Free self-tests · 2 min · 10 questions
Self-consciousness test: how comfortable are you around others?
Self-consciousness, in personality research, is the tendency to feel shy, awkward or easily embarrassed around other people, and to worry about doing or saying the wrong thing. It is one facet of the broader trait of emotional sensitivity in the Big Five.
This 10-item scale comes from the International Personality Item Pool, a free public-domain collection used by researchers worldwide. It describes a tendency, not a disorder, and it cannot diagnose social anxiety.
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Describe yourself as you generally are now, not as you wish to be in the future. Describe yourself as you honestly see yourself, in relation to other people you know of the same sex as you are, and roughly your same age. So that you can describe yourself in an honest manner, your responses will be kept in absolute confidence. Indicate for each statement whether it is 1. Very Inaccurate, 2. Moderately Inaccurate, 3. Neither Accurate Nor Inaccurate, 4. Moderately Accurate, or 5. Very Accurate as a description of you.
Your results
This is a self-report questionnaire, not a diagnosis. Only a qualified professional can assess you properly.
Talk it through: book a session
The PDF is created on your device. Your saved answers stay in this browser until you start again or clear them.
The IPIP doesn't publish clinical cut-offs or population norms for this scale. The three bands above simply divide the answer range: an average below 2.5 leans towards 'inaccurate', above 3.5 towards 'accurate'. They describe how you see yourself today, not a fixed fact.
Being self-conscious is not the same as having social anxiety disorder. If fear of embarrassment is stopping you from working, studying, eating in front of people or seeing friends, please talk to a GP or another qualified health professional, who can assess this properly.
Self-consciousness often rises when the rules are unfamiliar: a new country, a new language, a family where you never quite felt good enough. Some people describe it as watching themselves from the outside. Person-centred counselling offers a relationship without judgement, where many people find they can relax that inner watcher a little. I am a trainee counsellor working under supervision. You can read about people-pleasing, identity and belonging and expat loneliness, or see the helplines page if you need support now.
How the IPIP-NEO facet N4, 10 items score works
10 questions, scored as the average of your answers; 4 are reverse-scored. These are the score ranges this page uses to describe your result. Where the questionnaire's authors publish official cut-offs, the ranges follow them; the sources are listed below.
| Score | Range |
|---|---|
| Lower self-consciousness | 1 to 2.49 |
| Moderate self-consciousness | 2.5 to 3.5 |
| Higher self-consciousness | 3.51 to 5 |
About this questionnaire
IPIP Self-Consciousness scale (IPIP-NEO facet N4, 10 items) by Lewis R. Goldberg and colleagues, International Personality Item Pool (1999).
Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. G. (2006). The international personality item pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40(1), 84–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2005.08.007
Used in line with the published terms of use.
Questions people ask
What does self-consciousness mean in psychology?
In the Big Five model, self-consciousness is a facet of neuroticism, or emotional sensitivity. It describes how easily you feel shy, embarrassed or intimidated around others. It is a normal personality tendency that everyone has to some degree.
Is high self-consciousness the same as social anxiety?
No. A high score means you often feel awkward or afraid of judgement. Social anxiety disorder is a clinical condition in which that fear causes significant distress or stops you doing everyday things. Only a qualified professional can assess that.
Where do these questions come from?
They are the ten items of the IPIP scale written to measure the same idea as the Self-Consciousness facet of the NEO personality inventory. The International Personality Item Pool is a public-domain resource developed by Lewis Goldberg and colleagues.
Are my answers private?
Yes. Everything is scored in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent, and refreshing the page clears your answers. There is no account, no email and no tracking of your answers. If you want to keep your result, a screenshot is the simplest way.