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Metaphors of Professional Activity3

Metaphors of Professional Activity Test

Understand how you see your role at work and what it means to you in about 3 minutes. Fast, 15 questions that reveal motivation and values to guide coaching, HR, or career growth.

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Questions: 153 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

30,894 views

2,656 completions

2,324 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

5/10

Disillusionment With the Profession (DWtP)

Measures the degree of negative personal meaning, dissatisfaction, and disillusionment a person associates with their profession.

Low disillusionment

Moderate disillusionment

High disillusionment

0 – 4: Low disillusionment | 5 – 7: Moderate disillusionment | 8 – 10: High disillusionment

A score of 5 indicates a moderate level of disillusionment, suggesting some dissatisfaction with the profession that may be affecting motivation or engagement.

example score

8/10

Passion for the Profession (PftP)

Measures how much positive personal meaning, engagement, and intrinsic interest a person experiences in their professional activity.

Low passion

Moderate passion

High passion

0 – 4: Low passion | 5 – 7: Moderate passion | 8 – 10: High passion

A score of 8 indicates high passion, suggesting the person experiences strong engagement and positive personal significance in their work.

example score

4/10

Occupational Alienation (OA)

Measures how strongly a person experiences their profession as lacking personal meaning and feeling psychologically distant from it.

Low alienation

Moderate alienation

High alienation

0 – 3: Low alienation | 4 – 7: Moderate alienation | 8 – 10: High alienation

A score of 4 suggests a moderate sense of alienation, indicating some reduced personal significance of the profession while meaning and engagement are still partially present.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Career changers and seekers

41%OF USERS

People considering a new role or direction use it to clarify what work means to them and what kind of job would feel fitting.

Burnout and stress recovery

34%OF USERS

Professionals feeling drained take it to understand what’s depleting them and what could restore motivation and balance.

Coaches, HR, psychologists

25%OF USERS

Helping professionals use it as a quick starting point to discuss a client’s work identity, values, and development goals.

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.

Disappointment in one’s profession (Diop)

Average

5.3

Normal range

3.9 — 6.7

min.

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

Passion for the Profession (PftP)

Average

3.6

Normal range

2.4 — 4.9

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.

Alienation of the Profession (AotP)

Average

3.7

Normal range

2 — 5.3

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

Below is a list of common metaphors used to describe various situations and activities in human life. Please rate the extent to which each metaphor corresponds to your perception and experience of your own professional work. When completing this task, keep in mind that there are no right or wrong answers, as each person has a unique professional experience. The primary goal is for your responses to reflect as accurately as possible your personal perception and experience of your professional work.

- Does not correspond at all
- Probably does not correspond
- Rather does not correspond
- Neutral (hard to say)
- Rather corresponds
- Probably corresponds
- Fully corresponds
- Does not correspond at all
- Probably does not correspond
- Rather does not correspond
- Neutral (difficult to answer)
- Rather corresponds
- Probably corresponds
- Corresponds completely
- Does not correspond at all
- Probably does not correspond
- Somewhat does not correspond
- Neutral (difficult to answer)
- Somewhat corresponds
- Probably corresponds
- Fully corresponds

These are 3 of the 15 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

Metaphors of Professional Activity Test - Symptoms and Signs

metaphors

meaningfulness

pro-identity

passion

This brief self-report instrument uses metaphor selection to elicit how an individual construes the meaning and role of work in their life. Metaphors of Professional Activity is intended to support an initial understanding of perceived professional identity, values, and motivational themes, using language that can be discussed clinically.

The measure includes 15 items and typically takes about 3 minutes to complete. Content is commonly used to guide a structured conversation about personal significance of work, perceived resources and challenges, and areas for potential development. Metaphors of Professional Activity has been associated with conceptual approaches described by Donald A. Schön and Gareth Morgan.

Author: Donald A. Schön, Gareth Morgan

Literature: Savickas, M. L. Career construction theory and practice. In S. D. Brown & R. W. Lent (Eds.), Career development and counseling: Putting theory and research to work. Wiley. 2013.; McAdams, D. P. The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. Guilford Press. 1993.