Warm Tolerance Scale

Are you able to accept and embrace your differences with others? Take this test to find out.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | May 14, 2024

Tolerance boosts one's ability to maintain positive and constructive relationships, despite encountering people who hold contrasting views. The Interpersonal Tolerance Scale is a tool designed to measure the capacity to tolerate and accept interpersonal differences. The researchers' analyses resulted in three distinct factors: warm tolerance, cold tolerance and limits of tolerance.

The Warm Tolerance dimension of the Interpersonal Tolerance Scale is useful for assessing an individual's capacity to maintain accepting attitudes toward others. This dimension helps evaluate the degree to which an individual exhibits warmth and acceptance toward those who hold different beliefs or values.

You can take this test here. Please follow all of the steps to receive your results.

Step 1: Rate the following statements based on how much you agree with them on a scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree.

1. I see differences in people's opinions and beliefs as opportunities to learn from each other.

2. If I perceive somebody as acting incorrectly or curiously, I try to understand the reasons for their behavior.

3. If the values and behaviors of another person contradict my own values, I make an effort to understand the other person before judging them.

4. I embrace other people the way they are, even if we have very little in common.

5. I can respect another person, even if their beliefs contradict my own beliefs.

6. I give other people room to be themselves, without trying to change them.

7. I am able to acknowledge new and unfamiliar things, even if I dislike them.

8. I am able to reconsider and adjust my opinion if a conversation yields novel viewpoints.

9. I try to fully put myself into another person's position in order to understand their viewpoint.

10. I believe that there are multiple accurate viewpoints for most things.

11. If I am bothered by the attitudes or acts of another person, I can discuss it with them without rejecting them as a person.

12. I always try to respect another person, irrespective of their beliefs and behaviors.

13. I accept that other cultural communities may act upon values which I consider intolerant.

Step 2: Enter your age, gender, region, and first name so we can provide you with a detailed report that compares your test scores to people similar to you.

What is your age?

What is your gender?

What region of the world do you live in?

What is your first name?

Step 3: Check to make sure you've provided answers to all of the statements/questions above. Once you've done that, click the button below to send your responses to Awake Therapy's Lead Psychologist, Mark Travers, Ph.D. He will provide you with an overview of how you scored relative to others (all answers are anonymized and confidential to protect users' privacy). He can also answer any follow-up questions you may have.

References: Thomae, M., Birtel, M. D., & Wittemann, J. (2016). The Interpersonal Tolerance Scale (IPTS): Scale Development and Validation. Paper presented at the 39th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology.