Home1
Psychological tests2
Socio-Psychological Distance Scale3

Socio-Psychological Distance Scale Test

Completed in about eight minutes, the Socio-Psychological Distance Scale Test uses 41 questions to explore how you experience closeness, trust, communication, shared activity, and mutual understanding in a relationship. Your profile can support thoughtful self-reflection about interpersonal patterns and the ways you connect with a particular person.

Questions: 418 minutes

Socio-Psychological Distance Scale Test: situation and reply bubbles

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

34,714 views

3,298 completions

2,838 likes

Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

2,838 likes

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Self-Image (Si)SI

The Self-Image (Si) scale reflects how critical and accurate a person’s self-evaluation is, from negative self-attitude to overly uncritical self-view.

example score16/42

16/42Lowexample score

6 – 19Low

20 – 31Moderate

32 – 42High

A score of 16 falls in the Low range, suggesting higher criticalness and a possible tendency toward a more negative self-attitude.

Behavioral Distance (Act-d)BDd

Behavioral Distance reflects readiness for shared activities and how comfortable and coordinated people are when spending time together.

example score26/56

26/56Moderate distanceexample score

8 – 24High distance

25 – 39Moderate distance

40 – 56Low distance

A score of 26 falls in the Moderate distance range, suggesting some willingness for joint activity with occasional barriers to coordination or spending time together.

Emotional Distance (Emo-D)EDD

Emotional Distance measures how emotionally close versus detached a person feels in a specific relationship.

example score23/63

23/63Low closenessexample score

9 – 27Low closeness

28 – 45Balanced closeness

46 – 63High closeness

A score of 23 falls in the Low closeness range, suggesting relatively more emotional detachment and less felt warmth or trust in the relationship.

Communication Distance (Com-d)CDd

Communicative Distance reflects the degree of interpersonal trust and openness in sharing information with another person.

example score35/63

35/63Moderate trustexample score

9 – 27Low trust / guarded

28 – 44Moderate trust

45 – 63High trust / open

A score of 35 falls in the Moderate trust range, suggesting a generally cautious but workable level of openness and mutual confidence in communication.

Cognitive Distance (Cog-D)CDD

Cognitive Distance (Cog-d) measures the degree of mutual understanding and shared meaning between two people.

example score32/63

32/63Moderate understandingexample score

9 – 27Low understanding

28 – 44Moderate understanding

45 – 63High understanding

A score of 32 falls in the Moderate understanding range, suggesting some shared meaning and willingness to understand each other, with remaining areas where interpretations may differ.

just completed the test

DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Couples in tension

41%OF USERS

Partners take it to see how emotionally close they feel right now and where trust or comfort has started to drop.

Family relationship seekers

34%OF USERS

Family members use it to clarify boundaries and closeness between relatives and to reduce misunderstandings at home.

Teams and workgroups

25%OF USERS

Coworkers and managers take it to understand interpersonal distance in a group and pinpoint barriers to cooperation.

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

Self-Image (Si)

You?

Average29

Typical rangeTypical24 – 34.1

Possible6 – 42

Behavioral Distance (Act-d)

You?

Average42

Typical rangeTypical33.5 – 50.5

Possible8 – 56

Emotional Distance (Emo-d)

You?

Average33.7

Typical rangeTypical24.2 – 43.3

Possible9 – 63

Communicative Distance (Com-d)

You?

Average35.7

Typical rangeTypical26.9 – 44.5

Possible9 – 63

Cognitive Distance (Cog-d)

You?

Average35.6

Typical rangeTypical27 – 44.3

Possible9 – 63

Featured On

SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

You are presented with a questionnaire that includes various characteristics of relationships, states, and feelings that arise in interactions with other people. Please recall the most frequent (typical) situations of communication with a person who is significant to you. Rate the extent to which the characteristics listed below are typical of your relationship with this person, considering not only today but also a longer period of time.

- Completely disagree
- Agree to a small extent
- Agree almost half the time
- Agree half the time
- Agree more than half the time
- Agree almost completely
- Completely agree
- Completely disagree
- Agree to a small extent
- Agree almost half the time
- Agree about half the time
- Agree more than half the time
- Agree almost completely
- Completely agree
- Completely disagree
- Agree to a small extent
- Agree almost halfway
- Agree about halfway
- Agree more than halfway
- Agree almost completely
- Agree completely

These are 3 of the 41 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Socio-Psychological Distance Scale Test - Description and methodology of the test

communicativeness

family adaptation

People who want to understand a particular relationship from more than one angle can use the Socio-Psychological Distance Scale Test to compare how the same connection feels across different situations. It suits self-reflection for someone weighing patterns in a relationship, while its value as a relationship closeness assessment lies in showing where different aspects of the connection align or diverge.

What This Assessment Explores

Psychological distance spans practical, emotional, communicative, cognitive, and self-evaluative aspects of one relationship. The test suits self-reflection, using an interpersonal distance scale to provide a profile rather than a verdict.

These dimensions are:

Self-Image (Si), 6-42, assesses criticality and adequacy in self-evaluation: Low 6-19 may indicate high criticality or a possible negative self-attitude; Moderate 20-31 may reflect self-acceptance and sincerity; High 32-42 may suggest low criticality or possible insincerity.
Behavioral Distance (Act-d), 8-56, reflects joint readiness: High distance 8-24; Moderate distance 25-39; Low distance 40-56.
Emotional Distance (Emo-D), 9-63, measures affiliative versus distancing feelings: Low closeness 9-27; Balanced closeness 28-45; High closeness 46-63.
Communication Distance (Com-d), 9-63, reflects trust: Low trust / guarded 9-27; Moderate trust 28-44; High trust / open 45-63.
Cognitive Distance (Cog-D), 9-63, reflects mutual understanding: Low understanding 9-27; Moderate understanding 28-44; High understanding 45-63.

Methodology and Evidence Base

The questionnaire is conceptually consistent with the Socio-Psychological Distance Questionnaire, as described in Dukhnovsky's 2012 methodology, but this separate online form has no documented independent standardization or online-form norms.

The format is an online relationship assessment questionnaire with a seven-point agreement scale, ranging from complete disagreement to complete agreement. Its statements address conflict resolution, disclosure, shared time, comfort, tension, trust, hurt, and efforts to understand the other person.

The result reports five displayed scale results with scale-specific directions: the behavioral dimension associates lower values with greater distance, while the emotional, communication, and cognitive dimensions associate higher values with greater closeness, trust, and understanding, respectively.

Interpretation is profile-based, describing one relationship at the time of completion rather than delivering a single verdict. Current context, expectations, memory, candor, and self-awareness can affect self-report. Related work by Dukhnovsky and Kulikov provides a conceptual framework for these dimensions.

Author: Emory S. Bogardus

Literature:

Dukhnovsky, S. V. (2012). Development of the Methodology “Determination of Socio-Psychological Distance in Interpersonal Relationships.” Bulletin of the South Ural State University. Series: Psychology, 19(278), 41-46.
Dukhnovsky, S. V. (2012). Methodology “Determination of Socio-Psychological Distance in Interpersonal Relationships”: Manual. Ural State Pedagogical University, Yekaterinburg, 45 pp.
Dukhnovsky, S. V., and Kulikov, L. V. (2009). Socio-Psychological Distance in Interpersonal Relationships: Factors and Regulation. Bulletin of Saint Petersburg University. Series 12: Psychology, Sociology, and Pedagogy, 2(1), 20-26.

Updated: 2025-10-02