Comfortability of the Object

What it measures

A five-item scale measuring the sense of comfort, safety, and security a consumer derives from a specific possession through physical interaction with it — holding, touching, or having it present. Items contain a blank for the focal object and span emotional comfort, safety and security, calming effects of physical touch, and the reassuring sense of the object's presence. Developed to measure the comforting function of a possession independent of its instrumental utility.

Response format

7-point Likert

Scale items

• I feel a sense of comfort when I use my _____.
• When using my _____ I feel safe and secure.
• Just holding my _____, no matter what I do with it, makes me feel comforted.
• Touching or holding my _____ makes me feel calmer.
• Having my _____ with me makes me feel secure.

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

Usage notes & scoring

FILL-IN-THE-BLANK FORMAT: Blanks should be replaced with the focal object name (e.g., 'smartphone', 'phone', 'laptop'). Three reliability estimates: α = .88 (Study 3, n = 715) and α = .86 (Study 4, n = 1,389) — Melumad & Meyer (2020); α = .94 — Melumad & Pham (2020, Study 1). Two EFAs confirmed unidimensional factor structure for both smartphone and laptop computer versions. Companion to Comfort Felt (COMF, ID 2111) and the smartphone attitude battery (SMHP/SMPR/SMPT/SMSC/SMPS/SMST) from the same research programme.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Melumad, Shiri and Robert Meyer (2020). The dark side of the smartphone: An investigation of smartphone-induced failures of self-regulation. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(2), 17–40. [Also applied: Melumad, Shiri and Michel Tuan Pham (2020). Journal of Marketing Research, 57(2), 236–256.]

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