Psychology

Personal Beliefs Scale

Posted on 2005 August 01 by Auke Slotegraaf - filed under Psychology

Who are you? What is your nature relative to other living things in the world?

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” — Socrates, in Plato, Dialogues, Apology

There are many possible answers to these questions. By examining them, the philosopher F. F. Centore devised a comprehensive list, coming to the conclusion that there are six basic categories.

Psychologists R. A. Embree and M. C. Embree used Centore's work to compile what they called the "Personal Beliefs Scale". This scale pinpoints your opinion on each of these six basic philosophical orientations, which allows you to systematically compare your opinion with that of others.

To take the survey, start by downloading the questionnaire onto your computer.

Personal Beliefs Scale questionnaire (MS-Word, 140K)

You'll need an hour or more to work through the questions, marking your choices directly in the MS-Word file (highlight or bold your choices). Please note that many of the questions are repeated – this is not to catch you out, but to give you the opportunity to reflect thoroughly on each of the six orientations, and how they relate to each other.

Save the file with your marked choices, and e-mail the completed questionnaire to me at [auke [AT] psychohistorian.org]; I will reply with the analysis. No strings attached; confidential & free of charge.

References

Embree, R. A. & Embree, M. C. (1993) "The Personal Beliefs Scale as a Measure of Individual Differences in Commitment to the Mind-Body Beliefs Proposed by F F Centore" Psychological Reports, 73, 411.

Embree, R. A. (1996) Personal Beliefs Scale redux: A model for hypothesis testing. Psychological Reports, 78, 195.

Centore, F. F. (1979) Persons: A comparative account of the six possible theories. Westport, Conn, USA, Greenwood Press.

Post a comment on the Forum.

Keywords: Psychology