Personal Prosocial Responsibility Scale

What it measures

Measures the degree to which a person feels personally responsible for providing aid to people they do not know. The scale captures an individual's sense of obligation toward the welfare of strangers and their acceptance of a personal duty to help those outside their immediate social circle.

Scale items

• Individuals should not be responsible for helping others they don't know. (r)
• It is not my responsibility to provide aid to other people. (r)
• I should not be expected to help others I don't know. (r)
• I feel that it is not up to me to provide aid to individuals. (r)

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

Usage notes & scoring

Used by Winterich & Zhang (2014) in Studies 3, 3a, and 3b. The source of the scale was not identified. Alpha = .90 in Study 3; alphas for Studies 3a and 3b were not reported. Validity was not discussed. All four items are reverse-keyed as written (each item asserts a lack of responsibility), so scores must be reversed before analysis to yield a prosocial responsibility score where higher values reflect greater felt responsibility. Researchers should note that the item wording frames personal responsibility negatively by default; depending on the research context and participant population, the all-reverse-keyed structure may affect acquiescence patterns.

Citation

Winterich, K.P., & Zhang, Y. (2014). Accepting inequality deters responsibility: How power distance decreases charitable behavior. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(2), 274-293.

Keywords