Assertiveness is the ability to actively problem-solve and to handle

situations directly, calmly, and with confidence.Your score indicates

average assertiveness. You may be direct in some situations but may
also be passive or avoidant depending on the situation. By
developing more direct communication you might find you are able
to be more successful and achieve what you want.

Leadership is the ability to take charge of situations, to be decisive,

and to manage people effectively. Your score indicates average
leadership. You may be a leader when necessary but you don't go
out of your way to do so. You may not immediately offer to lead a
group, but if no one else is taking charge you may step in to manage
the situation.

Cooperation is the ability to connect with others and to develop a

good working relationship. Your score indicates high cooperation. You
are more likely to make group goals a priority over personal selfinterest. You work well with others to solve problems. However, you
may tend to focus on others' needs to the detriment of your own. You
may be more successful if you balance cooperation with self-interest
more.

Your score indicates low gregariousness. Gregariousness is the tendency to be very

outgoing, to seek out and enjoy large social gatherings, and to be the center of
attention. You tend to be an introvert and prefer quiet and solitude to crowded social
events. Although you may enjoy others' company, you prefer more intimate one-on-one
interactions and are not likely to interact freely with groups.

Your score indicates low friendliness. Friendliness is showing interest and concern for
others, being supportive to others, and the ability to be warm and open putting others at
ease. You tend to be more stand-offish with others and have difficulty sharing your
feelings. You may have difficulty getting to know others as a result. If you enjoy other
people's company, you may want to develop more social skills. Most people will see you
as friendly the more you show an interest in them.

Your score indicates low talkativeness. Talkativeness is the tendency to talk a great deal
and to be the focus of attention. Your low score indicates that you tend to be very quiet
and dislike being the center of attention. This style may be comfortable for you;
however, in some situations it may be necessary to be more vocal. It is okay to have our
preferences but sometimes we might need to step outside of our comfort zone. You may
already to this, but if it is difficult for you to do so it may help to identify the reason and
address it. The most common reasons are anxiety related to what other people might
think or lack of skill.

Your score indicates low sociability. Sociability is the desire to be around others and to
enjoy social events. Your low score indicates that you tend to prefer to be alone and may
avoid large gatherings. You pursue quiet interests. When you do need to be around
groups, you are likely to need time alone afterwards to unwind.
The Cognitive Styles Test measures 13 irrational styles of thinking that can create or
contribute to life problems including depression, anxiety, anger, relationship difficulties,
motivational issues.
This test provides information to help you learn about yourself and to work on selfimprovement. Sometimes you will be provided links to self-help articles at
ExcelAtLife.com that are written by a licensed psychologist and are based upon
cognitive-behavioral therapy methods.
Irrational thinking refers to the concept from cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) that
problem behavior and many symptoms of stress occur due to our thought process. By
learning about your irrational thinking you can learn to change it.
To fully understand this test it is important to read the articles about CBT that are
provided on this site.
Be sure to save a copy of your results or email yourself the results.
ANXIOUS STYLE

ANXIOUS STYLE is the tendency to be easily stressed and feel tense or nervous.
Your high score indicates that you tend to have a great deal of anxiety and are likely to
feel the physical symptoms of stress such as muscular tension, agitation, gastrointestinal distress (stomach and digestion), or respiratory distress (rapid breathing and
increased heart rate). People with this style often worry about events they can't control.
This style of thinking can lead to high levels of anxiety, possible panic attacks, and
avoidance of uncomfortable situations. It can create problems in relationships due to the
attempts to control or avoid situations that contribute to anxiety. It can also limit the
ability to develop relationships.
The irrational beliefs associated with this style of thinking include catastrophic thinking,
generalizing, and internal control.
Catastrophic thinking, focusing on the worst possible outcome, can be controlled by
learning to assess actual probability of the worst case scenario rather than an overestimation of the probability based on fear.
Generalizing, the belief that a negative outcome will occur again because it happened
previously, can be managed by recognizing that each situation or attempt is different
from the previous experience.
Internal control, the tendency to feel responsible for the outcome of a situation, can be

changed by learning that effort may be beneficial but taking responsibility for
uncontrollable events is stressful and detrimental. Internal control due to an anxious
style can also be a care-taking style in which you try to control other people's lives in an
attempt to help them.
SELF-ESTEEM STYLE

SELF-ESTEEM STYLE is the degree of positive regard for oneself.

Your average score indicates that although your self-esteem is okay, it could be better.
There are times when you tend to be overly critical of yourself and lack self-confidence.
You also may not strive to achieve to the degree which you are capable because you
may judge yourself and your efforts negatively.
Although this style doesn't significantly interfere with your satisfaction and success in
life, you could improve your chances for success in work, relationships and other aspects
of life by improving your self-esteem.
The irrational beliefs associated with this style are negative evaluation of self, negative
labeling of self, generalizing, and emotional reasoning.
Negative evaluation of self and labeling self, the tendency to view yourself in a negative
way, can be addressed by learning to recognize when your self-assessment is inaccurate
and challenging it. Also, the negative labeling can be changed by developing increased
awareness of these labels and not using them in your self-talk.
Generalizing, the belief that a negative outcome will occur again because it happened
previously, can be managed by recognizing that each situation or attempt is different
from the previous experience.
Shoulds, unreasonable expectations or demands, can be changed by determining the
difference between a desire and a demand and recognizing when demands are
excessive.
Emotional reasoning, the belief that your feelings are always accurate, can be changed
by evaluating the evidence for your emotion.
PERFECTIONISTIC STYLE

PERFECTIONISTIC STYLE is the tendency to have excessive expectations or demands on

self and/or others.
Your high score indicates that you tend to have perfectionistic expectations of yourself.
Perfectionists often have high expectations of others as well. Perfectionism is not \"being
perfect,\" it is the belief that you \"should\" be perfect and the inability to accept any
failure.
This style causes you to be excessively stressed by the demands you place on yourself.

You are also likely to be overly-critical of yourself which affects your self-esteem. You can
feel good about yourself when you are successful, but failure or mistakes leads to
negative self-evaluation and avoidance.
If you are critical and demanding of others, you are likely to negatively impact your
relationships due to trying to control others.
The irrational beliefs associated with this style of thinking includes shoulds, negative
evaluation of self and others, labeling self and others, internal control, and blaming.
Shoulds, unreasonable expectations or demands, can be changed by determining the
difference between a desire and a demand and recognizing when demands are
excessive.
Negative evaluations, viewing yourself and/or others negatively, can be modified by
deliberately focusing on positive aspects. Closely related is negatively labeling self
and/or others which can be changed through awareness of the words you use to describe
yourself and others.
Internal control, believing that you are responsible for everything that occurs, can be
changed by recognizing that if something is not within your control, you can't be
responsible.
Blaming and criticizing others can be changed by learning that the world and others
can't be perfect especially since people define perfect in different ways.
APPROVAL SEEKING STYLE

APPROVAL SEEKING STYLE is basing behavior or decisions upon what other people might
think.
Your high score indicates that you have a low level of autonomy, the ability to act
independently of what others might expect. You tend to worry a great deal about the
approval of others and your actions and decisions are frequently based upon how you
think others might think. You tend to be overly dependent upon others.
You are particularly concerned about being judged negatively by others. There may be
situations that you avoid due to fear of judgment or disapproval. For instance, you might
avoid disagreeing with others for fear it would lead to conflict and rejection. Or, you
might have trouble saying \"no\" to requests.
In social situations, you may not feel comfortable just being yourself and feel that you
have to act a certain way to obtain approval. You may also feel resentment always trying
to meet the expectations of others which could affect your relationships.
The irrational beliefs associated with this style of thinking include mind-reading others,
negative evaluation of self, catastrophizing, labeling self, and personalizing.
Mind-reading others is making an assumption about what someone else is thinking based

on unclear evidence such as non-verbal behavior or a statement taken out of context.

This can be changed by realistically assessing the evidence you are using and
recognizing that you don't know what the person is thinking.
Negative evaluation of self and labeling self, the tendency to view yourself in a negative
way, often occurs with mind-reading others because if you think negatively about
yourself, you are likely to expect the same from others. This can be addressed by
recognizing when your self-assessment is inaccurate and challenging it.
Personalizing, the tendency to believe that others' behavior and/or statements is
directed related to you typically in a negative way, can be changed by learning that most
of what other people do is a reflection of them and not related to you.
These issues are likely to be affecting your life to a great degree. Making improvements
in this area could reduce the stress of trying to meet the demands of others and help you
be more satisfied in life. Your relationships can also improve by dealing more directly
with problems and resolving them.
DEMAND STYLE

DEMAND STYLE is the degree of pressure or expectations for certain behavior.

Your average score indicates that you tend to make some demands and have
expectations for others. You also tend to have some concern about the impression that
others have of you. You may judge others and tend to criticize or place blame but not to
an excessive degree.
Although this style may not be causing significant problems in your life, you could make
improvements that will allow your relationships to be more satisfying. In addition, you
could reduce your need to manage how others think of you which interferes with being
genuine.
The irrational beliefs associated with this style are negative evaluation, shoulds, blaming,
and internal control.
Negative evaluations, viewing yourself and/or others negatively, can be modified by
deliberately focusing on positive aspects.
Shoulds, unreasonable expectations or demands, can be changed by determining the
difference between a desire and a demand and recognizing when demands are
excessive.
Internal control, believing that you are responsible for everything that occurs, can be
changed by recognizing that if something is not within your control, you can't be
responsible.
Blaming and criticizing others can be changed by evaluating situations more accurately
without the expectations.

WITHHOLDING STYLE

WITHHOLDING STYLE is the tendency to not share feelings and/or personal information
with others.
Your high score indicates that you tend to be private and reserved. You are not
comfortable expressing your emotions to others so you may be unresponsive at times.
You tend to not be spontaneous when interacting with others and are careful about what
you say. You are a difficult person to get to know.
You may tend to avoid addressing problems with others or prefer to identify a solution
first before talking to someone.
This style can affect your relationships with others because they may be uncomfortable
not being able to know you easily. They may make inaccurate assumptions about you,
your needs, your goals, because you are not providing them with enough
information.\n\n
Sometimes this style may be due to a lack of skill. Some people don't know how to
identify and communicate their feelings. They may not have learned the social skills to
handle different types of people and situations.
For others, certain irrational beliefs may contribute to social anxiety which inhibits
comfortable interactions with others. The irrational beliefs associated with this style
include mind-reading others, mind-reading expectations, and personalizing.
Mind-reading others is making an assumption about what someone else is thinking based
on unclear evidence such as non-verbal behavior or a statement taken out of context.
This can be changed by realistically assessing the evidence you are using and
recognizing that you don't know what the person is thinking.
Mind-reading expectations is the belief that others should know what you are thinking
without having to tell them which can lead to misunderstandings. This belief can be
changed by recognizing that not everyone shares the same experiences and patterns of
thinking; therefore, they can't predict what you might be thinking.
Personalizing, the tendency to believe that others' behavior and/or statements is
directed related to you typically in a negative way, can be changed by learning that most
of what other people do is a reflection of them and not related to you.
CONTROL STYLE

CONTROL STYLE is the degree to which effort or luck is believed to influence outcomes.
Your average score indicates that you are likely to put forth effort to achieve the things
that you want in life. However, you are also likely to assess situations and determine
when effort may be worthwhile and when it is not. You recognize that sometimes success
may be due to external factors. So you tend to keep a more balanced perspective on

your ability to control your life.

DEPENDENCY STYLE

DEPENDENCY STYLE is the tendency to rely on others.

Your average score indicates that you have some degree of dependency upon others for
making decisions in your life but not to an excessive degree. You are likely to seek
opinions and information, but then you are able to make your own choices.
Also, you do not tend to require others' approval to a great degree. You might appreciate
the approval of others but whether you receive the approval or not is not likely to
prevent you from making important choices in your life.
EXTERNALIZING STYLE

EXTERNALIZING STYLE is the degree to which you depend upon external events to define
your happiness.
Your average score indicates that you believe that your happiness and satisfaction in life
is based upon both the things that happen to you and upon the perspective that you
have about those things. Even though you may become distressed due to events that
occur, you still try to take a balanced perspective and see the positive in situations as
well.
Although your approach is fairly balanced, there may be times when you are too focused
on the negative and need assistance to look at the situation in a different way.
The irrational beliefs associated with this style are negative evaluation of situations,
external control, and blaming.
Negative evaluation of situations, the belief that a situation or outcome will be bad, can
be addressed by deliberately trying to focus on the positive possibilities that can occur.
External control, the belief that outcomes and success are due to luck or fate and outside
of your control, can be changed by learning to recognize that effort leads to success.
Successful people see the possibilities instead of dwelling on the negative.
Blaming, the tendency to place responsibility for your flaws, failures, or dissatisfaction on
others, can be changed by learning to recognize that you are in control of your life, not
others.
VULNERABILITY STYLE

EMOTIONAL STYLE is the degree of reactiveness and emotionality to events.

Your average score indicates that you are emotionally reactive to some degree, most
likely it depends upon the situation. Your emotions may impact the decisions you make,
how you handle a problem, or the things you decide to do, but your emotions are not
likely to prevent you from pursuing important desires or interfere with difficult
situations.
It may be important for you to be aware of when you are being directed by your
emotions so that you can use the information provided by the emotions but not act
based solely on the emotion without consideration of its validity.
PASSIVITY STYLE

PASSIVITY STYLE is the tendency to be unassertive and passive in situations with others.
Your high score indicates that you tend to be too passive with others. You allow them to
take advantage of you, push you around, or take credit for your work. You tend to
suppress your anger and irritability towards others often believing that you don't deserve
to be treated better. You may believe that their needs are more important than your
needs.
This style seriously affects your satisfaction in life because you are not likely to get your
needs met. You may expect that others will treat you better if you allow their behavior,
but you most likely find otherwise. People are not likely to respect or value you when you
allow them to treat you poorly.
The irrational beliefs associated with this style include negative evaluation or labeling of
self, catastrophic thinking and mind-reading expectations.
Negative evaluation of self and labeling self, the tendency to view yourself in a negative
way, can be addressed by learning to recognize when your self-assessment is inaccurate
and challenging it. Also, the negative labeling can be changed by developing increased
awareness of these labels and not using them in your self-talk.
Catastrophic thinking, focusing on the worst possible outcome, can be controlled by
learning to assess actual probability of the worst case scenario rather than an overestimation of the probability based on fear.
Mind-reading expectations is the belief that others should know what you are thinking
without having to tell them which can lead to misunderstandings. This belief can be
changed by recognizing that not everyone shares the same experiences and patterns of
thinking; therefore, they can't predict what you might be thinking.
TRUST STYLE

TRUST STYLE is the degree to which others are trusted.

Your average score indicates that you neither are overly distrustful of other people nor
are you naively trusting. You tend to evaluate people based on the evidence you have

about their behavior and determine whether they can be trusted.

You are not particularly suspicious of people's motives but you recognize that others may
not have your best interests in mind. Therefore, you are cautious with people you don't
know but you are not avoidant.
BLAMING STYLE

BLAMING STYLE is the tendency to focus criticism and blame on others.

Your high score indicates that you have a problem with excessive anger and
criticism of others. You become angry easily and are often irritated and moody.
You tend to lose control of your anger with others and to look for reasons to be
angry or to blame others in order to take your aggression out on others.
Some people who score high on this trait may be directly aggressive with
others while some may tend to get back at others in a passive-aggressive or
indirect manner. Either way, this attitude can seriously affect your relationships
with others.
Your anger could be due to an impulse control problem or it could be due to
poorly handling stress. By determining the reason for your anger, you may
then find some ways to manage anger especially when it hurts you or people
you care about.
The irrational beliefs that are associated with this style are negative evaluation
and labeling others, blaming, shoulds, and personalizing.
Negative evaluation and labeling others, viewing others negatively, can be
modified by deliberately focusing on positive aspects.
Blaming, the tendency to place responsibility for your flaws, failures, or
dissatisfaction on others, can be changed by learning to recognize that you are
in control of your life, not others.
Shoulds, unreasonable expectations or demands, can be changed by
determining the difference between a desire and a demand and recognizing
when demands are excessive.
Personalizing, the tendency to believe that others' behavior and/or statements
is directed related to you typically in a negative way, can be changed by
learning that most of what other people do is a reflection of them and not
related to you.
Your personal control score is: 51
You have average perceived personal locus of control. You believe that you

have a reasonable amount of control over the events that happen in your life
and that your efforts are likely to have a positive outcome. You set goals and
are likely to achieve the goals that you desire.
Your interpersonal control score is: 28
You have very low perceived interpersonal locus of control. In interpersonal
situations you feel that you don't have much control. You don't feel capable of
influencing others and may tend to stay in the background in group situations.
You may benefit from developing communication and social skills to handle
interpersonal situations and provide you with more confidence.
Your political control score is: 26
You have very low perceived political control. You don't believe you have
control over the local or national political situation. This viewpoint may lead
you to feel apathetic and to not make efforts to influence socio-political events.
he BIS/BAS questionnaire looks at a person's motivation to pursue certain
goals. It is generally believed that two motivational systems are involved in
this pursuit:
1) The Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS).
The BIS may be a function of the septohippocampal system of the brain and
explains the tendency for people to avoid outcomes that are negative. This
physiological mechanism of the brain tends to cause anxiety, fear, and
frustration when there appears to be the possibility of punishment or dealing
with an unknown outcome. Therefore, when this part of the brain is activated,
the person is more likely to stop behavior that could lead to pain or
unpleasantness. This may prevent the achievement of certain kinds of goals
such as weight loss due to the perception of the discomfort of deprivation.
2) The Behavioral Approach (or, Activation) System (BAS). Although the
specific area of the brain has not been identified, the BAS appears to be
related to systems of the brain involving the neurotransmitter dopamine. This
physiological mechanism tends to cause movement towards certain goals
through the creation of positive emotions such as hope, elation, and happiness.
When this system of the brain is activated, the person tends to be more
responsive to reward and likely to engage in goals in which he or she perceives
the possibility of reward. Carver and White (1994) describes three separate
personality components involved in this system: drive, fun-seeking, and reward
responsiveness.
Your BIS score is: 26
You have high BIS which indicates that you are more sensitive than most
people to the possible negative aspects of a goal you which to pursue. This
sensitivity causes increased anxiety and other negative emotions that could
lead to a reduction in your pursuit of your goal or even an inability to pursue
the goal. You are less likely to pursue important goals than most people if there

is a negative aspect associated with them. However, if there is more of a

negative outcome associated with not pursuing the goal, then you may be
more likely to pursue it.
Your BAS reward responsiveness score is: 17
You have average reward responsiveness which indicates that you are no more
and no less than most people influenced by the possibility of a reward or
positive outcome.
Your BAS drive score is: 9
You have low drive towards the pursuit of positive goals. You are not as likely
as most people to persist in your efforts to attain a goal.
Your BAS fun-seeking score is: 10
You have low fun-seeking towards goals which indicates that you are less likely
than most people to be influenced by novelty and seeking out new
experiences. You may tend to be more introverted and less spontaneous so as
not to be as influenced by these types of experiences..
Your score indicates high lateral generalization which is the belief that if you
succeed in one area of your life you believe that you are more likely to succeed
in other areas of your life. Your high score indicates that you have a stronger
belief than most people that success in one area of your life means a higher
chance for success in other areas.
Your score indicates high upward generalization which is the tendency to
believe that a small success in one area of your life indicates probability of
great success in that same area of life. Your high score indicates that you have
a stronger belief than most people that a small success in an area of your life
means that you will have great success in that area.
Your score indicates high social generalization which is the tendency to believe
that a small social success indicates probability of great success socially. Your
high score indicates that you have a stronger belief than most people that a
small social success will lead to great social success.