Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF)
A clinician's overview of the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF), a well-established measure of normal-range personality. What it measures, its sixteen traits, and its use in India.
Educational overview only. The 16PF is a copyrighted, published instrument obtained through its publisher and used by qualified professionals. ElloMind does not reproduce the items or scoring; this page is educational only.
What it is
The 16PF, developed by Raymond Cattell using factor analysis, measures sixteen primary personality traits that combine into five broader global factors similar to the Big Five. Unlike the MMPI, it focuses on normal-range personality rather than psychopathology.
It is used to build a rounded description of how a person tends to think, feel and relate, for self-understanding, counselling, and occupational and career contexts.
What it covers
| Extraversion | Socially outgoing and participating versus reserved |
|---|---|
| Anxiety | Tense and reactive versus calm and settled |
| Tough-Mindedness | Objective and unsentimental versus receptive and open |
| Independence | Assertive and questioning versus accommodating and agreeable |
| Self-Control | Restrained and rule-conscious versus flexible and spontaneous |
If this test was given to you or your child
If you have been asked to complete the 16PF — often for counselling, career guidance or a job selection process — expect a self-report questionnaire of everyday statements about how you usually think, feel and relate. It takes roughly 35 to 50 minutes and there are no right or wrong answers.
It describes normal personality, not illness, so it is not looking for anything 'wrong' with you. The most useful thing is to answer as you generally are rather than as you think you should be — the profile is only helpful if it reflects the real you.
Reading the results
The 16PF gives a profile across sixteen primary traits, which group into five broader global factors. Each is a dimension, not a pass or fail: being high or low on a trait is simply a description, useful in some settings and less so in others.
A trained user reads the profile as a whole and in context — a career decision, a counselling goal, a role being selected for — rather than singling out one trait. For self-understanding or guidance, the value is in the conversation the profile opens up, not in any single label.
What it cannot tell you
It does not measure intelligence, ability or mental illness, and it does not decide whether someone is right for a job on its own. Used in selection, it is one input alongside interviews, skills and experience — not a verdict.
Personality also shifts with situation and over time, so a profile is a description of tendencies now, not a fixed or permanent type.
Who can administer it in India
The 16PF is a published, restricted questionnaire administered and interpreted by trained users — psychologists and qualified assessors — working from a licensed version. The scoring and, especially, the interpretation of the profile are skilled tasks.
If you completed it for a job or for guidance, it is reasonable to ask who interpreted it and to be offered feedback on what your profile means.
Where to get assessed
The 16PF is used within counselling and career-guidance services, in organisational and selection settings, and in clinical formulation, rather than being something you seek out alone. University counselling centres, career counsellors, and clinical and organisational psychologists administer it. If it is being used for a decision that affects you, you are entitled to ask for feedback on the result.
Who it is for
It is used with adults and older adolescents in counselling, career guidance, selection and clinical formulation, where a normal-range personality profile is helpful.
It is administered and interpreted by trained users, with the profile read as a whole.
For clinicians
How it is administered
The person answers a set of self-report items; responses are scored into the sixteen primary factors and the global factors, then interpreted as a profile.
The questionnaire is copyrighted and obtained through its publisher; the items are not circulated openly.
Use in India
In India, the 16PF is used in counselling, career guidance and organisational settings, with translated and adapted versions available. Clinicians consider language and cultural response tendencies when interpreting profiles.
Looking for a quick self-check instead? The 16PF is administered by a professional. For a private two-minute screen you can take yourself, try the free anxiety test, depression test or adult ADHD test, or browse all free mental-health tests.
Related free tools
Citation and sources
Cattell, R.B., Cattell, A.K., & Cattell, H.E.P. (1993). Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (5th ed.). IPAT.
- 16PF Questionnaire (overview) — Wikipedia
Frequently asked questions
Normal-range personality across sixteen primary traits, which combine into five broader global factors similar to the Big Five. It is not a measure of psychopathology.
Cattell's sixteen primary factors are warmth, reasoning, emotional stability, dominance, liveliness, rule-consciousness, social boldness, sensitivity, vigilance, abstractedness, privateness, apprehension, openness to change, self-reliance, perfectionism and tension. Each is a dimension a person falls somewhere along.
The Big Five are five broad traits; the 16PF describes sixteen narrower ones that group into five global factors closely related to the Big Five. The 16PF simply offers a more fine-grained profile beneath the same broad structure.
Yes, it is widely used in selection and career guidance to describe how someone tends to work and relate. In hiring it is one input alongside interviews, skills and experience, not a decision on its own.
Counselling, career guidance, selection and clinical formulation, wherever a rounded, normal-range personality profile is useful.
The psychologist Raymond Cattell, using factor analysis to identify sixteen underlying personality factors.
This page is general educational information for professionals, not clinical or legal advice, and not a substitute for training in the instrument. ElloMind does not provide, sell or reproduce copyrighted test materials.