The following contains 30 statements. Indicate the degree to which they describe you by circling the appropriate number.1
Add up your circled responses to the 30 items. Your score will fall somewhere between 30 and 120. The higher your score, the higher your level of impulsiveness.
As noted, the higher your score, the more impulsive you are. So what’s high? A study comparing college students, psychiatric patients with substance-abuse problems, and prison inmates can help us answer that question.2 It seems reasonable to expect substance-abuse patients and prisoners to score higher than normal college students because such individuals are more likely to have impulse control problems. And that’s what the study found. The average score by the college students was 64. The substance-abuse patients averaged 69, and the prisoners scored just over 76. Based on these results, I suggest that scores under 60 indicate substantial control over your impulses, while scores over 70 indicate a relatively high tendency toward impulsive action.
Your score can help you size up how prone you might be toward making decisions too quickly or if you have difficulty delaying desire for instant gratification. It’s also more difficult for people with a high impulsive tendency to set goals and to stay focused on those goals.
An impulsive personality is made up of three subtraits:3 The first measures your ability to focus on the task at hand and to control racing thoughts. The second assesses your tendency to act on the spur of the moment. And the third measures your ability to think ahead and to enjoy challenging mental tasks. Together, these three subtraits provide a fairly consistent measure of impulsiveness.
Like procrastination, impulsiveness in some situations can be positive. For minor decisions that have minimal long-term consequences, being able to decide quickly minimizes stress and can make life easier. However, for major decisions that influence the trajectory of your life path, impulsiveness can lead to inconsistent and poor-quality decisions.