The Adjective Check List (ACL) is an assessment used to identify common psychological traits. Developed by Harrison G. Gough and Alfred B. Heilbrun, Jr., the checklist

Checklist

A checklist is a type of informational job aid used to reduce failure by compensating for potential limits of human memory and attention. It helps to ensure consistency and completeness in carrying out a task...

 contains 300 adjective

Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....

s (such as intelligent, cautious, clear-thinking, determined, and poised). Respondent

Respondent

A respondent is a person who is called upon to issue a response to a communication made by another. In legal usage, this specifically refers to the defendant in a legal proceeding commenced by a petition, or to an appellee, or the opposing party, in an appeal of a decision by an initial fact-finder...

s select the adjectives that they believe describe themselves (or someone else). The assessment may be administered to an individual, or used by researcher

Researcher

A researcher is somebody who performs research, the search for knowledge or in general any systematic investigation to establish facts. Researchers can work in academic, industrial, government, or private institutions.-Examples of research institutions:...

s to describe study participants.

Any number of items may be selected from the list of adjectives. In this way, the results are customized to include only those adjectives salient to the individual being assessed. The 300 adjectives correlate to 24 scales: 15 scales assessing needs or wants; and 9 scales assessing "attributes, potentialities, and role characteristics."