Emotional Contagion Scale (ECS, Doherty)
PsychologyReliability: alpha 0.903 sample items
About this scale
A 15-item measure of susceptibility to catching others' emotions. Useful in service-work, teamwork, and leadership-emotion-transfer research.
Sample item(s)
“I am annoyed when I'm with someone who is acting angry”
“I notice myself getting tense when I'm around a tense person”
“Hearing the laughter of children makes me feel happy”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.90. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Free for academic use.
Source & citation
Doherty, R. W. (1997): The emotional contagion scale: A measure of individual differences. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 131–154.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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