A four-item scale assessing the degree to which an observer perceives a target person as being in urgent and critical need of assistance. Items are rated using a seven-point Likert-type format with anchors of strongly disagree (1) and strongly agree (7), preceded by the stem 'To what extent do you think that the child...' (Fisher, 2015). Fisher and Ma (2014) employed the scale in Studies 2, 3, and 4 to measure the perceived neediness of children depicted in photos and written descriptions of hardship. The scale was not attributed to a prior source by the authors. Internal consistency was excellent: alpha = .95 in Study 2 and .97 in Studies 3 and 4. Although developed in the context of child beneficiaries, the stem can be adapted for other target populations by replacing 'the child' with the relevant referent.
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The item stem used by Fisher and Ma (2014) was 'To what extent do you think that the child...' (Fisher, 2015, personal correspondence). Response anchors: strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (7). The scale was not traced to a prior source by the authors. While developed for child beneficiaries in a charitable-giving context, the stem is adaptable to other need-perception contexts by substituting the target referent. Validity was not formally assessed; the scale's strong internal consistency across three studies and its performance as a predictor of helping behavior support its construct relevance.
Fisher, R. J., & Ma, Y. (2014). The price of being beautiful: Negative effects of attractiveness on empathy for children in need. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(2), 436–450.
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