This six-item scale measures how much a person feels that other people in an environment, such as a store, are not paying attention to them because they are busy with other things. Ringler, Esmark Jones, and Stevens (2022), who called the construct distraction, used it in Study 1B with 206 undergraduate students, in research on how background crowd chatter makes shoppers feel less noticed. Its wording borrows key terms from distraction measures used by Nowlis and Shiv (2005) and Reynolds-McIlnay and Morrin (2019).
7-point Likert (1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree)
Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.
Alpha was .85 in Study 1B (Ringler, Esmark Jones, and Stevens 2022, p. 598); validity was not discussed. Items 3 and 4 are reverse-scored. The items draw key words and phrases from distraction measures used by Nowlis and Shiv (2005) and Reynolds-McIlnay and Morrin (2019). See also Preoccupation with the Food (ID 90064), an unrelated construct.
Ringler, Christine, Carol L. Esmark Jones, and Jennifer L. Stevens (2022), "The Ostrich Effect: Feeling Hidden Amidst the Ambient Sound of Human Voices," Journal of Retailing, 98 (4), 593-610.
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