STEP 1: Purchase the TCI test
STEP 2: Create your TCI Account with the code provided to you
(if you purchased the TCI on your own, this code was emailed to you after purchase)
STEP 3. Take the TCI test

The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), developed by Dr. C. Robert Cloninger, Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Genetics at Washington University in St. Louis, assesses the unique configuration of each person's emotional style and higher cognitive processes. A person's personality is composed of a number of different components, or traits, that interact with one another in important ways. However, the whole of personality is much greater than the sum of its parts. While each of these components has independent effects on our personality, they also interact to create dispositions, attitudes, and worldviews.

Personality is composed of both temperament and character. The TCI measures both of these aspects of personality. Temperament refers to automatic emotional responses to experience that are moderately heritable (i.e. genetic, biological) and more or less stable throughout one's life. Temperament takes into account biological factors in the development of personality. The four measured temperament dimensions are Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance, Reward Dependence, and Persistence. These dimensions involve basic emotions: anger and impulsivity in Novelty Seeking, anxiety and shyness in Harm Avoidance, sympathy and need for approval in Reward Dependence, and ambition and need for achievement in Persistence.

Character refers to conceptions of self and individual differences in goals and values, which influence voluntary choices, intentions, and the meaning and salience of what is experienced in life. Differences in character are partly inherited, but they are also moderately influenced by our experience in the world. A person's character matures in progressive steps throughout life. Character takes into account the psychological factors in the development of personality. The three measured character dimensions are Self-Directedness, Cooperativeness, and Self-Transcendence. These dimensions help people regulate their lives in mature ways that are responsible and resourceful with a high level of Self-Directedness, tolerant and helpful with high Cooperativeness, and insightful and spiritual with high Self-Transcendence.

Each of these aspects of personality interacts with the others to help us adapt to life, and each influences our susceptibility to emotional and behavioral disorders. The integration of character and temperament helps provide a more comprehensive view of ourselves and humanity. Modern psychiatrists and psychologists often argue over whether personality is a biological, psychological, or social phenomenon. The TCI attempts to move beyond these disputes and form a new conception of the human as an integrative whole, looking at the interactions and roles of biology, psychology, and culture in human development and personality. This comprehensive conception also includes a spiritual sphere, which allows us to understand how much a person experiences life as an integral part of the universe. The resulting insight helps us to define well-being and provides a way to measure an individual's experience of well-being and happiness.

Take the TCI test.