Background
The Comprehensive Assessment of Sadistic Tendencies (CAST) is a psychological self-report questionnaire designed to measure everyday sadistic personality traits in non-clinical populations.
The assessment explores attitudes, behaviors, and emotional reactions related to cruelty, aggression, domination, humiliation, enjoyment of violence, and emotional insensitivity. It examines how individuals may derive pleasure, excitement, or satisfaction from causing physical, emotional, or psychological discomfort to others.
The CAST focuses on multiple forms of sadistic tendencies, including direct verbal cruelty, physical aggression, dominance through fear, enjoyment of violent entertainment, and emotional coldness. These traits can appear in both subtle and overt ways in everyday social behavior.
This assessment is commonly used in personality research, dark personality studies, and behavioral psychology to better understand socially aversive personality characteristics.
The CAST is not intended to diagnose personality disorders, criminal behavior, or psychiatric conditions. High scores indicate stronger endorsement of sadistic attitudes or tendencies but should always be interpreted carefully within broader personality and social contexts.
Procedure
You will be presented with a series of statements related to thoughts, behaviors, social attitudes, and reactions toward others.
Dimensions:
Verbal Cruelty
Physical Aggression
Violence Enjoyment
Dominance & Control
Emotional Coldness
Please rate how strongly you agree or disagree with each statement based on your genuine experiences and attitudes.
Use the following response scale:
1 = Strongly disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = Neither agree nor disagree
4 = Agree
5 = Strongly agree
There are no right or wrong answers. Respond honestly and select the option that best reflects your natural reactions and personality style.
Participation
This assessment is intended for adults and older adolescents capable of self-reflection and honest self-reporting.
Participation is voluntary. Responses are anonymous and intended only for educational, self-exploration, and research-awareness purposes.
Higher scores may reflect stronger tendencies toward cruelty, domination, emotional hardness, aggressive enjoyment, or fascination with suffering and violence.
Comprehensive Assessment of Sadistic Tendencies (CAST) Questionnaire
Below is the Comprehensive Assessment of Sadistic Tendencies (CAST), a digitally adapted 24- items self-assessment questionnaire. This assessment does not provide a clinical diagnosis, medical determination, or substitute for professional psychological evaluation. Anonymous responses may be included in research statistics and normative datasets.
Psychometric Norms
All response data are collected anonymously through Sadism Test - Comprehensive Assessment of Sadistic Tendencies (CAST) and are intended exclusively for educational, psychometric, and non-commercial research purposes. Privacy Policy | Research Statistics
Sources
- Buckels E. E. and D. L. Paulhus. , University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada (2014): 20-27.. "Comprehensive assessment of sadistic tendencies (CAST).". Unpublished instrument