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Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ)3

Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) Test

Understand how you explain life events and spot optimism or pessimism patterns in about 9 minutes. With 48 items, it delivers clear, actionable insights for counseling and tracking change over time.

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Questions: 489 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

15,192 views

2,273 completions

1,595 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

11/24

Total Score (TS)

This scale summarizes a person’s overall attributional style on a continuum from more pessimistic to more optimistic explanations of life events.

More pessimistic

Mixed / balanced

More optimistic

-2 – 3: More pessimistic | 4 – 8: Mixed / balanced | 9 – 24: More optimistic

A score of 11 falls in the “More optimistic” range, suggesting a tendency to explain events in a generally optimistic way across situations.

example score

4/24

Positive Events Total (PET)

This scale measures how optimistically a person explains positive events by attributing successes to stable and broadly applicable causes.

Low optimism for successes

Moderate optimism for successes

High optimism for successes

0 – 10: Low optimism for successes | 11 – 16: Moderate optimism for successes | 17 – 24: High optimism for successes

A score of 4 falls in the low range, suggesting successes are more often explained as situational or less stable rather than enduring and universal.

example score

14/24

Negative Events Total (NET)

Measures how pessimistically versus optimistically a person tends to explain adverse (failure) events overall.

Optimistic

Mixed

Pessimistic

0 – 8: Optimistic | 9 – 14: Mixed | 15 – 24: Pessimistic

A score of 14 falls in the Mixed range, suggesting a balance between optimistic and pessimistic explanations of failures with a slight tilt toward pessimism.

example score

3/8

Self - Success (SS)

Measures how strongly you attribute your successes to internal, personal causes rather than external factors.

Low personalization

Moderate personalization

High personalization

0 – 2: Low personalization | 3 – 5: Moderate personalization | 6 – 8: High personalization

A score of 3 indicates a moderate tendency to see your achievements as partly driven by your own qualities and efforts, alongside situational factors.

example score

4/8

I Am a Failure (IAaF)

Measures the tendency to attribute failures to internal, personal causes (self-blame).

Low personalization

Moderate personalization

High personalization

0 – 2: Low personalization | 3 – 5: Moderate personalization | 6 – 8: High personalization

A score of 4 indicates a moderate tendency to interpret failures as caused by one’s own actions or qualities, which may be accompanied by some self-criticism.

example score

4/8

Success Pervasiveness (SP)

Measures how broadly you generalize the causes of your successes across different areas of life versus seeing them as situation-specific.

Specific successes

Moderately broad

Highly broad

0 – 2: Specific successes | 3 – 5: Moderately broad | 6 – 8: Highly broad

A score of 4 suggests a moderately broad style, meaning you sometimes extend the reasons for success to other life domains while still keeping some successes tied to specific contexts.

example score

6/8

Failure Globality (FG)

This scale measures how broadly you generalize the causes of your failures across different areas of life versus keeping them specific to a situation.

Specific view of failures

Mixed generalization

Broad generalization

0 – 2: Specific view of failures | 3 – 5: Mixed generalization | 6 – 8: Broad generalization

A score of 6 suggests you tend to view failures as having broad, cross-situational causes rather than being limited to a specific context.

example score

4/8

Success Time (ST)

Measures how stable and consistent you perceive the causes of your successes to be over time.

Less stable

Moderately stable

Highly stable

0 – 2: Less stable | 3 – 5: Moderately stable | 6 – 8: Highly stable

A score of 4 indicates a moderately stable view of success causes, suggesting you sometimes see achievements as driven by consistent factors and sometimes as more changeable.

example score

3/8

Stability of Failures (SoF)

Failure Time (FT) measures how permanent you tend to perceive the causes of negative events and setbacks to be.

More temporary

Moderately temporary

More lasting

0 – 2: More temporary | 3 – 5: Moderately temporary | 6 – 8: More lasting

A score of 3 falls in the “Moderately temporary” range, suggesting you generally view failures as somewhat time-limited rather than enduring.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Therapy and counseling clients

41%OF USERS

People in therapy or coaching take it to understand how they explain setbacks and successes and how that affects mood, motivation, and stress.

Psychology students and trainees

34%OF USERS

Students and early-career specialists use it to learn assessment skills and practice interpreting optimism–pessimism patterns.

Self-improvement seekers

25%OF USERS

Individuals curious about their mindset take it to spot habitual thinking patterns and track changes over time.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Final result (Fr)

Average

15.7

Normal range

11 — 20.3

min.

-2

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Summary of Positive Events (SoPE)

Average

Normal range

6.9 — 13.2

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Summary of adverse events (Soae)

Average

6.5

Normal range

3.4 — 9.6

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

I am success (Ias)

Average

Normal range

0.7 — 3.4

min.

max.

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Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

I am a failure (Iaaf)

Average

5.4

Normal range

4.3 — 6.4

min.

max.

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Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Breadth of Success (BoS)

Average

Normal range

1.8 — 4.3

min.

max.

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Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

The Extent of Failure (TEoF)

Average

3.9

Normal range

2.7 — 5.1

min.

max.

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Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Time of success (Tos)

Average

2.9

Normal range

1.9 — 3.9

min.

max.

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Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Time of Failures (ToF)

Average

Normal range

5 — 7

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- A. Today I quickly resolved all disagreements.
- B. I usually resolve conflicts easily.
- I did not write down the address accurately.
- My friend gave incorrect directions.
- I was lucky with the weather.
- I chose the timing and route well.

These are 3 of the 48 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

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WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) Test - Symptoms and Signs

attributional style

hope

optimism

positive psychology

This measure assesses an individual’s characteristic patterns of causal explanation for positive and negative life events. The Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) presents a set of brief scenarios and asks respondents to generate and rate perceived causes across common attributional dimensions (e.g., internality, stability, and globality). It includes 48 items and typically takes about 9 minutes to complete.

Developed by C. S. Peterson and J. P. Semmel, the Attributional Style Questionnaire (ASQ) is used in clinical and research settings to characterize explanatory style and related cognitive vulnerability patterns. Results are commonly interpreted to inform case conceptualization and to support monitoring of cognitive change over time when used alongside other assessment data.

Author: C. S. Peterson, J. P. Semmel, M. E. P. Seligman

Literature: Peterson, C., Semmel, A., von Baeyer, C., Abramson, L. Y., Metalsky, G. I., & Seligman, M. E. P. The attributional style questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research. 1982.; Carver, C. S., & Scheier, M. F. Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology. 1985.; Seligman, M. E. P. Learned optimism: How to change your mind and your life. Knopf. 1991.