Value of Self-Expression

What it measures

The scale assesses how central self-expression is to a person's sense of identity and personal values, adapted from an established cross-cultural measure of self-expressiveness.

Response format

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

Scale items

• I think it is extremely important to express who I am.
• I prioritize expressing myself in my day-to-day life over other goals I may have.
• Self-expression is one of my core values.
• I view self-expression as something I NEED to do, rather than something I simply WANT to do.
• I express myself no matter what other people think.

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

Usage notes & scoring

Rifkin, Du, and Berger (2021) adapted this scale from Kim and Sherman's (2007) 11-item Value of Expressiveness Questionnaire; used with a large MTurk sample. Reliability was good (α = .90). Discriminant validity evidence showed the scale to be statistically distinct from a related domain measure of self-expressiveness.

Citation

Rifkin, Jacqueline R., Katherine M. Du, and Jonah Berger (2021), "Penny for Your Preferences: Leveraging Self-Expression to Encourage Small Prosocial Gifts," Journal of Marketing, 85 (3), 204–219.

Keywords

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