How the challenge works
Watch each clip all the way through, then choose the best answer. There are 14 clips. You can replay a clip and change an answer with Back. There is no time limit for answering, and no sound to turn on.
The animations show simple shapes interacting. Your task is to infer intentions from movement, rather than recognize a face or recall a fact. The original Social Shapes Test was developed to study this part of social understanding [1].
How to read your result
Your result counts answers that match the original item key. It is not an IQ score or a measure of your worth, empathy or relationships. We compare results with other Helibrain players using broad bands. While there are too few eligible runs, we show the number of players so far instead of inventing a norm.
These visitors are not a representative sample. Familiarity with the clips, language, attention and replaying them can all affect the result. Trying again is welcome, but knowing the stories makes a repeat attempt easier.
What the research does and does not show
Studies of the Social Shapes Test support its use for studying social understanding [1][2]. Published work also reports only modest agreement across two short forms, so a single result should be read cautiously [2].
This page is a shortened adaptation: we selected the first 14 scored items from the authors’ final 23-item set. We did not reproduce either published 14-item parallel form, and their reliability estimates do not validate this selection. Our presentation allows replay and backtracking. We use our own player comparisons, not the papers’ norms.
This activity cannot diagnose any condition or tell you how you behave in a real conversation.
Animation attribution
Social Shapes Test animations and questions by Myles I. Brown and colleagues, from Social Shapes Test Development and Validation, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. The animation files are unchanged. Helibrain selected a shorter set, trimmed surrounding spaces in the questions, and built this browser presentation. The authors do not endorse this page.
Frequently asked questions
Is this an empathy test?
It is a narrow task about interpreting actions and intentions. Empathy and everyday social skills involve more than reading a shape animation.
Is the challenge free?
Yes. The questions and result are free, without an account. We save runs and the usual test context described in our privacy policy to build comparisons. The Helibrain app has separate free and paid plans.
Related tests
- Big Five personality testYour five broad personality traits, from 50 public-domain statements.
- Aphantasia testHow vivid the pictures in your mind's eye are, in your own words.
- Decision trapsNotice framing, sunk costs and tempting first answers.
Want to work on this daily? The Helibrain app has a free plan and paid plans.
Sources
- Brown MI et al. (2019). The Social Shapes Test: A new measure of social intelligence, mentalizing, and theory of mind. Personality and Individual Differences. doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.01.035
- Brown MI, Heck PR, Chabris CF (2024). The Social Shapes Test as a self-administered, online measure of social intelligence: Two studies. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. doi.org/10.1007/s10803-023-05901-2
- Brown MI and colleagues. Social Shapes Test Development and Validation: original materials and license. osf.io/sqxy6/
How we made this page: written by the Helibrain team from the studies listed above, and reviewed by Robert (biophysics PhD candidate) on 4 November 2026. We update it when the sources change.