About the test
Psychopathy test
Explore self-reported traits related to boldness, meanness and disinhibition with our free online psychopathy test. The questions come from published CAT-PD scales; their grouping into this profile is our own adaptation. Use it to reflect on your patterns of behaviour.
Questionnaire / instrument: Triarchic psychopathy profile (CAT-PD scales)
The test at a glance
- Price
- Free, including your results
- Registration
- No account required
- Length
- 59 statements
- Time
- About 6 minutes
- Format
- Self-report · five response options
- Your report
- Three dimensions · nine traits
The three dimensions
We group nine CAT-PD scales into three dimensions inspired by the triarchic model. These are the traits used in our version:
Boldness
Risk-taking, fearlessness and dominance. In this adaptation, fearlessness is reverse-scored anxiousness, and dominance is reverse-scored submissiveness.
Meanness
Callousness, manipulativeness and hostile aggression. The questions concern regard for other people, using others and responding with hostility.
Disinhibition
Non-planfulness, irresponsibility and norm violation. The questions concern acting without planning, following through on commitments and respecting rules.
What your results show
After answering the statements, you receive a report with explanations of your pattern of responses. You can preview the layout before taking the test.
- Three dimension scores that summarise the traits grouped under each dimension.
- Nine individual trait scores with estimated comparisons to a research sample.
- A profile description based on the combination of your dimension scores, with notes on the method and its limits.
What does it measure?
Nine self-reported traits grouped around boldness, meanness and disinhibition. The questions cover areas such as callousness, aggression, planning, responsibility, risk-taking and anxiety.
Where does it come from?
The items come from CAT-PD static form v1.1 by Simms and colleagues, published through IPIP. We organize them using Patrick, Fowles and Krueger’s triarchic model as a conceptual framework.
How is the result calculated?
Answers are scored from 1 to 5, with reverse-keyed items reversed, then averaged within each of the nine scales. Each scale mean is converted to an approximate percentile using the reference sample’s mean and standard deviation and a normal-distribution assumption. Each dimension score is the average of its three estimated trait percentiles. These dimension scores are indices, not percentiles or diagnostic probabilities.
What can the result tell you?
The mapping from CAT-PD scales to the triarchic dimensions is our own and has not been validated as a psychopathy instrument. This is not TriPM or PCL-R. It cannot diagnose psychopathy or assess whether someone is dangerous; percentiles are approximate.
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 complete the questionnaire and read your result report without paying or creating an account.
Can this test tell me whether I am a psychopath?
No. It describes your answers to a set of trait questions. Neither a high nor a low score establishes or rules out a clinical condition. The grouping used here has not been validated as a psychopathy assessment.
Does a score of 70 mean “70% psychopathic”?
No. A dimension score of 70 is an average of three estimated trait percentiles. It is not a percentage of psychopathy, a diagnostic probability or a percentile for that dimension.
Who am I compared with?
The individual trait comparisons use published means and standard deviations from a New Zealand university sample reported by Sellbom and colleagues (2024). The estimates assume a normal distribution even though some traits have skewed distributions. They are approximate comparisons with that sample, not representative rankings of the general population.
Can I answer on behalf of a partner or someone else?
This version is a self-report questionnaire: the person taking it answers about themselves. Answering for someone else changes that method and does not provide a valid assessment of them. Do not use the profile to label another person or decide whether they are dangerous.
How should I answer the questions?
Choose how true each statement is of your usual behaviour, rather than how you wish to be or how you felt on one unusual day. There are no right or wrong answers. A useful reflection depends on answering honestly.
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
Simms, L. J., Goldberg, L. R., Roberts, J. E., Watson, D., Welte, J., & Rotterman, J. H. (2011). Computerized adaptive assessment of personality disorder: Introducing the CAT–PD project. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93(4), 380–389. Patrick, C. J., Fowles, D. C., & Krueger, R. F. (2009). Triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy. Development and Psychopathology, 21(3), 913–938.