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Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI)

Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) Test

See how creatively you shape and blend your emotions in about 6 minutes. Get a fast, 30-item snapshot of emotional depth, novelty, and expression you can use for growth.

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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

21,140 views

1,083 completions

875 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

20/45

Effectiveness/Authenticity (E)

Measures how sincerely and skillfully you express emotions and how well that expression aligns with your core interests and values.

Less aligned/less effective

Developing authenticity

Authentic & effective

9 – 21: Less aligned/less effective | 22 – 33: Developing authenticity | 34 – 45: Authentic & effective

A score of 20 suggests emotional expression may feel less aligned with core interests or be harder to convey effectively and sincerely in some situations.

example score

21/70

Novelty (N)

Novelty measures how readily you experience unusual, hard-to-describe emotions that go beyond familiar cultural patterns.

Lower novelty

Moderate novelty

Higher novelty

14 – 32: Lower novelty | 33 – 51: Moderate novelty | 52 – 70: Higher novelty

A score of 21 falls in the Lower novelty range, suggesting your emotional experiences tend to stay closer to familiar, easily named feelings rather than highly unconventional ones.

example score

20/35

Preparedness (P)

Readiness measures how prepared a person is to learn from past emotional experiences to better recognize and accommodate new emotions.

Low readiness

Moderate readiness

High readiness

7 – 16: Low readiness | 17 – 25: Moderate readiness | 26 – 35: High readiness

A score of 20 falls in the Moderate readiness range, suggesting a generally adequate ability to use past experience to understand emotions while still having room to deepen emotional awareness.

example score

118/150

Emotional Creativity (EC)

Measures how strongly a person can generate novel, authentic, and effective emotional experiences beyond familiar cultural patterns.

Lower emotional creativity

Moderate emotional creativity

Higher emotional creativity

30 – 90: Lower emotional creativity | 91 – 119: Moderate emotional creativity | 120 – 150: Higher emotional creativity

A score of 118 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting you often combine and shape emotions in flexible ways while still relying at times on familiar emotional patterns.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Artists and creative minds

41%OF USERS

People who make art or create ideas take it to see how richly they can mix emotions and turn feelings into inspiration.

Self-development seekers

34%OF USERS

Those exploring personal growth use it to understand how flexible their emotional life is and how they can reshape it.

Coaches and therapists

25%OF USERS

Helping professionals take it to quickly gauge a person’s emotional resourcefulness and openness to new emotional experiences.

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

RESULTS YOU CAN ACTUALLY USE

Scale Results
— Explained Clearly

Your scores across each test scale are translated into plain, usable insights. You won’t just get numbers — you’ll learn how your results impact your daily life, emotional state, and overall well-being.

AI-Powered
Interpretation

You’ll receive a structured, clinically-grounded explanation. Our AI analyzes patterns and relationships between scales to provide a coherent interpretation, without exaggerated language.

Statistical
Comparison

See how your results compare to others. Anonymized platform data is used to create a percentile scale, which identifies whether your results are typical.

Practical
Recommendations

You’ll receive clear, actionable guidance tailored to your profile. These easy-to-implement suggestions focus on coping, self-regulation, and realistic next steps.

AI-Powered
Insights

Get insights on behavioral and thought patterns you might not notice on your own. By uncovering subtle connections between your responses, you’ll better understand what may be driving your current results.

Discuss with
an AI Therapist

Clarify, reflect, and explore your results right away. Talk through your experience, ask questions, and explore meanings in a calm, non-diagnostic dialogue.

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Used in 52+ countries

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.

Effectiveness/authenticity (E)

Average

21.5

Normal range

15.8 — 27.2

min.

max.

Majority

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 (N)

Average

50.1

Normal range

42 — 58.3

min.

max.

Majority

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

15.9

Normal range

11.1 — 20.8

min.

max.

Majority

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

89.1

Normal range

71 — 107.3

min.

max.

150

Majority

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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CLEAR ANSWERS TO COMMON QUESTIONS

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this questionnaire measure?

It measures emotional creativity, including the ability to form complex, novel, and vivid emotional experiences. It focuses on flexibility in emotional meaning-making and expression.

How long does it take and how many items are included?

Completion typically takes about 6 minutes. The questionnaire contains 30 items.

How should responses be selected?

Select the option that best reflects typical experience rather than an ideal response. Answer all items using the same timeframe and interpretation of the rating scale.

What do the results represent?

Scores summarize tendencies toward emotional novelty, complexity, and expressiveness. Results describe patterns and are not a diagnosis or a measure of mental health status.

Are there different versions of the measure?

Yes, some adaptations keep a structure similar to the original, while others use a more detailed five-factor model. Version choice depends on the intended depth of interpretation.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Emotional Creativity Questionnaire, ECQ Test

Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) Test - Symptoms and Signs

emotionality

Emotional experiences can be conceptualized as flexible constructs that vary in how people generate, combine, and express feelings. The Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) is a brief self-report measure designed to assess individual differences in emotionally creative tendencies.

The instrument consists of 30 items and typically takes about 6 minutes to complete. Items are intended to capture aspects of emotional experience such as originality, complexity, and expressiveness, with an emphasis on how a person may shape and elaborate their emotional responses. It is commonly used in personality and individual-differences contexts to provide a structured snapshot of emotionally creative resources.

The Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) was developed by J. C. Kaufman and R. J. Sternberg and is best interpreted as one component of a broader clinical or assessment battery rather than as a standalone diagnostic tool.

Author: J. C. Kaufman, R. J. Sternberg

Literature: Gross, J. J. Emotion regulation: affective, cognitive, and social consequences. Psychophysiology. 2002.; Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. Emotional intelligence: theory, findings, and implications. Psychological Inquiry. 2004.; Barrett, L. F., Gross, J. J., Christensen, T. C., & Benvenuto, M. Knowing what you’re feeling and knowing what to do about it: mapping the relation between emotion differentiation and emotion regulation. Cognition & Emotion. 2001.; Averill, J. R. Individual differences in emotional creativity: structure and correlates. Journal of Personality. 1999.

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