Top 6 Validated Interpersonal Assessments Therapists Can Use Today

Conducting interpersonal assessments without standardized tools can lead to inconsistent results and unclear therapeutic direction. As a Therapist, you have to rely on informal observations or self-made questionnaires, which may lack scientific rigor and fail to capture the nuanced dynamics of relationships. This not only increases the risk of misinterpretation but also makes it harder for you to track progress or justify interventions to clients.

Premade, validated interpersonal assessments solve these issues by offering structured, research-backed frameworks that ensure accuracy and reliability. These mental assessments help you pinpoint specific communication styles, relational patterns, or attachment tendencies with clarity. With clear scoring systems and interpretation guidelines, as a Therapist you can save time, reduce guesswork, and focus more on delivering effective, tailored treatment.

Learn more about the following pre-made, validated interpersonal assessments.

• Social Skills Test
• Empathy Quotient (EQ)
• Trust Scale
• Lying in Everyday Situations Scale (LiES)
• Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ)
• Romantic Jealousy (SF-MJS)

Social Skills Test

Purpose: The Social Skills Test evaluates an individual's ability to engage effectively in social interactions, including communication, empathy, and assertiveness.

Why use it in therapy:

• Helps diagnose deficits in social competence and interpersonal functioning.
• Provides a baseline for building social communication goals in therapy.
• Useful for clients with social anxiety, ASD, or adjustment difficulties.

When to use it: Use when clients struggle to form or maintain relationships, express themselves, or engage in group settings.

Target Population: Children, adolescents, and adults with social difficulties or neurodevelopmental concerns.

Possible Outcomes:

Outcomes
Very poor social skills
Poor social skills
In the middle
Good social skills
Excellent social skills

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Empathy Quotient (EQ)

Purpose: The Empathy Quotient evaluates an individual’s ability to recognize, understand, and respond to others' emotions, providing a measure of both cognitive and affective empathy.

Why use it in therapy:

• Assesses deficits in empathy often linked with ASD, personality disorders, or trauma.
• Informs relational interventions and emotional intelligence development.
• Enhances therapeutic alliance by aligning treatment to the client’s empathic capacity.

When to use it: Use when clients struggle with emotional attunement, show low affective responsiveness, or exhibit relational misunderstandings.

Target Population: Adolescents and adults; commonly used in ASD evaluations and interpersonal therapy.

Possible Outcomes:

Outcomes
You have a lower than average ability for understanding how other people feel
You have an average ability for understanding how other people feel
You have an above average ability for understanding how other people feel
You have a very high ability for understanding how other people feel

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Trust Scale

Purpose: The Trust Scale assesses generalized trust in others and institutions, shedding light on a person’s sense of safety, vulnerability, and interpersonal openness.

Why use it in therapy:

• Highlights issues rooted in past betrayals, trauma, or attachment wounds.
• Useful for framing therapy around boundary-setting, intimacy, and openness.
• Supports progress in building therapeutic trust and external relationships.

When to use it: Use when clients express distrust in others, difficulty forming close relationships, or a history of interpersonal trauma.

Target Population: Adults and adolescents with attachment concerns, trauma history, or difficulty maintaining trust-based relationships.

Possible Outcomes:

Outcome
No cutoffs. Higher scores indicate greater trust.

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Lying in Everyday Situations Scale (LiES)

Purpose: The Lying in Everyday Situations Scale measures the frequency and context of lying in daily interactions, offering insight into clients’ interpersonal strategies and moral reasoning.

Why use it in therapy:

• Reveals patterns of deception that may impact therapy trust or relationship dynamics.
• Helps clients explore motivations behind dishonesty, such as fear, shame, or social norms.
• Supports the development of authentic communication skills.

When to use it: Use when clients show signs of relationship distrust, communication breakdowns, or patterns of manipulation.

Target Population: Adolescents and adults in individual or couples therapy, particularly where trust and honesty are therapeutic concerns.

Possible Outcomes:

Outcomes
No official cutoffs. Higher scores simply indicate a greater self-reported tendency to lie in everyday situations.

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Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ)

Purpose: The Humor Styles Questionnaire assesses four different humor styles—affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating—to understand how humor functions in a client’s interpersonal life.

Why use it in therapy:

• Identifies how clients use humor to connect, deflect, or cope emotionally.
• Highlights maladaptive humor that may mask low self-esteem or strain relationships.
• Enhances self-awareness and encourages healthier interpersonal expression.

When to use it: Use when clients rely heavily on humor, experience social disconnect, or deflect emotional conversations with jokes or sarcasm.

Target Population: Adolescents and adults, especially in therapy involving self-image, social dynamics, or emotional regulation.

Available Subscales:

Subscales
Affiliative
Self-enhancing
Aggressive
Self-defeating

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Romantic Jealousy (SF-MJS)

Purpose: The Romantic Jealousy (SF-MJS) assesses cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components of romantic jealousy, helping therapists understand how clients perceive and react to perceived relationship threats.

Why use it in therapy:

• Identifies patterns of insecurity, possessiveness, and control in romantic relationships.
• Aids in uncovering core beliefs about self-worth, trust, and attachment.
• Supports interventions in couples therapy or individual sessions addressing relationship conflict.

When to use it: Use when clients report jealousy-related stress, recurring arguments in relationships, or display intrusive behaviors toward partners.

Target Population: Adults in romantic relationships, especially those dealing with jealousy, insecurity, or trust issues.

Available Subscales:

Subscales
Cognitive Jealousy
Emotional Jealousy
Behavioral Jealousy

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Conclusion

Interpersonal dynamics play a crucial role in emotional well-being, yet they’re often difficult to assess without structured tools. Using validated assessments like the ones listed above enables therapists to move beyond surface-level observations and gain deeper, evidence-based insights into how clients relate, trust, communicate, and connect with others.

By integrating these tools into therapy, clinicians can tailor interventions more effectively, and support long-term relationship growth in their clients.

Explore other related assessments from our BlockSurvey templates gallery.

The wait is over. Try BlockSurvey today & run validated assessments with your clients, to experience stronger therapeutic relationships.