The Sapiens Association

International Network

The method of filling in the questions and of scoring is explained in the first page of the Questionnaire, Activity.

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B - EMOTIONAL STABILITY

Trait 5 - INDEPENDENCE

• Is there some habit such as smoking that you would like to break but cannot?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• If you see a game that you would like to be good at, are you usually able to acquire the necessary skills to enjoy it?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• Do you take steps to control your figure by exercise or diet?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• Do you believe that your personality is laid down in your genes, your star sign, your upbringing - so that there is nothing you can do to change it?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you make your own decisions regardless of what other people say?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• Do you find it difficult to stay in good health?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you place your trust in God or fate to see you through?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• If something goes wrong do you usually attribute it to bad luck rather than bad management?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you often feel you are a victim of outside forces that you cannot control?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you feel you can achieve your goals by working hard and organizing your life?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• Do you ever make decisions by the toss of a coin or by leaving things in the lap of the gods?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you often act contrary to custom or to the wishes of your parents?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• If you were feeling lonely, would you make an effort to be friendly to people?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

• Are you easily persuaded by the arguments of other people?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you often find life difficult to cope with?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Are many of the things you do geared towards pleasing other people?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you believe that your future is really in your own hands?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• Have you as much will power as the next person?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• Do you find it a waste of time planning ahead because something always turns up that spoils your plans?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Would you prefer a job in which somebody else made the decisions and told you what to do?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you sometimes feel that you don't have enough control over the direction that your life is taking?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you find that things are changing so fast that you no longer know which rules to follow?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you have clear-cut goals and a sense of purpose in your life?
  

  Yes* | Maybe | No || Score:

  
  

• Do you often have the feeling that other people are using you?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Are you sometimes influenced by adverts to buy something you don't really want?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you read horoscopes with the hope of obtaining some guidance in your life?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Does it concern you whether your clothes are fashionable or not?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Would it make a difference to your enjoyment of a film if it had poor reviews?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you frequently find yourself doing things that you really don't wish to be doing at all?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Would you do what you were told by a law officer, even if you thought it was the wrong thing to do?
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

• Do you sometimes wake up and wonder: "Who am I? What am I doing here?"
  

  Yes | Maybe | No* || Score:

  
  

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ANALYSIS

One may be self-directed or directed by others. Autonomy or self-determinism is eroded by the cultural conditioning of our upbringing and the continuous assault of the media, so that many lives are to a considerable extent programmed, as in a hypnotic trance.

High scorers on this trait enjoy a great deal of freedom and independence, make their own decisions and take realistic action towards achieving their own goals in life.

Those with low scores lack self-reliance, think of themselves as pawns of fate, pushed around by other people, events and the society at large so that they are not really leading their own lives at all. They show a high degree of "authoritarian submission", an unquestioning obedience to institutional power and the status quo. Their goals are not their own.

Undoing this cultural trance and recovering one's spiritual identity is a major part of The Insight Project.

How do you compare?

The norm on this trait is between 15-16 points (a statistical approximation). This may be represented on the following scale:

Independence 31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 || 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Dependency

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Continue to the next Trait: HYPOCHONDRIA.

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Return to Know Your Own Mind.