About the test
Accelerator or brake? (BIS/BAS)
How strongly do you react to rewards and to risks? Four scales on drive, fun seeking, reward responsiveness and caution, based on Gray's model of the brain's approach and avoidance systems.
- 36 questions
- About 4 min
Questionnaire / instrument: IPIP scales for BIS/BAS
What does it measure?
Sensitivity to possible punishment and rewards: behavioural inhibition (BIS), drive, fun-seeking and reward responsiveness (BAS). The profile explores what tends to make you hold back or move forward.
Where does it come from?
These are IPIP scales for constructs in Carver and White’s 1994 BIS/BAS model. The questionnaire uses IPIP wording rather than Carver and White’s original items.
How is the result calculated?
The four scales are averaged separately. The three BAS scales are then averaged into a broader activation score. Our profile labels summarize the balance between BIS and BAS.
What can the result tell you?
The labels are an interpretation provided by this site, not diagnoses or population norms. High inhibition does not establish an anxiety disorder, and high activation does not by itself indicate impulsive behaviour.
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.
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
Carver, C. S., & White, T. L. (1994). Behavioral inhibition, behavioral activation, and affective responses to impending reward and punishment: The BIS/BAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67, 319-333. IPIP scales: https://ipip.ori.org/newBIS_BASkey.htm