Attitude Toward the Cause Scale

What it measures

A five-item, seven-point uni-polar scale measuring a person's overall reaction to a charitable cause. The scale blends affective responses — feeling upset, sympathetic, and touched by the cause situation — with cognitive-moral evaluations of personal responsibility and the perceived appropriateness of making a donation. Items were developed for research on charitable giving and the distinction between identifiable and statistical victims, and the scale has been used across multiple published studies examining the emotional and deliberative processes underlying donation decisions. The instrument is most appropriate for contexts where respondents may plausibly feel emotionally affected by the cause described; its psychometric performance in emotionally neutral contexts is unknown.

Response format

7-point uni-polar scale (1=not at all, 7=extremely)

Scale items

• How upsetting is this situation to you?
• How sympathetic did you feel while reading the description of the cause?
• How much do you feel it is your moral responsibility to help out with this cause?
• How touched were you by the situation described?
• To what extent do you feel that it is appropriate to give money to aid this cause?

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

The scale combines affective (items 1, 2, 4: upsetting, sympathetic, touched) and cognitive-moral (items 3, 5: moral responsibility, appropriateness of giving) content. This mixed content reflects the multifaceted nature of cause attitudes, though researchers requiring a purely affective or purely cognitive instrument should consider using item subsets. The scale was developed by Small, Loewenstein, & Slovic (2007) and applied in that context with alpha = .87; it was subsequently used by Smith, Faro, & Burson (2013) in a charitable giving study involving victimised animals, where alpha = .93. The scale is distinct from ID 262 (Attitude Toward Cause-Related Marketing Scale), which measures attitudes toward companies that engage in CRM rather than attitudes toward a specific cause. Also cited as Smith, R.W., Faro, D., & Burson, K.A. (2013). More for the many: The influence of entitativity on charitable giving. Journal of Consumer Research, 39(5), 961-976. (https://doi.org/10.1086/666470)

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Small, D.A., Loewenstein, G., & Slovic, P. (2007). Sympathy and callousness: The impact of deliberative thought on donations to identifiable and statistical victims. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 102(2), 143-153.

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