Ego Boundaries Test

In six minutes, the Ego Boundaries Test guides you through 30 questions about how you notice and respect psychological space in everyday interactions. Your result highlights your level of psychological distance, helping you reflect on boundary protection, interpersonal habits, and the balance between closeness and privacy.

Questions: 306 minutes

Ego Boundaries Test: agreement scale card

October 2, 2025October 2, 2025Material has been updatedOctober 2, 2025Material has been published

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Level of Psychological DistanceLoPD

Measures how well you maintain and regulate psychological distance by recognizing and protecting personal boundaries in relationships.

example score5/10

5/10Balanced distanceexample score

0 – 4Low distance

5 – 7Balanced distance

8 – 10High distance

A score of 5 indicates a generally balanced ability to manage closeness and autonomy, with room to strengthen boundary protection in more demanding situations.

just completed the test

DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

People in tense relationships

38%OF USERS

They take it to understand why closeness turns into conflict, guilt, or resentment and how to set clearer limits with partners, friends, or family.

Highly sensitive over-givers

34%OF USERS

They use it to see where they absorb others’ emotions, overextend themselves, or struggle to say no without anxiety.

Emotionally detached protectors

28%OF USERS

They take it to figure out why they keep distance, shut down feelings, or avoid intimacy and how to feel safe while staying connected.

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.

Shaded area — where most people score

Dot — the average

You — your score lands on each curve after the test— your score, after the test

Level of psychological distanceLopd

You?

Average4.3

Typical rangeTypical2.4 – 6.1

Possible0 – 10

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

Please read the statements below and, based on what you typically do in similar situations, answer the following questions. Select the one response option (from five) that you consider most appropriate.

- Almost always
- Usually
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Almost never
- Almost always
- Usually
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Almost never
- Almost always
- Usually
- Sometimes
- Rarely
- Almost never

These are 3 of the 30 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Ego Boundaries Test - Description and methodology of the test

boundaries

For people reflecting on how they enter, share, touch, comment, or make decisions in other people’s space, the Ego Boundaries Test offers a structured view of boundary-related habits. It suits anyone who wants to examine everyday interpersonal behavior without reducing it to a single incident. As an ego boundaries questionnaire, it supports a more deliberate look at closeness, privacy, and respect.

What This Assessment Explores

Items present ordinary boundary crossings such as taking belongings, entering without permission, reading messages, arriving unannounced, touching, borrowing, or deciding for someone else. They cover limits around access, privacy, physical contact, time, property, and social conduct.

In this psychological boundaries test, distance is treated as a form of regulation rather than withdrawal. The result highlights recurring habits, not a single action.

The result is reported on the Level of Psychological Distance scale, ranging from 0 to 10. Its displayed bands are:

Low distance (0-4) indicates difficulty recognizing or protecting personal space and more frequent boundary violations.
Balanced distance (5-7) reflects an adaptive balance between understanding distance and protecting personal boundaries.
High distance (8-10) is associated with stronger regulation of psychological space and respect for other people’s boundaries.

Methodology and Evidence Base

Each item uses five ordered frequency choices, from “Almost always” to “Almost never.” The respondent indicates how often each situation resembles their behavior, so interpretation depends on honest recall and context. Answers are combined into the displayed result; the questionnaire does not specify point-by-point weighting or reversal, so individual values should not be inferred from the scale range.

The questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the Ego Boundaries work discussed by Shamshikova and with Brown’s theoretical work on destructive narcissistic patterns, including intrusion, control, and regard for another person’s separate psychological space. This online version is not a direct reproduction or validated adaptation of the published instrument.

The result functions as a psychological distance assessment of boundary-related tendencies. This online version presents no norms or reliability estimates, and scores may vary with current relationships, mood, social expectations, and self-awareness; its displayed bands are not clinical cutoffs and support reflection rather than a diagnosis.

Author: Ernest R. Hilgard

Literature:

Shamshikova, Ekaterina Olegovna. "Adaptation of the Foreign Method 'Ego Boundaries' by N. Brown." World of Science, Culture, and Education, no. 4 (16), 2009, pp. 167-174.
Brown, Nina W. The Destructive Narcissistic Pattern. Westport, CT and London: Praeger, 1998. ISBN 9780275960179.
Brown, Nina W. "The Destructive Narcissistic Pattern." Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, vol. 24, no. 3, 1996, pp. 263-271. 10.2224/sbp.1996.24.3.263

Updated: 2025-10-02