Comparison guide

Blueprint vs 16PF

Raymond Cattell's 16PF measures personality along sixteen primary trait factors, derived from a decades-long factor-analytic program that also fed into what became the Big Five. Blueprint takes a different cut — motives and ego states rather than trait scores.

Factors vs. motives and transactions

16PF is a classic, well-validated trait inventory. It's most at home in clinical, occupational, and research settings where a detailed trait profile is the deliverable.

Blueprint is built on Eric Berne's Transactional Analysis and David McClelland's motivation research (nAch, nAff, nPow). Where 16PF gives you a nuanced trait map, Blueprint gives you a relational one — designed to make conversations, not clinical files, more useful.

Dimension

16PF

Blueprint

What it measures

Sixteen primary trait factors, plus five global factors.

Motivations (nAch / nAff / nPow) and ego-state patterns.

Research base

Cattell's lexical + factor-analytic research (1940s onward).

Berne's Transactional Analysis + McClelland's motivation research and TAT.

Output

Sixteen sten scores plus derived factors.

A dominant type, supporting type, and motive profile.

Use case

Clinical, occupational, and academic assessment.

Predicting communication, stress drift, and relational dynamics.

Access

Practitioner-administered; scoring by qualified users.

Direct online assessment with pair and team reports.

Different tools for different jobs

16PF is built for a psychologist's file. Blueprint is built for the kitchen table and the offsite. The former is precise; the latter is usable in a conversation the moment you finish reading it.

A note on what Blueprint isn't

Blueprint is not a clinical tool, not a diagnosis, and not a hiring instrument. It's a relational map for self-understanding and conversation.

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Keep exploring

See Blueprint's uniqueness next to others

A side-by-side look at where Blueprint's six spaces overlap with — and diverge from — the frameworks you may already know.

Compare with MBTI →Compare with DISC →Compare with Enneagram →Compare with CliftonStrengths →Compare with Big Five →Compare with Predictive Index →

MBTI and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator are trademarks of The Myers & Briggs Foundation. CliftonStrengths is a trademark of Gallup, Inc. DiSC, PCM, Predictive Index, and other marks are trademarks of their respective owners. Blueprint is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any of these organizations; names are used only to identify the assessments being compared.