The test was designed in the 20th century by the Hungarian psychiatrist Leopold Szondi.

The aim was to explore the deepest repressed impulses of a person on the basis of sympathy or aversion caused by the specific photos of psychopaths. The Szondi test is based on the general notion that the characteristics that bother us in others are those that caused aversion to ourselves at an early stage of our life and that’s why we repress them.

Here are some psychology terms you need to know before starting the test:

Repression: According to the psychoanalytic concept, this is the most important psychological defense mechanism we have. Its most important function is to transfer thoughts and desires we are uncomfortable with to our unconscious.

Denial: It is a mental process by which we absolutely refuse our deepest impulses (ie things we want), adopting the exact opposite pattern of the desired behavior.

Sublimation: the process of transfer of our repressed choices, states, or behaviors to the ones that are socially acceptable or useful, such as artistic activities, hobbies, professional choices, harmless little habits, etc.

Instructions

Look at the portraits of these eight people and choose the one you would never want to meet at night in the dark because his or her appearance causes disgust and fear in you. Then read the interpretation that corresponds to the number of the portrait you chose.

Szondi test

IMPORTANT: Please don’t misinterpret the results of the test, which don’t imply that you have a kind of mental disorder, since the test was designed to make an assumption about the possible repressed impulses of each type of personality in accordance with the psychoanalysis theory.

The original test included 6 sets of 8 portraits of people, each of whom had been classified as homosexual, a sadist, an epileptic, a hysteric, a catatonic, a schizophrenic, a depressive, and a maniac. Here is a minor version of the test, which includes only one set of portraits, since it is very difficult to provide the full version of it with all the possible interpretations in one blog post.

Interpretations

1) Sadist

Repression

You are likely to have repressed some experiences from the first years of life associated with authoritarianism in your behavior, a need to dominate and a propensity for bad intentions. If you chose the portrait of this teacher may have repressed some offensive or demeaning to other behaviors in your unconscious.

Denial

You are likely to be a completely harmless and peaceful creature, always ready to help others. If you are an office worker, your superiors may find it difficult to handle you. When you do not want to do something, you create barriers (for example, getting late to work or showing that you are in a bad mood). Often, when you have to defend yourself, you choose passive resistance and defiance, which in the long term exhaust those who created problems for you.

2) Epileptic

Repression

When we talk about personality disorders associated with brain disease, damage, and dysfunction (as occurs in some cases of epilepsy), some of the diagnostic features can be impulsiveness, irritability, outbursts of anger, and aggression. If this stout gentleman with a round head caused revulsion and fear in you, it is likely that early in your childhood you repressed some of such feelings and behaviors to your subconscious.

Denial

It is most likely that you are a kind and peaceful person. Being meek and friendly, you give the impression of a responsible and self-controlled person. You are stable in your feelings and easily bond with people, ideas, and objects.

3) Catatonic

Repression

Some features of this mental disorder are the excessive stimulation of imagination and cognition in general and negativism. If this unshaven but smiling gentleman caused negative feelings in you, you may have repressed some hyperactivity of your mind, which could make you lose touch with reality if it had not been transferred to your unconscious.

Denial

You tend to adopt stereotypical behaviors and do not like innovations and changes. Maybe you’re the type of timid and diffident person, who finds it particularly difficult to adapt to new situations. Your biggest fear is to lose self-control. You are a bit stiff, often defensive and perhaps inhibited person who never deviates from the ‘behavior codex’.

4) Schizophrenic

Repression

The schizophrenic personality is characterized by intense apathy, distortions of thought, and incompatible emotions. If this impassive gaze and poker face gave you goosebumps, you probably repressed a feeling of indifference towards others and withdrawal from things and events at an early stage of your childhood.

Denial

You are probably quite a sociable person. You believe in socializing and communicating with others, enjoying hanging out with others and going out often. The sociability is rather misleading and perhaps hides an isolated person who lives with the feeling of being always alone. Your relationships may seem impersonal and superficial as if they lack the true feeling. Deep down, you may feel that you do not need others and coexistence with them.

5) Hysteric

Repression

Some personality traits of hysterical people are superficial and unstable emotions, narcissism, and exhibitionism. If you chose this strange lady with heavy eyelids as the person that scares you most of all, maybe it’s because you have repressed an insatiable desire to captivate attention and a thirst for approval.

Denial

You give the impression of a modest person with intense inwardness. However, in reality, seeming a quiet and shy person, you may be possessed of an overpowering and excessive desire to charm others. You meticulously take care of your appearance and behavior. For example, you always try to be elegant and well-dressed, complementing your clothes with accessories that attract the attention of others.

Sublimation

Such people are likely to choose a rare/extravagant profession or hobby.

6) Depressive

Repression

Lack of self-esteem, feelings of inferiority, and guilt are the main symptoms of depression. The fact that this harmless being is an incarnation of aversion for you may mean that you are a deeply depressed person who manages to have these symptoms under control.

Denial

Perhaps you are an outgoing and carefree person. You always show dynamism, confidence and optimism. Sometimes, of course, you get upset and can manifest dysthymia and melancholy (“sad clown syndrome”). You can also be suspicious and morose.

Sublimation

It is very likely that shift your depressive tendencies to assuming the role of everybody’s psychologist, searching for solutions to other people’s problems.

7) Maniac

Repression

Some diagnostic features of mania are extroversion, overstimulation, overestimation of self and a waste of money and emotions. If this kind face seems disgusting to you, it probably means that inside you there is a kind of excitement which, if not controlled, would transform you into a fanatic mystic.

Denial

You are very likely to be a person who does not want to provoke with his/her behavior and who detests noise, extremes and excesses. You are an example of discretion, restraint, and measure. Being logical and thrifty, you always have a fully controlled behavior.

8) Dissociative identity disorder

Repression

This kind of personality is expressed in a person’s desire to live and be accepted as a member of the opposite sex. If this young man seems dangerous and depraved to you, perhaps early in your childhood you repressed an identity problem or more specifically a problem about your gender identity.

Denial

If the defense mechanism of denial worked, you may have a tendency to emphatically confirm your biological sex. In this case, your behaviors, manners, and appearance emphasize that you are a real man or a real woman. If you’re a man, you are very “macho”, and if you are a woman, you always try to look sexy and seek to flirt and attract men.


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This Post Has 96 Comments

  1. Luis

    This was an incredible read, Anna! Super fascinating, I personally was creeped out by #3. There’s just something about a creepy smile that gets to me everytime.

  2. Darren Jordan

    INTERESTING READ!

  3. rick young

    Number 2

  4. Penni

    Wow. I was scared of #7. I just found him unnaturally kind-looking: there could be a psychopath behind all that and nobody would ever know. Very accurate for me.

  5. Kevin

    #1 looks like Dr. Vannacutt from House on Haunted Hill. Fucking creeps me out!

  6. karadine

    What if it keeps changing?
    I found many of them scary.. but then the more I looked at them some others became scary where the ones before did not.. 1,2,3,and 5. All scared me.. but the others seem harmless and not scary at all.

  7. Delphi

    They all appear fine to me. What’s that about?

  8. nick

    what if u didn’t feel anything when u looked at the people in the pictures ???

  9. jude

    No 6. just have a bad vibe about this picture

  10. joseph r

    Soooo what if you weren’t scared of any of them? Personally none of them struck me with fear. If anything I was intrigued by some but not by fear.

  11. Heather

    I was pretty evenly divided on two, both of which pretty accurately described me. Very interesting!

  12. Kristi

    Definitely correct in every way possible. #4 creeps me out the most, she just looks like a crazy woman who could do damage so I wouldn’t want to run into her at night in a dark alley way. But the explanation of my choice is correct when I think about it.

  13. benjamin beem

    i could not choose one based on the directions. what does that make me?

  14. jkasjsaskkjasl

    I chose 3, 5 and 6 I cannot chose just one b/c that 3 creeped/annoyed me in some sort of way and the interpretations were quite accurate.

  15. Jane

    Honestly, #1 looks kind of quiet and dark, I definitely don’t want to meet someone like that at night in a dim area while going home…

  16. Jeff

    #2 and surprising accurate…just can’t understand why anyone would choose different lol very interesting.

  17. Edwin

    It was between 4 and 5, but 4 just seemed like a sad woman so for some reason im okay with that, but 5’s crazy hair and thin face just did it for me….surprisingly too, the analysis was quite accurate

  18. Desiree

    I was repulsed by #2, which is very very accurate for me. I was actually ATTRACTED to #8 . I’m not sure what to make of that.

  19. Anon

    Chose #2. Actually it was that or #3. Surprisingly none of the girls really bothered me that much. And #8.. I don’t even know what to say.
    It would be very interesting to have the full test, though.

  20. Brittany

    I found myself stuck between 4 and 5. While #4 just looked like a woman who might be depressed or upset, #5 gave me the creeps. There’s something about her eyes that just seem off. Either way the descriptions given fit me perfectly.

    1. Colby

      I felt almost the same way. Both descriptions hit me deep.

  21. Vaughn

    I chose 1, 4, 5, and 6 because they all give me creeps. All fits me well.

  22. Fibre

    Don’t you naturally just fear picture 1?

  23. SuchLoL

    Hey look, its Deman

  24. fhy

    Girls dont give me creeps.. #1 looks like a psychopath. A profile of a serial killer.

  25. RDTodd

    Actually i stated i would not walk in dark alleys at all so none of them for me.there goes the logic of this test

  26. chris

    LOOKS LIKE ALL ARE PHOTOS OF CRMIMINALS OR SOMEONE OUT OF THEIR MINDS?/

  27. Jeyyyy

    If I’ve got to meet anyone of them in the dark. I’ll run! :3

  28. Jana

    @Vaughn, I picked 1, 4, 5 and 6, too! High five.

  29. tackyshrimp

    Every single one of them looks like a serial killer to me, except 7. 1 is a violent vicar with a overwhelming need for dominance and obedience. 2 is an Italian-American mobster. 3 is a Mexican butcher who can handle a knife. 4 is one of those old-school asylum patients. 5 is a high-class Victorian lady whose eyes are just unfocused enough to look insane. 6 is a nun who’s sick and tired of her life and wants to take her exasperation out on someone. 8 is one of those androgynous, dissociative identity disorder (as stated) serial killer types, a little like the Norman Bates kind.

  30. myopinion

    TackyShrimp I agree! You are spot on.

  31. Kryz

    Why wouldn’t I want or be afraid to meet any of them at night on a dark alley? I love violence! STAB STAB STAB AND PLAY WITH THEIR INTESTINES ON THE ROAD DOWN TO HELL! >:))

  32. Daniel

    Is the explanation number 8 referring to homosexuality?

    1. adin

      More like transgender

  33. Valentina

    I was actually quite surprised at how accurate mine was. At first I had a difficult time, but then decided that 6 was the most likely. Because it took me a while to decide I thought it wouldn’t be accurate – but it was scary accurate!… right down to the fact that I was considering a master’s in psychology and people nickname me “smiley”.

    I would like to see the full test.

  34. jason

    intrigued by test. had extremely difficult time picking a photo. those photos don’t tell too much. lets go deeper down the rabbits’ hole.

  35. Reese

    #5 This is so accurate! Wow. 😀

  36. martha

    When I read I should “choose the one you would never want to meet at night”, immediately I thought that I’d pick one of the men. But, in the end, I had to admit that the one which really scared me was #4. The profile doesn’t exactly fit me, but it’s true that my main issues are all about social life. Fascinating test.

  37. northstar

    I did not feel like I would be afraid to meet any of them in the dark?

  38. william d crain

    At 6 or 7 years okd I was afraid of the dark, I then had a dream which seemed real, in he dream I saw an alien who as a green humanoid he spoke to me telepathically saying the only thing you have to fear is fear itself, I have felt no fear since.
    Then I started to study and became a kung fu master, I have walked dark alleys, seeking those who would harm others.

  39. aidan h.

    The entire time I kept thinking number eight, but another part of me was like, “Don’t choose that one though, choose number six.”

    Both were true.
    Now I’m creeped out.

  40. Nicole

    Transsexuality is NOT a dissociative identity disorder. It’s a dismorphic disorder, if you’re going to call it a “disorder” at all. In fact, in people with a dissociative identity disorder are excluded from any legitimate treatment program for Gender Identity Disorder.

    1. Lol

      Lol “chick” with a dick spotted. Bet his real name is Nathan.

    2. SalazarTheSchizophrenicSloth

      More like a biological fallacy.

  41. Aurora

    This is creepy and cool at the same time.

  42. Yuri Jans Husband

    Dzondi might have assumed that nature had given us some sort of memetic scanning tool so that the subconscious could recognize an aversion set in this way. But in reality it is an oracle and isn’t rational at all. It is fascinating nonetheless and harmless unless it goes on to divert self awareness or elevate the novel.

    Secondly as has been remarked, dissociative identity disorder is already misunderstood enough. But then this whole approach will have been a state of the art related to Szondi’s times.

  43. Ardiana

    Creeped out by number 4 and number 5. Fuck that, both ring true.

  44. John

    Interesting, I picked number two….Epileptic…trippy thing…I am epileptic.

    1. Debbie

      I’m amazed at how few chose #2. My first reaction was #2 because he looks a lot like several pictures of criminals or even old photos of Nazi soldiers, look at his direct gaze and strong build too.
      As a female my gut reaction was that he would be most likely to be the one with the potential for trouble at night or in a dark place. As for the repression, yes, Catholic school for only 2 years did require that to avoid getting a ruler slapped across upturned palms for chatting, giggling or doing other than was required while class was in session and the ‘denial’ description fits well except for the meek part because the first and only time as a child being punished with a ruler like that led to my report to my parents who shortly pulled me out of that school and asserting myself when necessary is not a problem.

  45. Benjamin

    I picked number 5 and it was correct

  46. Lisa

    So weird. I picked number 4 and my mom is a schizophrenic. Creepy.

    1. Amanda

      Same, creepy

  47. Kokatorimon

    Accurate. My first was 5, but then i thought: why’d i be scared of an old lady? So thinking rationally i was between 3 and 7 (since they look like big man who you can’t fight) but the old lady in 5 creeped the hell outta me while i was thinking of my answer. The first number i read was 5, and it was just like i am even though i don’t like it and no one knows. 3 & 7 were nothing like me.

  48. amy

    Weird, I chose 3 and it was accurate… I’m a timid person who dislikes change and finds it hard to adapt to change. And I hate feeling a loss of self-control.

  49. Balazs

    In Hungary, in order to get a “Commercial” Driving licence, such as Lorry driver, Bus driver, Cab driver, Ambulance driver etc., you need to “pass” this test. It is much more complicated than this article says, I think there is 6 sets of pictures, and you need to choose the most a aversive, and most sympathetic from each set. And they learn things about you that you don’t know yourself. And I think that is creepy….

    1. Balazs

      Well, it’s actually says it. Still the driving licence thing, I think it is a bit outdated, and way too deep.

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