Impulsiveness

What it measures

The scale assesses the personality trait of acting on impulse, capturing limited planning and self-restraint. Drawn from a well-established clinical measure of impulsiveness, it's frequently used in consumer research to study unplanned purchasing and self-control failures.

Response format

7-point Likert (exact anchor wording not specified in the source)

Scale items

• I act “on impulse”.
• I act on the spur of the moment.
• I buy things on impulse.
• I make-up my mind quickly.
• I do things without thinking.
• I spend or charge more than I earn.
• I am happy-go-lucky.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Drolet et al. (2021) borrowed this scale from Barratt's (1965) classic impulsiveness/anxiety measure — specifically the subset of seven items forming one established unidimensional subfactor (per Patton, Stanford, & Barratt 1995). Reliability was good (α = .85). It wasn't validated independently in this study but was used alongside several other measures while validating a separate new scale (propensity for moderation).

Citation

Drolet, A., Luce, M.F., Jiang, L., Rossi, B.C., & Hastie, R. (2021). The Preference for Moderation Scale. Journal of Consumer Research, 47(6), 831–854.

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