About the science
Where each assessment comes from, how it is scored, and what it can and cannot tell you.
Happy Me is for education and self-reflection. Nothing here is a medical or psychological diagnosis.
Personality
Where you sit on the five broad personality traits psychologists use most.
What it is based on
50-item IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4, 26-42.
International Personality Item Pool (ipip.ori.org), public domain.
What we changed
- Each item is prefixed with 'I' to read as a full sentence.
- Responses use an agree/disagree scale in place of the IPIP accuracy scale.
- The fifth factor, Intellect/Imagination, is labeled Openness.
- Shortened to 35 items (7 per trait) by removing near-duplicate items.
How it is scored
You answer 35 questions. Your answers are combined into a score for each of 5 areas, and each score is shown as a percentile: out of 100 people, about how many would score lower than you.
For now the percentiles are estimates. No official comparison figures exist for these questions, so we use provisional ones, and we will replace them with figures from people who complete the assessment here.
What it cannot tell you
This assessment is for education and self-reflection. It is not a medical or psychological diagnosis.
Character strengths
Which of 24 character strengths come most naturally to you.
What it is based on
International Personality Item Pool scales for the 24 strengths of the VIA classification (a selection of four questions per strength). Goldberg, L. R., Johnson, J. A., Eber, H. W., Hogan, R., Ashton, M. C., Cloninger, C. R., & Gough, H. G. (2006). The International Personality Item Pool and the future of public-domain personality measures. Journal of Research in Personality, 40, 84-96. The classification of 24 strengths: Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification. Oxford University Press.
International Personality Item Pool (ipip.ori.org), public domain.
What we changed
- We use four questions for each strength, chosen from the seven to eleven in the original scales, to keep the assessment to about 15 minutes.
- Each question begins with 'I' so that it reads as a full sentence.
- Some strengths have plainer names here, for example 'Teamwork' and 'Self-control'.
- 'Weigh the pro's and the con's' is written 'weigh the pros and the cons'.
How it is scored
You answer 96 questions, 4 for each of 24 strengths. Each gets the average of your answers, and they are then put in order, from the one you agreed with most to the one you agreed with least. The result compares your own strengths with each other, not with other people.
What it cannot tell you
The result puts your own strengths in order. It compares you with yourself, not with other people, so a strength at the bottom of your list is not a weakness.
With four questions per strength, strengths that are close together in your list could easily swap places if you took the assessment again. The top and the bottom of the list are more dependable than the exact order in between.
It reflects how you see yourself today. It is not the VIA Survey, and Happy Me is not affiliated with the VIA Institute on Character.
This assessment is for education and self-reflection. It is not a medical or psychological diagnosis.
Introvert or extrovert
Where you fall between introvert and extrovert, and which of six facets of extraversion drive it.
What it is based on
International Personality Item Pool scales for the six facets of extraversion of the NEO model (a selection of three questions per facet). Goldberg, L. R. (1999). A broad-bandwidth, public domain, personality inventory measuring the lower-level facets of several five-factor models. In I. Mervielde, I. Deary, F. De Fruyt, & F. Ostendorf (Eds.), Personality Psychology in Europe, Vol. 7 (pp. 7-28). Tilburg University Press.
International Personality Item Pool (ipip.ori.org), public domain.
What we changed
- We use three questions for each of the six facets, chosen from the ten in the original scales, to keep the assessment to about 3 minutes.
- None of the questions is also used in the Happy Me personality assessment.
- Each question begins with 'I' so that it reads as a full sentence, and answers use an agree/disagree scale.
- Some facets have plainer names here: 'Love of company' for gregariousness and 'Pace' for activity level.
- The overall result is the average of the six percentiles: below 40 is introvert, above 60 is extrovert, and in between is ambivert.
How it is scored
You answer 18 questions. Your answers are combined into a score for each of 6 areas, and each score is shown as a percentile: out of 100 people, about how many would score lower than you.
For now the percentiles are estimates. No official comparison figures exist for these questions, so we use provisional ones, and we will replace them with figures from people who complete the assessment here.
What it cannot tell you
With three questions per facet, each facet score is rough. The overall result, which uses all 18 questions, is more dependable.
The comparison figures are estimates for now. Introvert, ambivert and extrovert are points on one spectrum, not separate types, and people near a boundary could land on the other side another day.
It reflects how you see yourself today. Your Big Five personality result shows extraversion alongside four other traits.
This assessment is for education and self-reflection. It is not a medical or psychological diagnosis.
Love languages
Which of five love languages make you feel most cared for: words, time together, gifts, help or touch.
What it is based on
Original questions written for Happy Me, four for each of the five love languages. The five love languages are a popular idea about how people prefer to give and receive care. For a scientific view of it: Impett, E. A., Park, H. G., & Muise, A. (2024). Popular psychology through a scientific lens: Evaluating love languages from a relationship science perspective. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 33(2), 87-92.
What we changed
- The questions are our own and are answered on an agree/disagree scale, so you can value several love languages at once.
- The result puts your five love languages in order, from the one you agreed with most to the one you agreed with least.
How it is scored
You answer 20 questions, 4 for each of 5 love languages. Each gets the average of your answers, and they are then put in order, from the one you agreed with most to the one you agreed with least. The result compares your own love languages with each other, not with other people.
What it cannot tell you
Research suggests most people value all five kinds of care, and that the five love languages are not fixed types. Treat your result as a guide to your preferences and a starting point for conversation, not a scientific classification.
The result compares your love languages with each other, not with other people. Love languages with close scores could easily swap places another time.
What you need can change with the relationship, the person and the season of life. Happy Me is not affiliated with any book or program about love languages.
This assessment is for education and self-reflection. It is not a medical or psychological diagnosis.
Reasoning
Thirty original pattern, number and word puzzles that show how you solve new problems, with an estimated score on the IQ scale.
What it is based on
Original puzzles written for Happy Me. The puzzles follow three long-established types of reasoning question: completing a pattern of pictures, continuing a series of numbers, and working with word meanings and logical statements. They are not taken from any published assessment.
What we changed
- The puzzles are new and have not yet been tried out on a large group of people.
- There is a time limit of 20 minutes for the 30 puzzles, as in most published reasoning assessments. People who need more time can take it without a limit; that result is marked "untimed" and compared only with other untimed results.
- The score is placed on the IQ scale (average 100) using our own estimate of how hard each puzzle is.
How it is scored
You solve 30 puzzles, 10 of each of 3 types. Each puzzle has one right answer. The number you solve of each type is shown with an estimated percentile, and the number you solve in total is placed on the IQ scale, where the average is 100 and about two people in three score between 85 and 115. Your answers are scored on our server, because the right answers are not sent to your browser.
For now the percentiles are estimates. No official comparison figures exist for these questions, so we use provisional ones, and we will replace them with figures from people who complete the assessment here.
What it cannot tell you
The result is an estimate, not an official IQ score. An IQ score comes from a standardised assessment given by a trained professional, with questions tried out on thousands of people. These puzzles are new, so the comparison figures behind your score are our own estimates of how hard each puzzle is. They will be replaced with figures from people who complete the assessment here, and your score for the same answers may then change.
Thirty puzzles give a rough reading. The same person can score several points higher or lower on another day, which is why the result comes with a likely range. The three puzzle types have ten puzzles each, so their results are rougher still.
With the time limit, the result reflects how quickly you reason as well as how well. People who read slowly, are new to this kind of puzzle or use a small screen lose more to the clock. The untimed version removes that, but its result cannot be compared with a timed one. Neither version can tell apart scores far from the average: they do not go above 135 or below 60.
The word puzzles depend on English vocabulary, and all of the puzzles are easier for people who have met this kind of puzzle before. Tiredness, distraction, a small screen and poor eyesight all lower the result.
Reasoning puzzles capture one part of what people mean by intelligence. They say nothing about creativity, practical sense, knowledge, wisdom or how well you get on with people, and the result should not be used for decisions about school, work or health.
This assessment is for education and self-reflection. Your score is an estimate on the IQ scale, not an official IQ score, and it is not a medical or psychological diagnosis.
Memory and attention
Three short exercises with words, numbers and pictures. Repeat it over time to follow your own trend.
What it is based on
Original exercises written for Happy Me. The three exercises are long-established ways of looking at memory and attention: recalling a list of words straight away and again after a delay, repeating sequences of digits forwards and backwards, and remembering which pictures were shown together. Exercises of these kinds are found in memory checks such as the MoCA and the MMSE. This assessment is not one of them and does not use their materials.
What we changed
- The words, number sequences and picture pairs are different every time, so that a second attempt does not benefit from remembering the first.
- Answers are typed or tapped on a screen. In a clinic these exercises are given aloud by a trained person.
- Your result is your own scores only. They are not compared with other people.
How it is scored
You do three timed exercises, which give 5 scores: words recalled right away and again a few minutes later, the longest sequence of digits repeated forwards and in reverse, and picture pairs matched. Each score is simply what you did, out of the highest possible. Nothing is compared with other people.
What it cannot tell you
This is a wellness exercise for following your own memory and attention over time. It is not a medical assessment. It cannot detect dementia or any other condition. If you are worried about your memory, talk to a doctor.
Your scores are not compared with other people, because fair comparison figures would have to take age into account and we do not have them. A score here is neither good nor bad by itself.
The material changes each time, and no two lists are exactly as hard as each other. A change of one word or one digit from one attempt to the next means very little. Look at the trend over several attempts.
Scores go up and down with sleep, stress, illness, medication, alcohol, noise, and the time of day. One low result means nothing by itself.
The exercises are done on a screen without supervision. Typing speed, a small screen, poor eyesight or an interruption can all lower a result for reasons that have nothing to do with memory.
This is a wellness exercise for education and self-tracking, not a medical assessment or a diagnosis. It cannot detect dementia or any other condition. If you are worried about your memory, talk to a doctor.
This page grows as assessments are added.