About the test
16 personality factors test
Explore sixteen personality factors from Raymond Cattell’s model, from warmth and dominance to vigilance and perfectionism, with a free questionnaire. The statements come from public-domain IPIP scales that measure similar constructs; this is not the commercial 16PF. Your profile places you between two opposite poles on each factor.
Questionnaire / instrument: IPIP scales for Cattell's 16 personality factors
The test at a glance
- Price
- Free, including your results
- Registration
- No account required
- Length
- 163 statements
- Time
- About 18 minutes
- Format
- Self-report · five response options
- Your report
- 16 factors between opposite poles
The 16 factors
Each factor runs between two poles, and neither pole is better than the other. The report uses Cattell’s factor names; where Goldberg’s IPIP scale has a different name, it is given in the description.
Warmth
Reserved to warm. How much you care about and attend to other people.
Reasoning
Concrete to abstract. How you see your own thinking. The IPIP scale is called Intellect and is self-reported: unlike factor B in the 16PF, it does not test reasoning ability.
Emotional stability
Reactive to emotionally stable. How well you handle setbacks and keep your mood steady.
Dominance
Deferential to dominant. How much you take control and assert your own will. IPIP scale: Assertiveness.
Liveliness
Serious to lively. How playful, spontaneous and fun-loving you are. IPIP scale: Gregariousness.
Rule-consciousness
Expedient to rule-conscious. How much you value rules, authority and tradition. IPIP scale: Dutifulness.
Social boldness
Shy to socially bold. How easily you approach people and handle attention. IPIP scale: Friendliness.
Sensitivity
Utilitarian to sensitive. How much you are guided by feelings, taste and aesthetics.
Vigilance
Trusting to vigilant. How much you trust or suspect other people’s motives. IPIP scale: Distrust.
Abstractedness
Grounded to abstracted. How much you live in your thoughts and imagination. IPIP scale: Imagination.
Privateness
Forthright to private. How much you keep your thoughts and feelings to yourself. IPIP scale: Reserve.
Apprehension
Self-assured to apprehensive. How much you worry, feel guilt and doubt yourself. IPIP scale: Anxiety.
Openness to change
Traditional to open to change. How much you seek new ideas and new ways of doing things. IPIP scale: Complexity.
Self-reliance
Group-oriented to self-reliant. Whether you prefer to work and be on your own or with others. IPIP scale: Introversion.
Perfectionism
Tolerates disorder to perfectionistic. How organised, exacting and thorough you are. IPIP scale: Orderliness.
Tension
Relaxed to tense. How easily you get irritated, impatient and on edge. IPIP scale: Emotionality.
What your results show
Your profile is calculated as soon as you finish. You can preview an example report before taking the test.
- Up to four factors that stand out most: those furthest from the middle and outside the average band.
- All 16 factors, each with a marker from 0 to 100 between its two poles and a short explanation of your level.
- Low, average and high bands that use the same fixed limits as our Big Five test, with a note on what the scores can and cannot tell you.
What does it measure?
Sixteen dimensions of personality, including warmth, emotional stability, dominance, sensitivity, self-reliance and perfectionism. These are continuous traits, not sixteen personality types.
Where does it come from?
The questionnaire uses the preliminary IPIP scales for constructs similar to those in Cattell’s sixteen-factor model. Goldberg’s IPIP work supplies the freely available items and scoring keys.
How is the result calculated?
The 163 responses are combined into sixteen scale averages, after adjusting reverse-keyed items. Each score is shown from 0 to 100 on the response scale, between the factor’s two descriptive poles. Low, average and high use the same fixed limits as our Big Five test.
What can the result tell you?
This is not the commercial 16PF questionnaire or a test from its publisher. The Reasoning scale (IPIP Intellect) is self-reported, not a reasoning ability test. No norms are used, so the scores do not compare you with other people.
Languages and adaptations
Some item translations are reused from our existing IPIP banks; other wording was translated for this site with AI assistance. Translation does not by itself establish that a scale has the same measurement properties in another language.
Frequently asked questions
Is the test free, including the results?
Yes. You can answer all the statements and read your full report without paying or creating an account.
Is this the official 16PF?
No. The 16PF is a commercial questionnaire and a trademark of its publisher. We use Goldberg’s public-domain IPIP scales, which were written to measure constructs similar to Cattell’s factors. The items and scoring differ and we use no norms, so your scores cannot be compared with official 16PF results.
Does it sort me into one of sixteen personality types?
No. Despite the similar number, this is not a type test like those based on Myers-Briggs. Cattell’s model describes sixteen continuous factors, and everyone has a position on each of them.
Who am I compared with?
No one. There are no public norms for these IPIP scales, so the score shows where your average answer lies on the response scale from 0 to 100. A score of 70 means your answers leaned towards the right-hand pole, not that you scored higher than 70 percent of people.
How accurate is it?
In Goldberg’s IPIP data, the internal consistency (alpha) of the sixteen scales ranges from about .73 to .86, which is acceptable for a research questionnaire. The scales are described as preliminary, and our translations have not been separately validated. Treat small differences and scores near the middle with caution.
How is it different from the Big Five test?
Cattell’s factors were one of the starting points for the Big Five. The Big Five test describes your personality with five broad traits and 30 facets and compares you with other people. This test gives a more detailed picture across sixteen narrower factors, without a comparison group.
How should I answer?
Describe how you usually are now, not how you would like to be. There are no right or wrong answers. You can take a break: your answers are saved in this browser along the way.
License and reuse
Public domainIPIP places its items and scales in the public domain. They may be used, copied, adapted and translated for commercial and non-commercial purposes without a fee or separate permission.
The terms below apply to the test materials. Articles, translations, software and our result descriptions may have separate terms.
Sources and further reading
Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In I. Mervielde, I. Deary, F. De Fruyt, & F. Ostendorf (Eds.), Personality psychology in Europe (Vol. 7, pp. 7-28). Tilburg University Press. Scales: https://ipip.ori.org/new16PFKey.htm