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Psychological Mindedness Scale (PMS)3

Psychological Mindedness Scale (PMS) Test

Understand awareness of thoughts and feelings in about 9 minutes. Get clear, actionable insight for therapy goals, progress tracking, or research using a 45 item measure.

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Questions: 459 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

28,832 views

3,627 completions

3,069 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

10/20

Openness to New Experiences (OtNE)

Measures openness to new life situations and willingness to embrace change despite potential risk.

Low openness

Moderate openness

High openness

5 – 9: Low openness | 10 – 15: Moderate openness | 16 – 20: High openness

A score of 10 indicates moderate openness, suggesting some readiness to try new experiences while still preferring a degree of predictability.

example score

21/24

Willingness to Discuss Feelings (WtDF)

Measures readiness and willingness to openly share and discuss one’s inner experiences with others.

Reserved

Selective sharing

Open discussion

6 – 12: Reserved | 13 – 18: Selective sharing | 19 – 24: Open discussion

A score of 21 falls in the Open discussion range, suggesting you are generally comfortable bringing personal feelings and experiences into conversation with others.

example score

18/24

Perceived Benefits of Discussing Feelings (PBoDF)

Assesses how strongly a person believes that talking with others about their feelings and experiences is beneficial.

Low perceived benefit

Moderate perceived benefit

High perceived benefit

6 – 12: Low perceived benefit | 13 – 18: Moderate perceived benefit | 19 – 24: High perceived benefit

A score of 18 indicates a moderate belief that discussing feelings with others is helpful, suggesting openness to dialogue in some situations but not consistently.

example score

16/24

Accessibility of Emotional Experience (AoEE)

Measures how accessible and understandable your internal experiences (emotions and thoughts) are for conscious awareness and reflection.

Low accessibility

Moderate accessibility

High accessibility

6 – 12: Low accessibility | 13 – 18: Moderate accessibility | 19 – 24: High accessibility

A score of 16 indicates a moderate level of accessibility, suggesting you can usually notice and make sense of your emotions and thoughts, though some experiences may be harder to articulate or analyze.

example score

23/28

Interest in Inner Experiences (IiIE)

Measures how interested and attentive a person is to their own inner experiences and emotional states.

Low

Moderate

High

7 – 14: Low | 15 – 21: Moderate | 22 – 28: High

A score of 23 falls in the High range, suggesting a pronounced tendency toward self-reflection and sustained attention to feelings and inner experience.

example score

103/180

Psychological Mindedness (PM)

Assesses how clearly a person recognizes, reflects on, and makes sense of their own emotions, thoughts, and psychological processes.

Low insight

Moderate insight

High insight

45 – 89: Low insight | 90 – 134: Moderate insight | 135 – 180: High insight

A score of 103 falls in the Moderate insight range, suggesting a generally adequate capacity for self-reflection and emotional openness with room to deepen understanding of inner experiences.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Therapy clients in progress

41%OF USERS

People already in counseling use it to gauge how aware they are of feelings and thoughts and to track changes during therapy.

Self-reflection seekers

34%OF USERS

Curious self-improvers take it to understand how connected they are to their inner experience and emotional reactions.

Psychology students and researchers

25%OF USERS

Learners and researchers use it for quick assessment in studies or training to compare psychological awareness across groups.

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.

Openness to New Experiences (OtNE)

Average

13.1

Normal range

10.4 — 15.8

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.

The desire to discuss experiences (Tdtde)

Average

14.6

Normal range

11.5 — 17.7

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.

Benefits of Discussing Your Feelings (BoDYF)

Average

13.2

Normal range

10.1 — 16.4

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.

Accessibility of Experiences (AoE)

Average

18.6

Normal range

16.1 — 21.2

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.

Interest in the field of experiences (Iitfoe)

Average

18.3

Normal range

15.6 — 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.

Psychological Rationality Scale (PRS)

Average

105

Normal range

80.5 — 129.5

min.

max.

180

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

- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Agree
- Strongly agree

These are 3 of the 45 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

Psychological Mindedness Scale (PMS) Test - Symptoms and Signs

cbt

psychological rationality

This self-report measure is used to assess an individual’s tendency to reflect on psychological processes and to attend to internal experiences. The Psychological Mindedness Scale (PMS), developed by Kirk Warren Brown and Ellen J. Langer, can support clinical case formulation and research when examining reflective functioning and openness to one’s thoughts and feelings.

The instrument consists of 45 items and typically requires about 9 minutes to complete. Responses are used to derive a summary indicator of psychological mindedness; results are generally interpreted in context with other clinical information rather than as a standalone diagnostic tool. The Psychological Mindedness Scale (PMS) may be used to characterize baseline individual differences and to monitor change over time in settings where insight-oriented processes are clinically relevant.

Author: Ellen J. Langer, Kirk Warren Brown, Richard M. Ryan

Literature: Grant, A. M., Franklin, J., & Langford, P. The self-reflection and insight scale: A new measure of private self-consciousness. Social Behavior and Personality. 2002.; Conte, H. R., Plutchik, R., & Jung, B. Psychological mindedness as a predictor of psychotherapy outcome. Comprehensive Psychiatry. 1990.; Shill, M. A., & Lumley, M. A. The Psychological Mindedness Scale: Factor structure, convergent validity and gender in a non-psychiatric sample. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice. 2002.