Uncertainty Tolerance Test

This test helps you assess how comfortable you feel with uncertainty: how you respond to new and unpredictable situations, complex challenges and decisions whose outcome is not known in advance.

It shows whether you are drawn to the unfamiliar or prefer what you already know, how you handle problems with no single right answer, and whether unexpected events unsettle you or spark your curiosity.

The test is based on David McLain’s Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale (MSTAT-I), which measures tolerance for uncertainty, novelty and ambiguity.

The method treats these as different kinds of unclear situations, from the simply unfamiliar to the complex and the contradictory, and combines your reactions to them into one overall measure. This adaptation keeps the structure of the scale but uses simplified wording and a five-point response scale instead of the original seven-point one.

You read each statement and indicate how much you agree with it, from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”, based on your usual thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

After completing the test you receive your overall level of tolerance for uncertainty, from low to high, with the moderate range marked, together with a description of how this level tends to show: whether you look for clarity before every step, act depending on the situation, or feel at ease where much is still open.

The result helps you see when it is worth gathering more information and when you are ready to move forward despite some uncertainty, and can be supplemented with personalized AI analysis in the Who Am I? app.

1. D. L. McLain — The MSTAT-I: A New Measure of an Individual’s Tolerance for Ambiguity
2. B. C. Dunphy et al. — Cognitive Elements in Clinical Decision-Making
3. D. L. McLain, E. Kefallonitis, K. Armani — Ambiguity Tolerance in Organizations: Definitional Clarification and Perspectives on Future Research