Positive Psychology Constructs and Scales

Here, you´ll find a list of articles that cover scales/measures that are often used in Positive Psychology research. This page is “work in progress” – therefore, I am very much open to extending this list. So, if you feel something should be included, please shoot me an e-mail or write a comment, ideally providing the APA style citation and a link to a freely obtainable PDF. Please note that the scales are typically copyrighted by those researchers that first described them. It is usually permitted to use them for non-commercial research. In case you want to use them in a commercial context, I advise you to contact the copyright holders first.

Authenticity

Wood, A. M., Linley, P. A., Maltby, J., Baliousis, M., & Joseph, S. (2008). The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the Authenticity Scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(3), 385-399.

Authentic Leadership

Walumbwa, F. O., Avolio, B. J., Gardner, W. L., Wernsing, T. S., & Peterson, S. J. (2008). Authentic Leadership: Development and Validation of a Theory-Based Measure. Journal of Management, 34(1), 89-126.

Autonomous Functioning

Weinstein, N., Przybylski, A. K., & Ryan, R. M. (2012). The index of autonomous functioning: Development of a scale of human autonomy. Journal of Research in Personality, 46(4), 397-413.

Compassionate Love

Hwang, J. Y., Plante, T., & Lackey, K. (2008). The development of the Santa Clara Brief Compassion Scale: An abbreviation of Sprecher and Fehr’s compassionate love scale. Pastoral Psychology, 56(4), 421-428.

Core Self-Evaluations

Judge, T. A., Erez, A., Bono, J. E., & Thoresen, C. J. (2003). The core self‐evaluations scale: Development of a measure. Personnel Psychology, 56(2), 303-331.

Depressive Symptoms

Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale a self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1(3), 385-401.

Energy at Work

Cole, M. S., Bruch, H., & Vogel, B. (2012). Energy at work: A measurement validation and linkage to unit effectiveness. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(4), 445-467.

Owens, B. P., Baker, W. E., Sumpter, D. M., & Cameron, K. S. (2016). Relational energy at work: Implications for job engagement and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101(1), 35-49.

Fear of Happiness

Gilbert, P., McEwan, K., Gibbons, L., Chotai, S., Duarte, J., & Matos, M. (2012). Fears of compassion and happiness in relation to alexithymia, mindfulness, and self‐criticism. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 85(4), 374-390.

Flourishing

Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D. W., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2010). New well-being measures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97(2), 143-156.

General Self-Efficacy

Chen, G., Gully, S. M., & Eden, D. (2001). Validation of a new general self-efficacy scale. Organizational Research Methods, 4(1), 62-83.

Gratitude

McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. A. (2002). The grateful disposition: a conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(1), 112-127.

Grit

Duckworth, A. L., & Quinn, P. D. (2009). Development and validation of the Short Grit Scale (GRIT–S). Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(2), 166-174.

Happiness

Lyubomirsky, S., & Lepper. H. S. (1999): A measure of subjective happiness: Preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46(2), 137-155.

Hope

Snyder, C. R., Harris, C., Anderson, J. R., Holleran, S. A., Irving, L. M., Sigmon, S. T., … & Harney, P. (1991). The will and the ways: development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(4), 570-585.

Meaning in Life / in Work

Steger, M. F., Frazier, P., Oishi, S., & Kaler, M. (2006). The meaning in life questionnaire: Assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 53(1), 80-93.

Steger, M. F., Dik, B. J., & Duffy, R. D. (2012). Measuring meaningful work: The work and meaning inventory (WAMI). Journal of Career Assessment, 20(3), 322-337.

Optimism

Scheier, M. F., Carver, C. S., & Bridges, M. W. (1994). Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): a reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(6), 1063-1078.

PERMA (Flourishing)

Butler, J., & Kern, M. L. (2014). The PERMA-Profiler: A brief measure of flourishing. Unpublished manuscript.

Positive and Negative Affect (PANAS)

Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: the PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070.

Alternatively:

SPANE – see: Diener, E., Wirtz, D., Tov, W., Kim-Prieto, C., Choi, D. W., Oishi, S., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2010). New well-being measures: Short scales to assess flourishing and positive and negative feelings. Social Indicators Research, 97(2), 143-156.

Posttraumatic Growth

Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (1996). The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory: Measuring the positive legacy of trauma. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 9(3), 455-471.

Psychological Safety

Edmondson, A. (1999). Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 350-383.

Satisfaction with Life (SWLS)

Diener, E. D., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71-75.

Self-Compassion

Neff, K. D. (2003). The development and validation of a scale to measure self-compassion. Self and Identity, 2(3), 223-250.

Self-Esteem

Rosenberg, M. (1979). Rosenberg self-esteem scale. New York: Basic Books.

Self-Mastery

Pearlin, L. I., & Schooler, C. (1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19(2), 2-21.

Thriving at Work

Porath, C., Spreitzer, G., Gibson, C., & Garnett, F. G. (2012). Thriving at work: Toward its measurement, construct validation, and theoretical refinement. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 33(2), 250-275.

Additional Questionnaire Resources

• You can take a lot of questionnaires for free via Authentic Happiness, Martin Seligman´s website.
• You´ll find numerous questionnaires that are used in research on self-determination theory (SDT) here.
• The Measurement Instrument Database for the Social Sciences (MIDSS) is a great database that lets you search for scales via keywords. It provides the items and key references for (literally) tons of measures.