A Self-Assessment Test for Congruence

The following demonstration test illustrates a version of a "Q-sort", a self-assessment

procedure for measuring congruence, a state of internal consistency which Carl
Rogers saw as important to healthy personality growth. A brief discussion follows the
test, which is self-scoring (as described below). Please read the directions, and
complete part A before going on to part B!

Part A

Please select ten adjectives from the following list which you feel describe what you
are like. (You may find it useful to write them down on a sheet of paper, or print this
page, and cut them out individually.) Try to be as honest and accurate as possible in
making the choices to describe yourself. (For example, don't omit an adjective that
describes you well if it happens to be somewhat negative, like "anxious".) Once you
have selected the ten which best describe you, then arrange them in order, from the
most important/significant aspects, to those which are least significant in describing
your personality. Write them down, with the rank order, on a piece of paper, then fold
it and put it aside. Place all the words together, shuffle them, and then go on to part B.

ANXIOUS ATTRACTIVE CARELESS DEPRESSED

DISHONEST ENERGETIC FUNNY HAPPY

HONEST INTELLIGENT KIND LAZY

OPTIMISTIC ORGANIZED OUT-GOING PLAIN

RELAXED SAD SERIOUS SHY

SLOPPY STRONG UNHELPFUL WEAK

Part B

You are now requested to do the same task again, but this time selecting ten terms to
describe what you wish you were like--that is, your personal ideal. (For example, you
may feel that you are shy, but would like to be extraverted.) Do not refer to the list
from part A in making your choices! Once you have selected ten, arrange them in rank
order, from the most important/significant, to those which are relatively unimportant
in your imagined ideal. As in part A, write them down, in ranked order, on a piece of
paper.

Scoring

Take the two lists from parts A and B, and assign values to the ranks in each list, with
the first term = 10, the second term =9, etc. (the last term will have a value of 1).
Now, identify any adjectives that do notappear in both lists (appearing in different
positions doesn't matter). For any terms which do not appear in both lists, change the
value to zero. For terms which appear in both lists, give the value assigned for the
term in list A to the term in list B. Then, using the values you have assigned to the two
lists (including the zero terms), apply the following formula:

(sum of list A + sum of list B)/(1.1) = score

The score range is from 0 to 100, with 100 representing a perfect match
of self and ideal self (i.e., complete congruence); if half the terms appear in both lists
(but with different ranks), the median score would be approximately 50. In general,
the lower the score, the less congruent is the relationship between one's self and ideal
self. (For further information on these concepts, refer to the textbook, or the links to
other sites.)

Note that this demonstration is not meant to be a serious clinical device, and no
claims are made as to its validity or reliability! (Even the scoring system is an
approximation, as a correlation coefficient would provide a more precise indicator.)
It is provided here simply as a learning tool, to better understand Rogers' concepts of
self, ideal self, and congruence.