The PCI estimates how coherent your decision system currently is—specifically, how well your priorities, habits, decisions, and social environment align with each other.
It is a snapshot, not a diagnosis. The assessment takes 5 minutes and produces a score from 0–100 across four behavioral dimensions. Scores shift over time as your circumstances change.
The instrument is grounded in narrative identity theory and decisional conflict research. It is utilized as an active research and behavioral alignment system.
Method & Construct Overview
The Personal Coherence Index (PCI) is a behavioral self-report instrument designed to estimate the structural alignment between an individual's stated priorities, enacted habits, decision processes, and social reinforcement environment.
Rather than measuring personality traits, the PCI captures the current organization of an individual's decision architecture.
The instrument produces a normalized coherence score ranging from 0 to 100 (Normalized Coherence Score, NCS). The score represents a structural estimate of decisional coherence across four behavioral domains.
The instrument currently operates as an open behavioral research and alignment system.
Project Coherence is established with a singular operational objective: to investigate human behavior, design precise instruments for its measurement and evaluation, and apply these insights to optimize human functioning. We view coherence not as a subjective aesthetic, but as a critical metric of human capability.
Our work proceeds from the premise that the primary barrier to human optimization is not lack of information, but structural fragmentation—the internal conflict between stated intent, autonomic state, daily behavior, and social architecture. By developing empirical tools to measure these interfaces, we aim to provide actionable diagnostic feedback that allows individuals to align their cognitive resources and function as unified, coherent agents.
Project Coherence operationalizes the construct of narrative identity coherence—the degree to which an individual maintains a consistent, organized self-story across decisional domains. Building on McAdams (1993), Erikson's identity development framework, and subsequent work on decisional conflict, the PCI treats coherence not as a fixed trait but as a dynamic behavioral index modulated by environmental pressures.
The PCI measures structural alignment in decision-making systems.
It does not attempt to measure personality traits, intelligence, or mental health conditions.
Instead, the instrument estimates the degree to which an individual's behavioral patterns form a coherent directional structure.
The instrument captures four latent domains measured across 18 behavioral items.
(1) Decisional Clarity Capacity to articulate motivations, prioritize actions, and maintain decisional stability. Items: 1, 4, 7, 11, 14
(2) Value–Habit Alignment Degree of congruence between stated priorities and enacted daily behavior. Items: 2, 9, 15, 16, 18
(3) Social Reinforcement Extent to which one's immediate environment supports intended direction. Items: 6, 8, 12
(4) Narrative Continuity The ability to organize one's life trajectory into a coherent autobiographical narrative that supports present decisions. Items: 3, 5, 10, 13, 17
The PCI comprises 18 Likert items (measured on a Strongly Disagree to Strongly Agree scale) and three situational indicators measured continuously from 0–100.
Eight items are reverse-scored (Items 3, 6, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, and 17) to prevent response bias and ensure unidirectional measurement across domains.
The Normal Coherence Score (NCS) is computed through a two-step penalty model.
First, a base orientation score is calculated by integrating the 18-item behavioral mean (65% weight) with the 3 situational indicators (35% weight).
Second, the instrument measures intra-profile structural tension. If an individual scores exceptionally high in one dimension but very low in another (e.g., high Value Alignment, low Social Reinforcement), this indicates decisional friction. This variance is calculated via standard deviation (std) across the four domains and applied as a coherence penalty:
The final measure subtracts this penalty from the base score:
Scores are grouped into three interpretative bands:
High Alignment (80–100) Consistent narrative alignment across most dimensions measured. Habitual structures support stated priorities.
Moderate Alignment (50–79) Persistent tensions across one or more dimensions. This is typical when undergoing transitions or when values and social environments temporarily drift out of sync.
Low Alignment (0–49) Multiple competing narratives create measurable friction. This is not a pathology, but a functional state signifying that orientation toward a primary direction is currently suspended.
The PCI has not undergone formal psychometric validation or peer review. Acknowledged limitations include self-report bias, selection bias inherent in open-web self-report testing, and lack of established test-retest reliability data. The PCI is an exploratory orientation tool, not a clinical instrument.
Future validation efforts will focus on:
• test–retest reliability • internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) • construct validity across decision-related measures • longitudinal coherence stability
McAdams, D. P. (1993). The stories we live by: Personal myths and the making of the self. Guilford Press.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. Norton.
Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Stanford University Press.
O'Connor, A. M. (1995). Validation of a decisional conflict scale. Medical Decision Making, 15(1), 25–30.
Baumeister, R. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2007). Self-regulation, ego depletion, and motivation. Social and Personality Psychology Compass.
The Personal Coherence Index (PCI) is an independent research instrument currently undergoing iterative validation and calibration. The conceptual framework and scoring model presented in this document reflect the theoretical basis of the instrument at its current stage of development.