Psychologically Rich Life Questionnaire
Psychological richness… is not about an overall feeling of where life is going or what the point of your life is, but about an experience, or more precisely the accumulation of experiences over time. ―Shigehiro Oishi
👥 Serves: 1 person
🎚 Difficulty: Easy
⏳ Total time: 1-10 minutes
🥣 Ingredients: “Life in three dimensions” book by Shigehiro Oishi (if you’re curious to find out more about it!)
🤓 Wholebeing Domains: Accomplishments, Discomfortability, Positive Emotion
💪 Wholebeing Skills: Adaptability, Agency, Ambition, Awe, Determination, Flourishing, Perseverance, Zest
Psychologically Rich Life Questionnaire
📝 Description
Exploring a third dimension in life.
In his book “Life in three dimensions”, psychologist Shigehiro Oishi claims that in addition to a “happy” and a “meaningful” life, there is a third dimension for you to explore: that of a “psychologically rich” life. Oishi defines it as “a life filled with diverse, unusual, interesting experiences that change your perspective; a life with twists and turns; a dramatic, eventful life instead of a simple and straightforward one; a life with multiplicity and complexity; a life with lots of stops, detours, and turning points; a life that feels like a long, winding hike rather than many klaps of the same race circuit.” To be precise, the ingredients of a psychologically rich life include:
- Novelty: It’s not the same old, same old.
- Intensity: You engage with a wide range of emotions.
- Challenge: Your life is more difficult and complex than usual.
- Memorable: Your life is vivid and you learn something new.
The following recipe invites you to take Shigehiro Oishi’s Psychologically Rich Life Questionnaire (PRLQ) to find out your psychological richness score.
🌟 Steps
Step 1 – Guidelines (1’)
Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the statements in Step 2, using the 1 to 7 point scale below.
- 1 = Strongly disagree
- 2 = Disagree
- 3 = Slightly disagree
- 4 = Neither agree nor disagree
- 5 = Slightly agree
- 6 = Agree
- 7 = Strongly agree
Step 2 – Questions (5’)
- My life has been psychologically rich.
- My life has been experientially rich.
- My life has been emotionally rich.
- I have had a lot of interesting experiences.
- I have had a lot of novel experiences.
- My life has been full of unique, unusual experiences.
- My life consists of rich, intense moments.
- My life has been dramatic.
- I experience a full range of emotions via firsthand experiences such as travel and attending concerts.
- I have a lot of personal stories to tell others.
- On my deathbed, I am likely to say, “I had an interesting life.”
- On my deathbed, I am likely to say, “I have seen and learned a lot.”
- My life would make a good novel or movie.
- My life has been monotonous. (r)
- I often feel bored with my life. (r)
- My life has been uneventful. (r)
- I can’t remember the last time I’ve done or experienced something new. (r)
Step 3 – Score (2’)
To calculate your score, first converse your responses to questions 14–17 (reverse questions) as follows: 1 to 7, 2 to 6, 3 to 5, 4 to 4, 5 to 3, 6 to 2, 7 to 1. Then add these scores to the score from questions 1–13. Finally, divide the total score by 17. What did you get?
Step 4 – Score interpretation (2’)
Compare your score with the data below (collected from 1,213 American adults; mean age = 38.21). The mean (average) score was 4.58, and the range was 1.18 to 7.00. If your score was 3.41 or below, you scored among the lowest 10 percent of Americans. If your score was 5.75 or higher, then you are among the top 10 percent in psychological richness.
- 10th percentile: 3.412
- 20th percentile: 3.881
- 30th percentile: 4.063
- 40th percentile: 4.353
- 50th percentile: 4.588
- 60th percentile: 4.882
- 70th percentile: 5.176
- 80th percentile: 5.382
- 90th percentile: 5.741