If you were invited to take the PI behavioral assessment, make sure to read this guide. Learn about the different factors that affect your personality profile report, get tips for success and links to useful personality tests.
*Disclaimer:This website is not owned or affiliated with the Predictive Index company.
Main topics Covered
Sample Questions
Referring you to resources that include sample items from the PI.
scores & reports
Learn what are the PI 4 main factors and the two secondary factors that comprise your score.
Winning Tips
Answers to the most important questions about the PI behavioral assessment.
Free tests
Helpful links that will help you prepare for the PI behavioural assessment.
PI behavioural assessment quick facts
This test will tell the employer who you are and what is your workplace behaviour within 6 minutes!
- Two check-list pages, each filled with 86 adjectives
- On page #1: You mark adjectives that describe how you feel others expect you to behave in the workplace. This is called "self concept".
- On page #2: You fill in adjectives that describe yourself. This is called "self".
- The PI crosses the self and self-concept to reflect on your observable behaviour in the workplace.
*Image by Ricinator on Pixabay
PI Behavioral assessment Sample Questions
The PI behavioral assessment is not a forced-choice response assessment, which means it does not include questions, but rather free-choice adjective checklists. If you wish to see what such a checklist looks like, please refer to the official PI documents below.
If you’re looking for tips on how to mark adjectives on each list, continue reading by scrolling down the page⇓
The PI Behavioral Assessment Drives
Understand the factors that comprise your PI score report.
Dominance (A)
The need for impact. A high score means you’re independent, assertive, and self-confident. A low score means you’re agreeable, cooperative and accommodating.
More about the dominance factor >
Extraversion (B)
The need for connection. High score means you’re friendly, outgoing, and influential. A low score means you’re more serious, self-observing, and task-oriented. More about the extraversion factor >
Patience (C)
The need for familiarity. A high score means you are driven by consistency and stability. More about the patience factor >
Formality (D)
The need for correctness. A high score means you are driven by structure and conforming to rules. More about the formality factor >
The below grid gives you a better understanding of how each factor tells something about your work-place behavior. For instance, if you score low on the Dominance factor, it means you will be perceived as agreeable and co-operative, a team player that looks to collaborate.
Two Additional Factors:
Decision Making (E)
Factor E assesses decision making style. A subjective nature means you tend to involve emotion when making decisions. Objective means to not count on emotions but rather on facts/data.
Response Level (M)
Indicates energy levels and stamina. High M means greater ability to remain active without stress over long periods of time. More on this below ⇓ at Tip #1.
Take a Free Personality Test to Discover Who You Are
Below are some very good and free personality tests whose results and feedback are similar to the PI. They include questions, rather than free-choice checklists, but are still highly recommended. Click on each test to open it in a new window
You might wonder, why is it so important to take a personality test as part of the preparation process for the Predictive index behavioral assessment. Well the answer is that the sooner you know more about yourself, the more confident you’ll feel when marking those adjectives on the real assessment, and the better you will perform on your interview.
Tip 1: How Many Adjectives Should You Mark?
Great question! Well, first of all, the amount of adjectives that you mark on each of the PI behavioral assessment sheets indeed impacts your profile. If you mark too little (6 and below) or too many (80 and above) then not only will the PI calculations be less accurate and useful for the recruiter, but they might also be perceived as indicators of a potential problem. I.e. too many adjectives means you’re “all over the place” and too little adjectives might imply that you’re very closed and not able to reflect on yourself.Therefore, I think it’s a good practice to mark a reasonable amount of adjectives on each list, anywhere between 12-50.
In addition, the number of adjectives you choose affects another factor – M (Morale).This represents your response levels.It is measured by the difference between how many adjectives you chose on the first (self-concept) and second (self) checklists.If Self Concept Down > 10 points = Low Morale if it’sUp > 10 points = High Morale.
See more detailsin this official document(opens in a new window).
"If someone selects fewer words from the checklist, either due to not knowing what some words mean or thinking that those words do not describe him or her or what is expected of him or her, the person is simply reacting to the PI environment as he or she would react in the actual workplace environment"
Tip 2: Which Adjectives Should You Mark?
Another Great question!
- This official PI filedoes a great job in associating the different factors/drives with the matching adjectives. A must read in my humble opinion.
- I personally think you should just choose the ones you feel describe you in each situation, that is, how you think people expect you to behave (self concept) and who you really are (self).
- If you’re looking to associate between certain adjectives and certain drives, then this is a good place to start.In addition,this PDF includes one page with a list of PI adjectivesto give you an idea of what types of characteristics you will be expected to reflect on in the test (page 7/36).
- Lastly, The video below, which was produced by an HR consultancy called Advisa, drills into the drives and which adjectives relate to them:
Play Video
What are the PI Reference Profiles?
The PI behavioral assessment maps 17 profiles of job-related personas. When you take the test, you will be described by one of the 17 reference profiles. the profiles are divided into four groups, as seen below. For more information, and detailed videos per each profile, check outthis link(opens in a new window).
Analytical Profiles
Analyzer | Controller | Specialist | Strategist | Venturer
Low: Extroversion
High: Dominance and fast pace
Social Profiles
Altruist | Captain | Collaborator | Maverick | Persuader | Promoter
High:extroversion
Focus on relationships.
Stabilizing Profiles
Craftsman | Guardian | Operator
Low: Dominance, Extraversion
High: Patience, Formality
Steady, detailed, work well with structure.
Persistent Profiles
Individualist | Scholar
Low: Extroversion
High: Dominance, Patience
Task-oriented, deliberate, need control.
PI Behavioral Assessment Scores & Results
Here are some examples of PI behavioral assessment score reports (opens in a new window):
Who Uses the PI Behavioral Assessment?
The PIis a very, very popular work-related personality assessment. According toan official PI documentI found, in 2014 over 7,800 companies were using it,and more than 50 of those were listed in Fortune500 lists. 30% of those companies were located outside the US, in 143 countries!
In addition, the document claims that over one millionpeople around the world had completed the Predictive Index behavioralassessment by 2014.
Back to homepage
PI Cognitive Assessment
4 Comments
Dear Lara,
At first thank you for giving me a better understanding of the PI Behavioral Assessment. Your guide really helped with this.
At second I have some questions.
I understand there are two lists.
On one list you have to mark the words that describe you.
But I don’t know what I have to mark on the other list.
Do you have to mark how other people want you to behave or how other people see you?
And is this in general or only in the working atmosphere?Thank you so much already for responding my questions!
Kind regards,
Michelle
Reply
Hi Michelle,
My pleasure to help.
The first screen asks you to pick the adjectives that describe the way you are expected to act by others, in the work place!
The second screen will ask about you in general, i.e. the “real” self.
I hope this helps.Reply
To refrase Michelle’s question: In the self-concept section: Is one supposed to answer A) How other people in general expect you to act in a workplace or B) How (you think) people who have worked with you for e.g. 5 years in workplace expect you to actually act?
Reply
Please elaborate on how the morale factor is calculated: “It is measured by the difference between how many adjectives you chose on the first (self-concept) and second (self) checklists. If Self Concept Down > 10 points = Low Morale if it’s Up > 10 points = High Morale.”
– Does this mean that if you select a number of adjectives in the self-concept that is 10 (or more) higher than the number of adjectives chosen in the self checklist, then you have low morale?
– And if you vice versa chose 10 more adjectives in the self-check list than in self-concept list, you have high morale according to the test?
(Please note that you link to an “official document” does not actually link to an official document, but to the home page of website)
Thank you for your input.Reply
Leave a comment