Three items assess whether a recalled or imagined experience carries genuine self-defining weight -- whether it has shaped the respondent's identity, signals their place in the world, or constitutes a meaningful personal achievement. The scale distinguishes experiential events that bear on who a person is from those that are merely pleasurable or memorable but lack identity significance. It emerged from a broader item pool designed to differentiate ordinary from extraordinary experiences in happiness research.
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Items emerged from an EFA of 39 candidate items drawn from multiple theoretical sources; 10 clear factors were identified, and the three items below constitute one of those factors. The scale captures a state-like judgment about a specific experience and should not be interpreted as a stable individual-difference trait. Exact item wording, scale stem, and response format were confirmed via personal correspondence with the first author. A successful manipulation check application -- differentiating extraordinary from ordinary experiences -- supports the scale's sensitivity to experiential self-definition differences.
Bhattacharjee, A., & Mogilner, C. (2014). Happiness from ordinary and extraordinary experiences. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(1), 1-17.
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