The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) is an assessment which was developed in America has been studied extensively and around for decades.
The CPI was developed by Harrison Gough Ph.d. and its purpose was to provide the interpreter a true to life and useful picture of the person taking the test.
The results should be recognisable by friends and others, who know the individual and they should be able to predict future behaviour. Read more about the test construction of the CPI…
The CPI has been revised several times to keep up to date and requires a high level of experience and qualifications to interpret competently, due to its complexity. As a restricted tool it is only available to those with advanced psychological training such as the Registered Psychologists at Niche.
At the same time the language used in the interpretations and manual are both cross-culturally significant and should be intuitively easy to understand for psychologists and non-psychologists.


Lower |
Scale |
Higher |
Unassuming, not forceful, not likely to take charge |
Do: |
Confident, assertive, dominant, task-oriented |
Unsure of self, dislikes direct competition and may be laid back but could avoid major responsibilities |
Cs: |
Ambitious, wants to succeed and attain symbols of power and success |
Shy, feels uneasy in social situations, prefers keeping in the background |
Sy: |
Sociable, likes to be with people, friendly |
Hesitant to assert own views or opinions; cautious in social situations and keeps low profile |
Sp: |
Self-assured, spontaneous; a good talker; not easily embarrassed in large social situations and often energetic |
Self-doubting, readily assumes blame when things go wrong; often thinks others are better than them |
Sa: |
Has good opinion of self; sees self as talented, and as personally worthy |
Lacks self-confidence, seeks support from others and may lack initiative |
In: |
Self-sufficient, goal focused, resourceful, but possibly more detached |
Ill at ease in many people situations, possibly withdrawn or less empathic |
Em: |
Comfortable with self and well accepted by others; understands the feelings of others and can build rapport/warmth easily |
Not overly concerned about duties and obligations, may have other priorities or possibly may be careless or lazy with very low scores |
Re: |
Responsible, reliable, takes duties seriously |
Resists rules and regulations; finds it hard to conform; not conventional and may challenge. May be opinionated and outspoken |
So: |
Comfortably accepts ordinary rules and regulations; finds it easy to conform |
Has strong feelings and emotions, and may make little attempt to hide them; speaks out when angry or annoyed; may bore with detail |
Sc: |
Tries to control emotions and temper; takes pride in being self-disciplined and can attend to detail |
Lower: Insists on being themselves and telling it how it is, even if that causes friction or problems |
Gi: |
Wants to make a good impression; tries to do what will please others; may be conflict averse |
Sees self as different from others; does not have the same ideas, preferences etc. as others |
Cm: Communality |
Fits in easily; sees self as quite an average person |
Concerned about health and personal problems; worried about the future |
Wb: |
Feels good in physical and emotional health; optimistic about the future |
Not tolerant of others; sceptical about what they say and more wary |
To: |
Is tolerant of others’ beliefs and values, even when different from or counter to own beliefs |
Has difficulty in doing best work in situations with strict rules and expectations. May resist conforming to the organisation |
Ac: Achievement via Conformance |
Has strong drive to do well; likes to work in setting where tasks and expectations are clearly defined |
Has difficulty in doing best in situations which are vague, poorly defined and lacking in clear-cut methods and standards |
Ai: Achievement via Independence |
Has strong drive to do well; likes to work in settings that encourage freedom, individual initiative and decision making |
More practical and hands on; May have difficulty getting started on things, and seeing them through to completion or in efficient time management |
Ie: Intellectual Efficiency |
Efficient in their use of intellectual abilities; can keep on task where others might get bored or discouraged; May be strategic or conceptually oriented. |
More interested in the practical and concrete than abstract; look more at what people do than what they feel or think |
Py: Psychological Mindedness |
More interested in why people do what they do, than in what they do; good judge of how people feel and what they think; more perceptive |
Not changeable; likes a steady pace and well-organised life; want to control change; very low scores may be stubborn or a little rigid |
Fx: |
Flexible; likes change and variety; easily bored by routine and everyday experience; may be impatient, and even erratic with very high scores |
Decisive, action-oriented; takes the initiative; not easily subdued; rather unsentimental and may be impatient with others |
F/M: |
Sympathetic, helpful; sensitive to criticism; tends to interpret events from a personal point of view; may feel vulnerable and may be conflict averse |
6 Special Scales |
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Not very ambitious, may be erratic in decision-making, |
Managerial Potential |
Deals effectively with people, shares credit with others, |
Restless, distractible, often careless, not a steady worker, has fluctuating moods. |
Work Orientation |
Reliable worker, readily accepts subordinate roles, not self-seeking, has modest aspirations, seldom complains. |
Prudent, avoids risk, prefers the traditional ways of doing things, dependable at work. |
Creative Temperament |
Likes what is new and different, thinks in unconventional ways, likes to think “outside the box,” has a rapid personal tempo. |
Avoids positions of leadership, low in persistence, doubts own competence, has trouble dealing with stress. |
Leadership Potential |
Has good leadership skills, likes to take positions of |
Impatient, not tactful, questions the motives of others, easily annoyed, not a team worker. |
Amicability |
Cooperative, appreciative of others, not assertive or |
Sees law enforcement practices as too strict and |
Aw Enforcement Orientation |
Supports firm and strict law enforcement practices, |