Preference for Moderation

What it measures

The scale assesses a person's tendency to prefer moderate options over extremes, an eight-item measure built through an unusually rigorous multi-stage validation process.

Response format

7-point Likert (1=strongly disagree, 7=strongly agree)

Scale items

• Avoid excess. Let moderation be your guide.
• Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.
• Moderation in all things is ideal.
• Too fast is as bad as too slow.
• If one oversteps the bounds of moderation, the greatest pleasures cease to please.
• Even a good thing can become destructive if taken to excess.
• A person of moderation is a person of character and of wisdom.
• The road to health for everyone is through moderation.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Drolet et al. (2021) developed this scale through an unusually thorough process, narrowing an initial pool of 102 candidate items down to eight across multiple psychometric testing rounds, followed by seven further studies providing additional evidence of its quality. Reliability was consistently good to excellent (α = .79–.92) across administrations. Extensive validity testing was conducted, including evidence supporting the scale's content validity.

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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