Emotional sensitivity (neuroticism)
Emotional sensitivity describes how strongly and how often you feel negative emotions such as worry, frustration and sadness. In research it is usually called neuroticism, and its opposite end is called emotional stability. We use "emotional sensitivity" because the older name sounds like a diagnosis, which it is not. It is one of the five broad traits in the Big Five model of personality, and like the others it is a continuum.
What high and low scores look like
People who score high on emotional sensitivity tend to feel stress more intensely, worry about what might go wrong, and take longer to calm down after a setback. They are often very aware of risks and of their own and others' feelings.
People who score low tend to be calm, even-tempered and slow to get upset. They recover quickly from stress and rarely feel overwhelmed, though they may sometimes underestimate real problems or seem unmoved to others.
A high score is not a mental health condition, and a low score is not a sign that someone has no feelings.
The six facets
The longer version of the test (the IPIP-NEO, built from the public-domain International Personality Item Pool) splits emotional sensitivity into six narrower facets:
- Anxiety: a tendency to worry and feel nervous.
- Anger: how quickly you feel irritated or frustrated.
- Depression: a tendency to feel down or discouraged (as a personality facet, not a diagnosis).
- Self-consciousness: sensitivity to how others see you.
- Immoderation: difficulty resisting cravings and urges.
- Vulnerability: feeling overwhelmed under pressure.
How it is measured
Emotional sensitivity is measured with short statements such as "I get stressed out easily" that you rate for how well they describe you. Your answers are averaged and compared with a large reference group to give a percentile. The test is not a clinical or diagnostic assessment and cannot tell you whether you have anxiety, depression or any other condition.
What research says
Much of the trait shows up in how people react to everyday stress. In a six-week diary study, the difference in distress between people high and low on the trait came more from how strongly they reacted to minor stressful events than from how many such events they had.[1] Other diary studies found that people higher on the trait reported more daily problems, reacted with stronger emotions, and carried bad moods over from one part of the day to the next.[2] In a diary study of over a thousand adults, the link between daily stress and negative mood was stronger for people higher on the trait.[3]
Worry is not always unhelpful. In four studies, people high on the trait were more likely to choose to increase their worry before a demanding task, and that worry may have helped their performance.[4]
Personality as a whole is closely related to well-being, more closely than earlier reviews suggested.[5] In a review of 462 samples, neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness stood out as the Big Five traits most related to life satisfaction and other measures of well-being.[6]
It is also one of the most changeable traits. Combining long-term studies, researchers found that emotional stability tends to increase between the ages of 20 and 40.[7] A review of 207 intervention studies found that emotional stability changed the most of all the traits, and that the changes lasted at follow-up.[8]
These are average patterns across many people. They describe tendencies, not what any one person will feel.
Living with your score
If you score high, your sensitivity can make you careful, empathetic and alert to problems; habits that help you recover from stress, such as sleep, exercise and talking things through, can make a real difference. If you score low, your calm is a strength under pressure; it can help to check in on how others are feeling. If you are struggling with your mental health, please talk to a doctor or a licensed professional: this test cannot help with that.
The free test takes about three minutes and shows your personality archetype, based on all five traits. A full report with your scores on each trait is available after the test.