Temperament Test (IPIP Facet Profile)

Explore a detailed temperament-related profile using 16 preliminary scales from the International Personality Item Pool. The 152 statements cover facets such as variety-seeking, social discomfort, friendliness and initiative. Results show each facet’s raw sum and average; they do not assign a fixed temperament type.

How to use this tool

1. Read each statement as a description of how you generally are, rather than how you wish to be.
2. Choose one response from Very Inaccurate to Very Accurate for every statement.
3. Calculate after answering all 152 statements. No neutral responses are filled in automatically.
4. Read each facet separately and review its direction before interpreting the score.

Formula

Positive item = response; reverse-keyed item = 6 − response; facet sum = sum of its keyed items; facet mean = sum ÷ item count.

Each mean ranges from 1 to 5. The Extravagance scale has four items; Low Self-Efficacy and Competence have nine each; the other thirteen scales have ten each. Means put the numerical ranges on the same scale, but they are not population percentiles or interchangeable measures.

Example

If every response is 3, reversing an item gives 6 − 3 = 3. Every facet mean is therefore 3. A ten-item facet has a raw sum of 30, either nine-item facet totals 27, and the four-item Extravagance facet totals 12.

What this profile measures

These public-domain IPIP scales were developed to measure constructs similar to temperament facets in Cloninger’s TCI. This is an independent presentation of the preliminary IPIP items, not the original TCI, a clinical assessment or the ancient four-temperament model. Higher scores mean more of the named trait; they are not uniformly better. This page does not infer neurotransmitter levels or combine facets into an invented overall score.