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Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI)3

Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) Test

Understand how creatively you shape and express emotions in about 6 minutes. Get a clear snapshot of emotional flexibility to guide coaching, therapy, or growth plans.

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Questions: 306 minutes

Hi! My name is Freudly, i am an AI therapist, I will give you an interpretation of the test after you complete it.

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

28,187 views

3,030 completions

2,481 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

22/35

Emotional Complexity (EC)

Emotional complexity measures how well a person can notice, differentiate, and hold multiple emotions at the same time.

Lower complexity

Moderate complexity

Higher complexity

7 – 16: Lower complexity | 17 – 26: Moderate complexity | 27 – 35: Higher complexity

A score of 22 falls in the Moderate complexity range, suggesting a fairly differentiated emotional experience with the ability to recognize more than one feeling at once in many situations.

example score

11/20

Authenticity (A)

Authenticity measures how closely a person’s emotional reactions and expressions align with their internal values and beliefs.

Low

Moderate

High

4 – 9: Low | 10 – 14: Moderate | 15 – 20: High

A score of 11 indicates a moderate level of authenticity, suggesting emotions are often expressed in line with personal values, with some variability across situations.

example score

23/30

Effectiveness (E)

Effectiveness reflects how constructively a person can use emotional reactions for personal or social benefit.

Low

Moderate

High

6 – 14: Low | 15 – 22: Moderate | 23 – 30: High

A score of 23 falls in the High range, suggesting you tend to channel emotions into responses that are useful and constructive rather than purely reactive.

example score

22/35

Novelty/Uniqueness (N)

Measures the tendency to generate novel, unusual emotional reactions that differ from typical or socially expected patterns.

Low novelty

Moderate novelty

High novelty

7 – 16: Low novelty | 17 – 26: Moderate novelty | 27 – 35: High novelty

A score of 22 falls in the Moderate novelty range, suggesting a balanced capacity to experience and express emotions in somewhat original ways while often remaining within familiar patterns.

example score

21/30

Readiness (R)

Readiness measures how inclined a person is to reflect on their emotions and stay open to emotional experiences.

Low readiness

Moderate readiness

High readiness

6 – 14: Low readiness | 15 – 22: Moderate readiness | 23 – 30: High readiness

A score of 21 indicates moderate readiness, suggesting a fairly consistent tendency to notice and reflect on emotions while remaining generally open to new emotional experiences.

example score

94/150

Emotional Creativity (EC)

This scale measures how originally, appropriately, and authentically a person can experience and express complex combinations of emotions.

Lower emotional creativity

Moderate emotional creativity

Higher emotional creativity

30 – 89: Lower emotional creativity | 90 – 119: Moderate emotional creativity | 120 – 150: Higher emotional creativity

A score of 94 falls in the moderate range, suggesting a generally flexible and authentic emotional style with some capacity for novel emotional meanings without being consistently highly unusual.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Therapy and coaching clients

41%OF USERS

People exploring their inner world use it to see how flexibly they create meaning from emotions and where their growth points are.

Creative professionals

34%OF USERS

Artists, writers, designers, and performers take it to understand how their emotional originality supports inspiration and expression.

Psychologists and students

25%OF USERS

Mental health specialists and trainees use it to assess emotional processing style and tailor support or development plans.

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.

Emotional complexity (Ec)

Average

25.6

Normal range

20.4 — 30.8

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.

Authenticity (A)

Average

12.8

Normal range

10.5 — 15.1

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.

Effectiveness (E)

Average

Normal range

20.4 — 27.6

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.

Novelty/uniqueness (N)

Average

16.1

Normal range

11.3 — 20.9

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.

Readiness (R)

Average

18.6

Normal range

14.4 — 22.9

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.

Emotional Creativity Scale (ECS)

Average

71.5

Normal range

52.2 — 90.8

min.

max.

150

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

- Disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Somewhat agree
- Agree
- Disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Somewhat agree
- Agree
- Disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Neither agree nor disagree
- Somewhat agree
- Agree

These are 3 of the 30 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

Emotional Creativity Questionnaire, ECQ Test

Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) Test - Symptoms and Signs

emotionality

This self-report measure assesses individual differences in the originality, flexibility, and elaboration of emotional experience and expression. The Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) is intended to capture how a person generates and interprets emotional meaning beyond habitual or automatic responses.

Developed by J. R. Averill, the instrument includes 30 items and typically takes about 6 minutes to complete. Responses can be used to describe patterns of emotionally creative cognition and expression, and may inform clinical formulation, psychotherapy goals related to emotional processing, or research on emotion-related individual differences.

The Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) is not a diagnostic tool; results are generally interpreted in the context of the referral question, relevant history, and other assessment data.

Author: J. R. Averill

Literature: Kaufman, J. C., & Beghetto, R. A. Beyond big and little: the four C model of creativity. Review of General Psychology. 2009.; Mayer, J. D., Roberts, R. D., & Barsade, S. G. Human abilities: emotional intelligence. Annual Review of Psychology. 2008.; Gross, J. J. Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology. 2002.; Averill, J. R. Individual differences in emotional creativity: structure and correlates. Journal of Personality. 1999.