Rewards and Punishments Test

With 54 questions completed in about 10 minutes, the Rewards and Punishments Test examines patterns of rewards, discipline, misconduct, and parental responses in childhood. Your result outlines how different forms of encouragement, restriction, pressure, and punishment appear in the profile, supporting focused self-reflection about family experiences.

Questions: 5410 minutes

Rewards and Punishments Test: sample question card

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

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2,833 completions

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Serious MisconductSM

This scale measures how often serious childhood offenses or significant misbehavior were present in the participant's experience.

example score3/12

3/12Lowexample score

0 – 3Low

4 – 7Moderate

8 – 12High

A score of 3 falls in the Low range, suggesting few indications of serious offenses in the described childhood behavior history.

Moderate MisconductMM

Assesses how often moderate childhood offenses or rule violations were present and drew parental attention.

example score7/12

7/12Moderateexample score

0 – 3Low

4 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 7 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a noticeable but not extreme frequency of moderate offenses in childhood that likely required periodic parental response.

Minor MisconductMM

Measures how often the child engaged in minor misdeeds or small rule/norm violations in childhood recollections.

example score8/12

8/12Moderateexample score

0 – 3Low

4 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 8 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting occasional to fairly frequent minor rule or norm violations in childhood experience.

Psychological PressurePP

Measures how often a parent used psychological pressure (e.g., emotional manipulation) as a form of punishment during childhood.

example score8/12

8/12Moderateexample score

0 – 4Low

5 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 8 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting psychological pressure was used fairly often but not at the highest level.

Physical Punishment and CoercionPPaC

Assesses how often physical force and coercion were used as punishment in childhood parenting experiences.

example score10/12

10/12Highexample score

0 – 3Low

4 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 10 falls in the High range, suggesting physical punishments and coercive discipline were reported as relatively frequent in childhood.

Deprivation of Material GoodsDoMG

Measures how often punishment in childhood involved restricting or withholding material goods.

example score9/12

9/12Highexample score

0 – 4Low

5 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 9 falls in the High range, suggesting material restriction was a relatively frequent form of punishment in your childhood experience.

Praise and SupportPaS

Measures how often a parent used praise and emotional support to encourage the child during childhood.

example score10/12

10/12Highexample score

0 – 4Low

5 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 10 falls in the High range, suggesting frequent experiences of parental praise and emotional support as a form of positive reinforcement.

Granting Greater AutonomyGGA

Measures how often a parent encouraged the child by granting greater freedom and autonomy.

example score7/12

7/12Moderate freedom-grantingexample score

0 – 4Low freedom-granting

5 – 8Moderate freedom-granting

9 – 12High freedom-granting

A score of 7 falls in the Moderate freedom-granting range, suggesting freedom was used as encouragement with some regularity but not as a dominant pattern.

Pleasures and Material RewardsPaMR

This scale measures how often material rewards and pleasurable incentives were used in childhood as a way to motivate behavior.

example score8/12

8/12Moderateexample score

0 – 4Low

5 – 8Moderate

9 – 12High

A score of 8 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting material rewards and pleasures were used fairly often but were not the dominant motivational approach.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Therapy and coaching clients

41%OF USERS

People in personal work who want to connect current habits, self-esteem, or relationship patterns to how they were rewarded or punished growing up.

Self-reflection seekers

34%OF USERS

Adults curious about their upbringing who want a quick, structured way to recall and quantify childhood responses from caregivers.

Psychology students and practitioners

25%OF USERS

Learners and professionals who use brief assessments to map parenting dynamics and guide further discussion or intervention.

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

Serious offensesSo

You?

Average3.1

Typical rangeTypical0.9 – 5.3

Possible0 – 12

Moderate OffensesMO

You?

Average5.3

Typical rangeTypical3.8 – 6.9

Possible0 – 12

Minor OffensesMO

You?

Average7

Typical rangeTypical5 – 9

Possible0 – 12

Psychological PressurePP

You?

Average5.5

Typical rangeTypical3.9 – 7.2

Possible0 – 12

Physical Punishments and CoercionPPaC

You?

Average6.7

Typical rangeTypical4.8 – 8.6

Possible0 – 12

Deprivation of material goodsDomg

You?

Average8.9

Typical rangeTypical7.2 – 10.7

Possible0 – 12

Praise and SupportPaS

You?

Average7.9

Typical rangeTypical6.2 – 9.6

Possible0 – 12

Granting Greater FreedomGGF

You?

Average7.3

Typical rangeTypical5.7 – 8.8

Possible0 – 12

Pleasures, material rewardPmr

You?

Average6.8

Typical rangeTypical5.3 – 8.3

Possible0 – 12

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Often
- Sometimes
- Never
- Often
- Sometimes
- Never
- Often
- Sometimes
- Never

These are 3 of the 54 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Rewards and Punishments Test - Description and methodology of the test

family

upbringing

People reflecting on childhood experiences with parental rewards and discipline may find this parenting discipline test useful for organizing reported misconduct and parenting practices. The Rewards and Punishments Test compares encouragement, restrictions, pressure, coercion, and misconduct within one profile. Its result maps these domains across separate scales rather than assessing current caregiving or effects on family relationships.

What This Assessment Explores

This child behavior and discipline assessment separates child misconduct from parental practices:

Serious Misconduct (0-12) measures: Low 0-3; Moderate 4-7; High 8-12.
Moderate Misconduct (0-12) measures: Low 0-3; Moderate 4-8; High 9-12.
Minor Misconduct (0-12) measures: Low 0-3; Moderate 4-8; High 9-12.
Psychological Pressure (0-12) measures: Low 0-4; Moderate 5-8; High 9-12.
Physical Punishment and Coercion (0-12) measures: Low 0-3; Moderate 4-8; High 9-12.
Deprivation of Material Goods (0-12) measures: Low 0-4; Moderate 5-8; High 9-12.
Praise and Support (0-12) measures: Low 0-4; Moderate 5-8; High 9-12.
Granting Greater Autonomy (0-12) measures: Low freedom-granting 0-4; Moderate 5-8; High 9-12.
Pleasures and Material Rewards (0-12) measures: Low 0-4; Moderate 5-8; High 9-12.

Methodology and Evidence Base

The displayed items use Often, Sometimes, or Never. They cover childhood conduct-lateness, dishonesty, fighting, school absence, or cruelty-and parental consequences such as praise, gifts, withheld privileges, insults, physical force, and coercion. The questionnaire about rewards and punishments groups answers into displayed scales, but the profile does not reveal each response’s point value.

Conceptually, it is consistent with Atli and colleagues’ 2022 work on parents’ reward and punishment practices, offering a conceptual comparison for its reward and discipline domains. Its consequence-based logic also connects with Skinner’s behaviorist framework, where consequences influence behavior. Questions about parental coercive, physical, and psychologically aggressive discipline can be compared with categories in the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales, but this questionnaire is not presented as an adaptation of either instrument.

The profile’s displayed bands are descriptive rather than norm-referenced cutoffs or clinical thresholds. Memory, honesty, and current interpretation can shape self-report, so read scores with family context in mind.

Author: B. F. Skinner

Literature:

Atli, A., Şad, S. N., & Özer, N. (2022). A Mixed Methods Approach to Developing a Scale on Parents’ Practices to Reward and Punish Their Children. Research in Pedagogy, 12(2), 339-357. 10.5937/istrped2202339a
Skinner, B. F. (1953). Science and Human Behavior. New York: Macmillan.
Straus, M. A., Hamby, S. L., Finkelhor, D., Moore, D. W., & Runyan, D. (1998). Identification of Child Maltreatment with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales: Development and Psychometric Data for a National Sample of American Parents. Child Abuse & Neglect, 22(4), 249-270. 10.1016/S0145-2134(97)00174-9

Updated: 2025-10-02