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Threatened Authority Complex Test

For managers and people reflecting on leadership, the Threatened Authority Complex Test is a 15-question self-report completed in about 3 minutes. It highlights reactions to criticism, subordinates, authority, and workplace setbacks, helping you reflect on defensive patterns and leadership-related attitudes.

Questions: 153 minutes

Threatened Authority Complex Test: situation and reply bubbles

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

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3,715 completions

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Daniel Hall Psychologist · Test reviewer

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Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

Assesses the extent to which response patterns suggest challenges in fitting an authority-figure role (e.g., predominance of “C” answers).

example score5/15

5/15Low indicationexample score

0 – 5Low indication

6 – 10Moderate indication

11 – 15High indication

A score of 5 falls in the Low indication range, suggesting minimal signs in this scale of response patterns associated with difficulty in an authority-figure role.

Measures the extent to which you take an overly defensive stance toward subordinates to protect your authority.

example score5/15

5/15Low defensivenessexample score

0 – 5Low defensiveness

6 – 10Moderate defensiveness

11 – 15High defensiveness

A score of 5 falls in the Low defensiveness range, suggesting you are generally not prone to reacting defensively toward subordinates when your authority feels challenged.

Scale B measures cautious responding that may reflect sensitivity to potential threats to one’s authority.

example score8/15

8/15Moderate cautionexample score

0 – 5Low caution

6 – 10Moderate caution

11 – 15High caution

A score of 8 falls in the Moderate caution range, suggesting a balanced but noticeable tendency to be careful that does not exclude sensitivity to threatened-authority concerns.

Measures the extent to which responses suggest anxiety or defensiveness related to perceived threats to one’s authority in a leadership role.

example score7/15

7/15Moderate indicatorsexample score

0 – 5Low indicators

6 – 10Moderate indicators

11 – 15High indicators

A score of 7 falls in the Moderate indicators range, suggesting some signs of concern about maintaining authority that may affect confidence or decision-making in certain situations.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Newly Promoted Managers

41%OF USERS

People who just stepped into leadership and want to check whether insecurity or fear of losing respect is shaping their decisions.

Under Pressure Team Leads

34%OF USERS

Leaders in fast-changing environments who notice they’re becoming defensive, controlling, or overly reactive to challenges from others.

Ambitious Senior Specialists

25%OF USERS

High-performing contributors aiming for more influence who worry their authority isn’t recognized and want clarity on what’s holding them back.

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

You?

Average4.2

Typical rangeTypical1.6 – 6.8

Possible0 – 15

You?

Average9.4

Typical rangeTypical7.3 – 11.5

Possible0 – 15

You?

Average4.8

Typical rangeTypical2 – 7.6

Possible0 – 15

You?

Average5.4

Typical rangeTypical2.9 – 7.8

Possible0 – 15

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

- Always
- Usually
- Sometimes
- Almost never
- Always
- Usually
- Sometimes
- Almost never
- Always
- Usually
- Sometimes
- Almost never

These are 3 of the 15 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

Threatened Authority Complex Test - Description and methodology of the test

business

For managers, supervisors, and people considering a leadership role, this Threatened Authority Complex Test offers a structured way to examine whether perceived challenges to authority are shaping judgment and relationships. The threatened authority questionnaire focuses on reactions to criticism, disagreement, setbacks, and subordinate independence. Its profile can help a reader identify whether caution, defensiveness, or discomfort with authority roles deserves closer reflection.

What This Test Measures

Rather than measuring general leadership quality, the questionnaire examines how a person interprets challenges to status and control. Items cover criticism, disloyalty, setbacks, judgment, and subordinate disagreement. The authority complex assessment describes a response pattern, not a complete portrait of managerial ability. The profile highlights pronounced reactions.

Two separate displayed scales are labelled B: one measures caution, the other defensiveness:

Scale A (0-15) indicates possible threatened authority complex: Low indicators (0-5), Moderate indicators (6-10), High indicators (11-15).
Scale B - caution (0-15) indicates high caution without excluding predisposition to the complex: Low caution (0-5), Moderate caution (6-10), High caution (11-15).
Scale G (0-15) may indicate unsuitability for authority: Low indication (0-5), Moderate indication (6-10), High indication (11-15).
Scale B - defensiveness (0-15) indicates an overly defensive stance toward subordinates: Low defensiveness (0-5), Moderate defensiveness (6-10), High defensiveness (11-15).

Methodology and Evidence Base

Each item uses four ordered choices, with wording that shifts between frequency, truth, and agreement; the content addresses self-assessment and judgment. These items examine authority-related reactions in workplace situations, including criticism, subordinates, setbacks, and compliance beliefs.

Results are reported on separate displayed scales covering authority-related reactions to criticism, subordinate disagreement, and workplace setbacks, while the points assigned to individual response options are not specified; interpretation should follow the reported bands, not an assumed scoring rule.

The conceptual anchor is Threatened Authority Complex (Reykowski, 1977). Wilke (1977) connects authority complex with authoritarian personality, Motyka and Mudyń (1984) distinguish it from learned ineptitude and regressive activity, and Reykowski (1979) places authority reactions within motivation and management theory. This questionnaire is conceptually consistent with those works, not a validated adaptation.

The displayed bands do not provide population norms or psychometric evidence for this questionnaire, so they describe its reported response profile rather than a normed managerial level. Self-report results can shift with current conflict, self-awareness, defensiveness, and impression management, so the profile is best read alongside observable behavior and context rather than as a diagnosis.

Author: Robert A. Baron

Literature:

Motyka, Marek, and Krzysztof Mudyń. The Threatened Authority Complex versus Learned Ineptitude and Regressive Activity. Prakseologia, nos. 3-4, 1984, pp. 149-163.
Reykowski, Janusz. Bosses and Their Problems. Polityka, no. 1, 1977.
Reykowski, Janusz. Theory of Motivation and Management. 2nd revised edition. Warsaw: State Economic Publishing House, 1979.
Wilke, H. J. The Authority Complex and the Authoritarian Personality. Journal of Analytical Psychology, vol. 22, no. 3, 1977, pp. 243-249. 10.1111/j.1465-5922.1977.00243.x

Updated: 2025-10-02