Blog Posts Tagged "Online Psychology Tests".

Research into the psychological benefits of self-compassion is an emerging trend in psychology. I actually prefer the term self kindness.

Self-compassion is about learning alternative responses when you are experiencing psychological suffering (suffering includes when you’re feeling frustrated, anxious, or when you’re feeling disconnected from other people etc), rather than using self-criticism.

Online Self-Compassion Test

You can take an online test of your self-compassion here at self-compassion.org

The test auto scores.

If you want to work on self-compassion, you might choose to take the test now, and then set yourself a calendar reminder to retake the self-compassion test in 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months time. Record your answers and observe changes.

For Parents

A generation ago, parenting advice seemed to focus on raising high self esteem children. After that, came a focus on mindful parenting and raising mindful children.

Now it seems like a focus on raising self-compassionate kids might be the next big thing.

Compassion and mindfulness are closely linked since mindfulness is needed to notice your own and others’ psychological suffering, and to recognize how you are responding to yourself/others (with criticism or with kindness) and its effects.

Is self compassion linked to self esteem? Self compassion is more closely linked to the self worth aspect of self esteem than the aspect of self esteem that is about being good at things, or being better than average.

(Self esteem that is hinged on being better than average is a recipe for trouble, because by definition the majority of people are average or worse in terms of any one attribute).

Self Compassion tends to lead to more skillful responding to yourself and the world

People worry that self-kindness will cause them to become lazy or dysregulated, but its more likely to do the opposite. If you have been trying self criticism as a way of regulating your behaviour, then its time to try something else.

Self Compassion Research

This is an interesting study. You can view it free online.

It’s about how self compassion buffers people against the stress of negative events.

The authors conclude “In general, these studies suggest that self-compassion attenuates people’s reactions to negative events in ways that are distinct from and, in some cases, more beneficial than self-esteem.”

Self-compassion helps people feel more connected to others and tends to lead to more pro-social behaviour.

In other words – it is the opposite of selfish!

Dr Kristin Neff’s book about Self Compassion

The author of the website I have linked to, Dr Kristin Neff, had a book on Self Compassion published in April.

Another good self compassion book is

New 30 day Project where I practice what I preach (Update: Now finished and I’m on to a new 30 Day Project.)

My next personal 30 day project is going to be 30 days of self-compassion. You can see what I’m up to on my blog Facebook page. You can also participate if you want.

My life is in good shape so the emotions I need to have self-compassion about are likely to be minor and might seem a bit silly to be mentioning, but I still expect the project to have an effect in helping smooth out anxiety spikes and helping me choose skillful responses. I’m going to use the month to practice the skill of self-compassion and see what happens. Do join if you feel interested/curious about what might happen if you start to notice and change your self-critical responses.

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Here’s a tool you might like to try for starting to understand yourself a bit better.

Its a 205 item psychological questionnaire called the Young Schema Questionnaire. You’ll need to print it! Here’s the link to view it online, but read the info below first.

Young Schema Questionnaire Online Version

Its best that you complete the test at this point and then read the rest of these instructions. If you’re unsure what number to circle for a particular item on the questionnaire, in general pick the higher number you’re thinking about. Its better to pick up potential issues than miss potential issues.

After you’ve completed it

You’ll notice that the items are grouped together with similarly themed items. There is a * + 2-letter code at the bottom of each group that shows where one group of items stops and the next one starts.

Complete the whole questionnaire first, and then look particularly for any group where you have three or more scores of a 5 or a 6 within the same group. Alternatively you could look for any group where you have three or more scores of a 4 or above.

The 2-letter codes relate to what psychologists call a “schema.”

You can see the schema names/very brief descriptions that correspond to the letter codes on this page*. (Print this too)

Where you had 3 or more scores above a 4/5, circle that schema description on the page above.

These MIGHT be important schema for you. A psychologist can help you understand how particular schema might relate to your current problems and help you address the issues involved.

This is not a perfect tool. For a start, there is a newer version of this test but this is the version the authors make available free. Also, its intended to be used by psychologists who use it in combination with a lot of other information, and have advanced skills/knowledge for interpreting the questionnaire. Nevertheless, I think it could be extremely useful for some people so I’m posting the information.

You’ll see that additional information is available on the Schema Therapy website, and there is a self help book

* If you notice that a schema included on the questionnaire is not on the schema list (or vice versa) its because the psychological model underlying schema therapy has evolved over time, and some of the material that’s available about the model relates to different evolutions of the model. IMO, its still worth taking the time to complete the questionnaire.

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If you head over here to Dr Barb Fredrickson’s website, you can take her “Positivity Ratio Self Test”

It takes about 5 minutes, and the results will tell you some important information about yourself.

You’ll be asked to rate a list of positive and negative emotions according to how much you’ve felt each emotion in the past day.

The scale is from 0 (= not at all) to 4 (= extremely). Anything you felt at the level of a 2 (= moderately) and above, counts toward your score.

Positive and negative emotions are added up separately, and the total score you get is your “Positivity Ratio” which is your ratio of positive to negative emotions (e.g. 4:1., 3:1, or 2:1).

To get a good picture of your Positivity Ratio, you’d probably want to take the test several days in a row rather than just take it once.

Rigorous studies by Dr Fredrickson and her Positive Psychology colleagues have shown that people need a Positivity Ratio of 3:1 or better to function at their ideal level.

In other words, people need to experience 3 positive emotions for every 1 negative emotion.

Sadly, about 80% of people don’t achieve this ratio.

Once people do achieve the 3:1 ratio they begin to experience what Dr Fredrickon has coined “Broaden and Build effects”. This refers to the upward spiral that occurs when feeling good prompts you think and act differently than when you’re feeling less good.

Studies have shown that when people achieve the 3:1 positivity ratio, they tend to become more generous, caring, and dedicated in their actions, and their thoughts become more creative, insightful, expansive, and clearer. This in turn causes people to achieve greater success in their work and personal lives, and the upward spiral of feeling good, and thinking and acting constructively continues.

If you take the test, you’ll know if you would benefit from doing some work to improve your positivity ratio, which can be done by either decreasing your negative emotions or increasing your positive emotions.

I’ve blogged about Barb Fredrickson’s work before (I reviewed her book “Positivity”), but I wanted to make people aware of being able to take this test online.

If you need help to figure out how to improve your positivity ratio, you could try out the suggestions in Dr Fredrickson’s book or in Dr Sonja Lyubomirsky’s book “The How of Happiness,” or use your own ideas.

Dr Fredrickson’s book is here on Amazon Positivity: Groundbreaking Research Reveals How to Embrace the Hidden Strength of Positive Emotions, Overcome Negativity, and Thrive

Or you can get it in audio book format for FREE using this free trial.

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