Need for Approval Test — People-Pleasing Check, 12 Questions

Everyone wants to be recognized by others. Japanese psychologists Yayoi Kojima, Keiko Ohta and Kensuke Sugawara (2003) split this need into a need to win praise (seeking positive evaluations) and a need to avoid rejection (avoiding negative evaluations), and showed with a scale that the two are independent motives. People also reacted emotionally to others' feedback in different ways depending on how strong each need was.

People with a strong need for praise tend to put themselves forward, while those with a strong need to avoid rejection tend to blend in and accommodate. Western research likewise finds that the more self-esteem depends on others' approval (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001), the more easily mood and self-evaluation are shaken.

Soundary's need for approval test has 12 original items written around these two concepts, six per need, with one item in each set worded in the opposite direction. Each need is scored from 0 to 100, and combining high and low around 50 places you in one of four types: the Self-Anchored, the Spotlight, the Harmony Keeper or the Full-Throttle Approval Seeker.

Scores near 50 mean neither side is clear, so the result flags them. The types are not good or bad; they are a map of which kind of judgment you are more sensitive to right now.

If your need for praise is high, practise giving yourself recognition. If your need to avoid rejection is high, practise small refusals and voicing your opinion. If both are high, start by writing worries and facts in separate columns.

This test is a reference tool for personality tendencies, not a diagnosis. If fear of others' judgment makes you avoid everyday activities or causes strong anxiety, try the social anxiety test as well and talk to a professional if needed.