Need for Dominance Scale Test

With 20 true-or-false questions completed in about 4 minutes, the Need for Dominance Scale Test helps you explore how strongly you seek influence, leadership, and control in social situations. Your result highlights a general tendency toward directing others and organizing activities, offering a useful starting point for self-reflection.

Questions: 204 minutes

Need for Dominance Scale Test: sample question card

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

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Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Need for DominanceNfD

This scale measures the degree to which a person is motivated to take leadership, influence others, and organize group actions.

example score10/20

10/20Moderateexample score

0 – 6Low

7 – 13Moderate

14 – 20High

A score of 10 falls in the Moderate range, suggesting a balanced tendency to take initiative and influence in groups without a strong drive to dominate.

just completed the test

DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Aspiring team leaders

41%OF USERS

People aiming for leadership roles take it to see whether they naturally take initiative, influence others, and assume responsibility in groups.

HR and recruiters

34%OF USERS

Hiring and people-ops specialists use it to gauge a candidate’s orientation toward leading and organizing without confusing it with manipulation.

Coaches and psychologists

25%OF USERS

Practitioners include it in counseling or training to discuss a client’s leadership motivation and how it shows up in teamwork.

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

The Need for DominanceTNfD

You?

Average13.5

Typical rangeTypical11 – 16

Possible0 – 20

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

You are asked to describe your interests and opinions. The items are phrased as first-person statements. If a statement accurately describes you and your views, select “Yes, true”; if it does not, select “No, not true.” When completing the questionnaire, please keep in mind: • The statements are too brief to include all necessary details; consider typical situations without focusing on specifics. • Do not spend time deliberating; respond quickly. Each response should take no more than five seconds. • Do not skip any items. Answer every item by selecting one of the two response options. In some cases, it may be difficult to relate a statement to yourself; in that case, still try to choose either “Yes” or “No.” When responding, do not attempt to create an intentionally favorable or unfavorable impression. There are no “good” or “bad” answers; the primary goal is to express your opinion freely.

- Yes, true
- No, not true
- Yes, true
- No, not true
- Yes, true
- No, not true

These are 3 of the 20 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Need for Dominance Scale Test - Description and methodology of the test

aesthetics

People who want to understand how they take charge, influence decisions, or respond when others resist them may find the Need for Dominance Scale Test useful. The result is a dominance assessment of recurring social patterns, focusing on leadership preferences, assertiveness, and conflict behavior. It is descriptive, helping a respondent reflect on these patterns without reducing personality to one number.

What This Assessment Explores

Dominance here means seeking influence, directing group activity, and persisting during disagreement-not simply being loud or confident.

The items present initiative, public participation, blunt criticism, decision-making, embarrassment, reserve, stubbornness, and conflict as situations in which the tendency may appear. They show one drive across settings, not three separate traits.

One overall result makes this an assessment of leadership dominance, rather than three trait scores:

Influence and persuasion show how readily you shape others’ opinions or choices.
Organizing activities and decision-making roles show how the drive may direct groups.
Criticism, stubbornness, and standing up for yourself show influence-seeking in conflict.

The displayed scale is Need for Dominance (0-20), with Low (0-6), Moderate (7-13), and High (14-20) bands. Higher placement indicates a stronger drive to direct, influence, organize, win disputes, shape opinions, and prefer compliant peers.

Methodology and Evidence Base

The response format is brief binary self-report. Most statements ask the respondent to choose Yes, true or No, not true; one item uses Yes or No. The questions move across preferences, interpersonal behavior, emotional reactions, and self-perception, so the score reflects a pattern across situations rather than one isolated answer.

The V4 online version is attributed to David M. Buss and Jerry M. Burger. A related published measure is Orlov’s Need for Dominance Questionnaire, whose need-motivational approach addresses the drive toward influence, while Medcof’s 1990 study examined the corresponding scale in the Manifest Needs Questionnaire. These sources offer comparison for the construct and related reliability evidence, but they do not establish psychometric properties for this online form.

Scoring produces the displayed total, yet item weights, reverse-keyed items, scoring conversion, and norms are not supplied for this version, so none should be inferred from the score range. Findings from a related published scale do not establish independent norms or clinical validation for this online form. Because answers depend on current context, self-awareness, and candor, its bands are descriptive rather than diagnostic.

Author: David M. Buss, Jerry M. Burger

Literature:

Orlov, Yu. M. (1976). The Need for Dominance in Educational Activity. In Yu. M. Orlov (Ed.), Needs and Motives of Educational Activity among Medical University Students (pp. 64-80). Moscow: First Moscow Medical Institute Press.
Medcof, J. W. (1990). The Need for Dominance Scale of the Manifest Needs Questionnaire: Its Reliability and Validity. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 39(3), 307-322. 10.1111/j.1464-0597.1990.tb01056.x
Orlov, Yu. M. (1984). Need-Motivational Factors in the Effectiveness of Educational Activity of University Students: Doctoral Dissertation in Psychology. Moscow.
Orlov, Yu. M., & Babin, B. A. (1978). Forecasting the Social Needs of Youth. Moscow: Nauka.

Updated: 2025-10-02