| Test: | Boundary Questionnaire, BQ-18 |
| Link: | persistent link: https://psytests.org/result?v=boqs1w |
⇐ thick borders thin borders ⇒ | |
24 | |
[ low score ] | |
Ernest Hartmann proposed that people who suffer frequent nightmares have distinctive personality characteristics which he described as «unguarded», «undefended», «vulnerable», «artistic», and «open». People with such characteristics seemed to him unable to screen out frightening images and feelings originating in their dreams. They also seemed to lack barriers between their own identity and those of others, or between their own beliefs and unconventional ideas. Hartmann proposed that such people have «thin» boundaries between their mental processes and argued that thinness or thickness of boundaries was «a broad dimension of personality and an aspect of the overall organization of the mind.»
People with thick boundaries tend to see the world in «black-and-white» terms, whereas those with thin boundaries tend to be more aware of «shades of gray».
Women tend to have thinner boundaries than men, and boundaries tend to become thicker with age.