Jealousy Test: See How Your Thoughts, Feelings, and Actions Line Up
This jealousy test is informed by the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale, splitting romantic jealousy into the suspicious thoughts, upset feelings, and checking behaviors that make it up. Get an instant result and an optional PDF report.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Jealousy Test is a free, confidential 21-question self-assessment, informed by the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (MJS). It takes about 5 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
Three parts of jealousy, not one blurry feeling
Jealousy is not a single thing. Research on the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale separates it into suspicious thoughts, the emotional sting of specific situations, and the checking behaviors that follow. This test measures all three, so your result can point at what's actually driving it.
Cognitive jealousy
Suspicious thoughts: wondering if a partner is attracted to someone else, replaying a comment, or assuming the worst about an unanswered text.
Emotional jealousy
How upset specific situations actually make you, from a partner mentioning an ex to them getting a compliment from someone else in front of you.
Behavioral jealousy
What you do about it: checking a phone, asking pointed questions, showing up unannounced, or monitoring a partner's social media.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Informed by a validated jealousy scale (MJS) | Rarely | Yes, cognitive, emotional, behavioral |
| Separates thoughts, feelings, and actions | No | Yes, three subscales |
| Explains when jealousy is normal vs corrosive | Rarely | Yes, per band |
| Skills for the specific driver of your score | No | Yes, by subscale |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, clinician reviewed |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Answers stay on your device | Often tracked | Scored in your browser; we only receive anonymous completion counts unless you ask for a PDF or report |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–84 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–28 | Low jealousy | Your answers suggest jealousy is not a significant force in how you think, feel, or act in this relationship right now. |
| 29–56 | Moderate jealousy | Your answers suggest a moderate level of jealousy: real, and noticeable, but not yet running the relationship. |
| 57–84 | High jealousy | Your answers suggest jealousy is a significant, frequent presence in your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It's affecting the relationship, and it's very responsive to support. |
How the Jealousy Score Is Calculated
The 21 statements split evenly into three subscales of seven items each: cognitive (suspicious thoughts), emotional (how upset specific situations make you), and behavioral (checking and monitoring). Each is rated from 0 (never or not at all) to 4 (very often or extremely), so each subscale can total up to 28 points, for a combined score from 0 to 84.
The three subscales are reported separately as well as combined, because they tell different stories. Someone high on cognitive jealousy but low on behavioral jealousy is mostly fighting suspicious thoughts privately; someone high on behavioral jealousy is acting on them, which tends to have a bigger effect on the relationship itself.
When Jealousy Is Normal, and When It Corrodes Trust
A flicker of jealousy is one of the most common emotions in romantic relationships and, in small doses, can even reflect that you value the relationship. It becomes a problem less because of how it feels and more because of what it does: when suspicious thoughts get treated as facts, when checking behavior replaces a direct conversation, or when a partner starts adjusting their own life, seeing fewer friends, explaining their whereabouts more than they want to, to keep the peace. At that point jealousy has stopped being a feeling and started shaping the relationship's rules.
Jealousy that runs mostly on suspicious thoughts often responds well to noticing and naming those thoughts before acting on them. Jealousy that runs mostly on checking behavior usually needs a more direct fix: replacing the checking with an actual conversation, even though the conversation feels riskier in the moment. Either way, the goal isn't to feel nothing; it's to stop letting the feeling drive behavior that erodes the trust it's trying to protect.
What Usually Sits Underneath Jealousy
Persistent jealousy is rarely just about a partner's behavior. It often traces back to lower self-esteem, an anxious attachment style, a past relationship where trust was broken, or a general pattern of reassurance-seeking that jealousy is just one expression of. None of that makes the feeling less real, but it does mean that working on jealousy directly, through communication skills alone, sometimes stalls out if the underlying piece is never addressed.
If jealousy shows up mostly as a fear that you're not good enough for your partner, our Insecurity Test and Self-Esteem Test look at that directly. If it shows up as a broader difficulty trusting people, even outside this relationship, the Trust Issues Test and Attachment Style Test dig into where that comes from. Working on the root alongside the jealousy itself tends to produce more lasting change than either one on its own.
Methodology & sources
This test is informed by the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale (Pfeiffer and Wong, 1989), the most widely cited research framework for romantic jealousy, which separates it into cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components. The 21 statements here are original items written by Psychology.com to capture the meaning of each component in plain, concrete language; they are not the published MJS items themselves, which remain the researchers' own instrument.
This is an educational self-reflection tool, not the validated MJS or a diagnostic instrument. Jealousy exists on a spectrum from an occasional, manageable feeling to a pattern that damages relationships, and the bands below describe that spectrum in general terms rather than a clinical cutoff. Jealousy also frequently overlaps with anxiety, low self-esteem, and attachment insecurity, which is part of why the result points toward those related tests where relevant.
References
- Pfeiffer SM, Wong PTP. Multidimensional Jealousy. J Soc Pers Relat. 1989;6(2):181-196.
- White GL, Mullen PE. Jealousy: Theory, Research, and Clinical Strategies. Guilford Press; 1989.
- Elphinston RA, Feeney JA, Noller P. Measuring romantic jealousy: Validation of the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale in Australian samples. Aust J Psychol. 2011;63(4):243-251.
- Buunk BP. Personality, birth order and attachment styles as related to various types of jealousy. Pers Individ Dif. 1997;23(6):997-1006.
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 23). Jealousy Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/jealousy
Jealousy Test FAQ
What is the Multidimensional Jealousy Scale?
It's a research framework developed by Pfeiffer and Wong in 1989 that splits romantic jealousy into three parts: cognitive (suspicious thoughts), emotional (how upset situations make you), and behavioral (checking and monitoring). This test is informed by that framework using original statements, and it is a screening tool for reflection, not a diagnosis.
Is some jealousy normal in a relationship?
Yes. Occasional jealousy is one of the most common emotions in romantic relationships and does not by itself indicate a problem. It becomes more concerning when suspicious thoughts are treated as facts, when checking behavior replaces conversation, or when a partner starts changing their own behavior to avoid triggering it.
What score counts as high jealousy?
On this 0 to 84 scale, roughly 0 to 28 suggests low jealousy, 29 to 56 moderate, and 57 to 84 high. These are descriptive bands for this original screener, not a clinical cutoff from the published MJS, so treat them as a guide for reflection rather than a strict threshold.
Is this test a diagnosis?
No. It is for education and self-reflection only. Only a licensed clinician can assess anxiety, attachment patterns, or any related condition. If jealousy is affecting your relationship or your wellbeing, a therapist can help regardless of where your score falls.
Why does jealousy make me want to check my partner's phone?
Checking is often an attempt to quiet a suspicious thought quickly, and it can feel like it works in the moment because the anxiety drops. Over time it usually backfires: it rarely resolves the underlying worry for good, and it can damage the trust it was meant to protect. Addressing the thought directly, often with a partner or a therapist, tends to work better long term.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. The test runs and is scored in your browser, and your individual answers are never sent to us. We count completions anonymously, and if you request the free PDF or a report we receive your summary scores with the email you give us, never your answers. No account is needed.
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