Gifted Adult Test (OEQ-II)

This test is based on the work of Kazimierz Dąbrowski (1902-1980), the Polish psychologist and psychiatrist behind the Theory of Positive Disintegration. Dąbrowski observed that some people move through life with an innate, lifelong intensity he called overexcitability (OE): a heightened responsiveness of the nervous system to physical, sensory, imaginative, intellectual, and emotional stimulation. Far from treating these intensities as nervousness or excess, he saw them as developmental potential - the raw material from which a richer personality can be built. In 1999, R. Frank Falk, Michael M. Piechowski, Linda Kreger Silverman, and colleagues at the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development formalized their measurement with the Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two (OEQ-II), which remains the standard research instrument for the five OEs.

The first three intensities concern the body and the inner eye. Psychomotor OE is a surplus of physical energy: rapid speech, restlessness, a drive toward action that can look like impatience but feels, from the inside, like an engine that will not idle. Sensual OE is heightened sensory experience - music, taste, texture, and light deliver unusually sharp pleasure, while scratchy fabric or harsh noise can make a room intolerable. Imaginational OE is the vivid inner world: rich fantasy, streaming imagery, a love of metaphor, and daydreams detailed enough to compete with reality.

The remaining two intensities are the ones Dąbrowski weighted most heavily. Intellectual OE is the hunger to understand: probing questions, sustained analysis, delight in theory, and a need to get to the bottom of things that has little to do with grades or usefulness. Emotional OE - in Dąbrowski's view the most important marker of developmental potential - is depth of feeling: intense attachments to people and places, empathy that borders on absorption, and emotions that register physically in the heart, stomach, and skin.

Research using the OEQ-II has repeatedly found that gifted samples report higher overexcitability than comparison groups, with the clearest differences on the intellectual, emotional, and imaginational channels. The questionnaire's five-factor structure has been confirmed across languages and cultures, and reliability generalization work across dozens of samples supports its internal consistency. For many adults who were never formally identified, encountering the five OEs is the first time their intensity is described as a coherent pattern rather than a collection of quirks.

An intensity profile is not a certificate of giftedness, however. Group differences between gifted and non-gifted adults are real but modest, and the overlap is large: in one major research program, the Marburg Giftedness Project, overexcitability scores alone classified gifted versus non-gifted adults with only about 60 percent accuracy. This test therefore profiles the pattern of intensities associated with giftedness; it does not and cannot determine whether you are gifted, and no online questionnaire can substitute for a comprehensive cognitive assessment.

The comparison markers shown on your result chart are estimates, not validated norms. They are rough population averages inferred from published adult OEQ-II samples, in which emotional and intellectual intensity typically run highest, and they are provided for orientation only.

This test is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not a diagnostic instrument, does not identify giftedness, and is not affiliated with Kazimierz Dąbrowski's estate, the authors of the OEQ-II, or the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development. If questions about your cognitive profile or emotional intensity affect your daily life, consider consulting a qualified psychologist.

References

• Falk, R. F., Lind, S., Miller, N. B., Piechowski, M. M., & Silverman, L. K. (1999). The Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two (OEQ-II): Manual, scoring system, and questionnaire. Institute for the Study of Advanced Development.
• Dąbrowski, K. (1964). Positive Disintegration. Little, Brown.
• De Bondt, N., & Van Petegem, P. (2015). Psychometric evaluation of the Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two applying Bayesian Structural Equation Modeling (BSEM) and multiple-group BSEM-based alignment with approximate measurement invariance. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1963.
• Warne, R. T. (2011). An investigation of measurement invariance across genders on the Overexcitability Questionnaire-Two. Journal of Advanced Academics, 22(4), 578-593.