No. This test is flagged as sensitive in NOESIS, and sensitive results are never shown individually to an employer without your explicit consent given for that specific execution, which defaults to off. That is a platform rule, not a courtesy. The same reasoning is why we mark this test as unsuitable for recruitment and personnel selection: it is a self report of socially undesirable traits, which means it is easy to answer strategically, and labelling a candidate with a word like psychopathy or sadism is indefensible whatever the number says. Development and coaching with the person's consent is the furthest this instrument should travel inside a company.
Is a high score bad?
It is a position, and the report treats it as one. These traits persist in the population partly because they sometimes work: patient strategy wins negotiations, confidence recruits opportunities, nerve is useful when everyone else freezes, and an appetite for watching conflict is most of what a stadium is for. The same dispositions carry costs that are mostly paid by other people and in trust. Your report describes both sides of the position you actually hold. What it will not do is tell you what you are.
This catalog also has a Dark Triad Assessment. What is the difference?
They are different products and both are worth what they claim. This one is the SD4, the published instrument: 28 items written and validated by its authors, four traits instead of three because it adds everyday sadism, its own reliability figures computed on these exact items, and a recognised acronym. The Dark Triad Assessment is NOESIS's own shorter alternative, 27 items written in house on the three classic traits; it has no published validation of its own and its page says so, which is why no reliability figure appears there. If you want the instrument researchers use, take this one. If you already took the other one, its three trait scores are not invalidated by this page, and the two are not interchangeable: different items, different wording, different scales, so the numbers are not comparable side by side.
What is actually known about the SD4's numbers?
Internal consistency, from the source article: alpha between .75 and .83 across the four subscales in the two validation studies (N = 999 and N = 660), with omega in the same range. Structure: a four factor model fit with no cross loadings required, and an independent study of 3,975 undergraduates found strong measurement invariance by gender. Separation: the machiavellianism items were rebuilt from the Mach VI rather than taken from the older SD3, which dropped the machiavellianism to psychopathy correlation from .47 to about .31. Two things are honestly missing and this page will not invent them: there is no test retest coefficient published for the original English form, and the article does not report how the four subscales correlate with the long standard measures they abbreviate. Norms are the third gap. Means are published, but they come from Canadian undergraduates averaging 20 years old, so this test reads your score on the raw 1 to 5 scale with labelled bands rather than as a percentile against a population that is not yours.
Dark Triad Assessment
Does this test diagnose psychopathy or narcissistic personality disorder?
No, and it could not. The three traits measured here are subclinical by definition: ordinary dimensions of personality on which the whole population varies, studied in community samples, not in clinics. A high psychopathy score means you endorse more impulsivity and less remorse than most people who answer honestly; it is not a forensic finding. A high narcissism score is not narcissistic personality disorder, which is a clinical diagnosis made by a professional through interview, not by a self-report questionnaire. If a result worries you, that concern belongs in a conversation with a mental health professional.
Could my employer see my results?
No. This test is flagged as sensitive in NOESIS, and sensitive results are never shown individually to an employer without your explicit consent given for that specific execution, which defaults to off. That is a platform rule, not a courtesy. The same flag is why we mark this test as unsuitable for recruitment or personnel selection: an unvalidated self-report of socially aversive traits is not a hiring instrument, and we say so plainly.
Why would anyone take a test about their worst traits?
Because the traits are already in the room; the only question is whether you can see them. These three dimensions predict real patterns: how you negotiate, when you charm, what you do after winning a fight. People who score high somewhere usually already pay the costs without the vocabulary. Naming the pattern is what makes the choice possible: you can keep the strategy and drop the collateral damage only if you know which is which.
Is this the Short Dark Triad (SD3)?
No. The SD3 (Jones and Paulhus, 2014) is the best-known brief measure of these three traits, and this assessment is built on the same construct with the same structure: three traits, nine items each, scored as a 1 to 5 average. But every item here is NOESIS's own wording, written independently, and the adaptation has not been validated in its own right. The SD3's published reliability and norms belong to the SD3. If you need a validated instrument for research, use the original; if you want a serious, honestly framed self-assessment, this is built for that.
Is a high score bad?
It is a trade, and the report treats it as one. Each of these traits persists in the population partly because it sometimes works: strategic caution wins negotiations, confidence attracts opportunities, cold nerve is useful in emergencies. The same dispositions also carry documented costs, mostly paid in trust and in other people. Your report describes both sides of the position you actually hold, without applause and without a verdict.
How does this relate to the HEXACO test in this catalog?
Directly. Researchers have argued that what the three dark traits share is, in mirror image, the Honesty-Humility factor of the HEXACO model: sincerity, fairness, modesty, and indifference to greed. The HEXACO test reads that common core as one score; this test splits the dark side into its three distinct strategies. Taking both gives you the summary and the decomposition, and they make a genuinely useful pair rather than two versions of the same number.
This catalog also has a Dark Tetrad Test (SD4). Which of the two should I take?
They are different things and the difference is easy to state. The SD4 test is the published instrument: its 28 items were written and validated by the researchers who named the field, it measures a fourth trait as well, everyday sadism, and it carries reliability figures computed on those very items. This assessment is NOESIS's own, 27 items written in house on the three classic traits, with no independent validation of its own, which is exactly why no reliability figure appears on this page. If you want the instrument used in research, or you want the fourth trait, take the SD4 one. This one remains a serious, honestly framed self assessment of the three, and if you have already taken it your report stands. What you should not do is compare the two score sets side by side: different items and different wording mean the numbers are not on the same scale.
HEXACO Personality Test (IPIP-HEXACO)
What does this test measure?
It measures six personality dimensions: Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience, each with four facets.
How is HEXACO different from the Big Five?
The HEXACO model adds Honesty-Humility as a sixth factor and redefines Agreeableness and Emotionality compared to the Big Five. Honesty-Humility captures sincerity, fairness, greed-avoidance, and modesty.
How long does it take?
Approximately 35-45 minutes for the 240 items.
Is this test scientifically validated?
Yes. The HEXACO model has been validated across dozens of countries and languages. The six-factor structure replicates consistently in cross-cultural studies (Ashton et al., 2004).
Interpersonal Style Test
What does this test measure?
Eight interpersonal octants: Dominant, Arrogant, Cold, Introverted, Submissive, Ingenuous, Agreeable, and Extraverted. Your profile shows which styles are most characteristic.
How long does it take?
About 7-8 minutes (32 items).
Is this test scientifically validated?
It uses 32 public-domain items from the IPIP-IPC (Markey & Markey, 2009), which reproduces the circular structure of the Interpersonal Circumplex tradition (Wiggins, 1995). The circumplex is one of the most established frameworks for describing social behavior in personality psychology.
What do high and low scores mean?
There is no high or low here in the usual sense: your profile shows which of the eight octants — combinations of dominance and warmth — describe you most. Most people peak in two or three adjacent octants; the octants opposite your peaks describe styles that cost you the most effort.
Locus of Control Test
What does this test measure?
Three dimensions of locus of control: Internality (your actions determine outcomes), Powerful Others (powerful people control outcomes), and Chance (luck determines outcomes). These are independent scales.
How long does it take?
About 5 minutes.
Is this test scientifically validated?
It uses 20 public-domain IPIP items targeting Levenson's (1981) three-dimensional locus of control model, with scale reliabilities of α = 0.71-0.81. Levenson's refinement of Rotter's classic construct is a standard in control-belief research.
What do high and low scores mean?
High Internality means you credit your own actions for outcomes — generally linked to initiative and persistence. High Powerful Others or Chance means you experience outcomes as decided by authorities or luck, which can be realistic in some environments but corrosive when generalized. The three are scored separately because people genuinely hold mixed beliefs.
Mini-IPIP Personality Test
What does this test measure?
It measures the five broad personality traits: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.
How long does it take?
About 3-5 minutes. It has only 20 items.
Is this test scientifically validated?
Yes. The Mini-IPIP was validated by Donnellan et al. (2006) and shows adequate psychometric properties for a brief measure, with alpha reliabilities of 0.65-0.77.
How is this different from the full IPIP-NEO-120?
The Mini-IPIP provides only domain-level scores (5 traits) without facet detail. It trades precision for speed — ideal when you need a quick snapshot rather than a deep dive.
Need for Cognition Test
What does this test measure?
It measures Need for Cognition — your natural tendency to seek out, engage in, and enjoy complex thinking tasks. It's about cognitive motivation, not intelligence.
How long does it take?
About 2-3 minutes (10 items).
Is a high score better?
Neither high nor low is inherently better. High NFC means you enjoy intellectual challenges; low NFC means you prefer simpler, more practical approaches. Both are valid cognitive styles.
Is this test scientifically validated?
It uses 10 public-domain IPIP items (α = 0.84) targeting the need for cognition construct of Cacioppo & Petty (1982), one of the most replicated individual differences in cognitive psychology.
Self-Monitoring Test
What does this test measure?
Self-monitoring — how much you adapt behavior to social situations. High = social chameleon; low = consistent across contexts.
How long does it take?
About 2-3 minutes.
Is this test scientifically validated?
The test is built on Snyder's (1974) self-monitoring construct, one of the most studied concepts in social psychology. It uses public-domain items from the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) targeting that construct, with good internal consistency (α = 0.82). The original scale showed one-month test-retest reliability of r = .83.
What do high and low scores mean?
High self-monitors read the room and adjust their tone, style, and behavior to fit each situation — like social chameleons. Low self-monitors behave consistently across contexts, guided by their inner attitudes and values. Neither pole is better: each brings distinct strengths in careers, relationships, and leadership.
Who should take this test?
Anyone 18 or older curious about their social style. It is especially useful for people in client-facing, leadership, sales, or negotiation roles, and for anyone reflecting on why they feel authentic — or drained — in certain social settings.
Can my self-monitoring level change?
Self-monitoring is a fairly stable trait, but it is not a fixed destiny. Knowing your natural tendency lets you flex deliberately: high self-monitors can practice anchoring in their values, while low self-monitors can rehearse situational adaptation when the stakes call for it.
Sensation Seeking Test
What does this test measure?
Three types of sensation seeking: Dangerous (physical risk), Impulsive (spontaneous action), and Calculated (controlled risk-taking).
How long does it take?
About 7-8 minutes.
Is this test scientifically validated?
It uses 30 public-domain IPIP items targeting Zuckerman's (1994) sensation seeking constructs, with scale reliabilities of α = 0.78-0.86. Sensation seeking is one of the most studied traits in risk research, with documented links to driving, sports, and substance-use behavior.
What do high and low scores mean?
The three scales separate what "risk-taker" usually blurs: attraction to physical danger, unplanned impulsive action, and deliberate, calculated risk. High dangerous plus high impulsive is the profile that deserves the most self-awareness; high calculated with the other two low describes entrepreneurial, assessed risk-taking. Low across all three simply means you buy your stimulation more cheaply.