Methodology

The foundation: attachment theory

Adult attachment research starts with Bowlby and Ainsworth, and is measured today through traditions like the Experiences in Close Relationships scales (Fraley, Waller, & Brennan, 2000). The core idea is straightforward: people differ along two broad dimensions — attachment anxiety (fear of abandonment, need for reassurance) and attachment avoidance (discomfort with closeness, a pull toward distance). Where you sit on those two axes maps roughly onto the familiar styles: secure, anxious, avoidant, and fearful-avoidant.

Our quizzes are built around these public, well-studied dimensions. Every individual question is written by us. We do not use, copy, or license a proprietary instrument — which is also why lovscope can stay free.

The three quizzes

• Attachment Style (45 questions, six dimensions) — anxious attachment, avoidant attachment, infatuation and investment, relationship security, communication, and conflict style. This is the only quiz that plots your spot on the two-axis attachment map.
• Communication & Conflict (16 questions, four dimensions) — expressiveness, conflict approach, repair, and emotional validation.
• Love vs Infatuation (16 questions, four dimensions) — intensity, emotional grounding, independence, and future fit.

How scoring works

• A five-point scale. Each question is answered from “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5).
• Reverse-scored items. Some questions are phrased in the opposite direction. Those are flipped before totaling, so a high score always means the same thing.
• Dimension totals. Items belonging to a dimension are summed, then placed into Low, Mid, or High by splitting the possible range into thirds.
• Your profile. The dimension that sits furthest from the midpoint gives you a short label and a plain-language description; the bars show the full picture.
• Your map. For the attachment quiz, anxiety and avoidance are plotted together so you can see where you fall relative to the four styles.

Where your answers go

All scoring happens in your browser. Your answers are never uploaded to our servers when you take a quiz. That’s a design choice, not a limitation: it keeps the experience fast and genuinely private.

What this is not

lovscope is a self-reflection tool, not a clinical instrument. A self-report quiz captures how you answered today; mood, context, and how honest you felt all move the result. It isn’t a diagnosis, it isn’t couples therapy, and it isn’t a substitute for professional care. If relationships feel consistently unsafe or overwhelming, a qualified clinician is the right next step.

Further reading

• Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss, Vol. 1: Attachment.
• Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of Attachment.
• Fraley, R. C., Waller, N. G., & Brennan, K. A. (2000). An item response theory analysis of self-report measures of adult attachment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(2), 350–365.