Anticipatory and consummatory components of the experience of pleasure: A scale development study

Abstract

The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) was designed to measure individual trait dispositions in both anticipatory and consummatory experiences of pleasure. From an initial pool of theory-based items, we developed a 10-item anticipatory pleasure scale and an 8-item consummatory pleasure scale using several large college-age samples; the two scales were both internally consistent and temporally stable. As expected, these two scales were moderately, positively correlated with each other. Examination of convergent and discriminant validity indicated that the two scales measured distinct and specific constructs. In particular the anticipatory scale was related to reward responsiveness and imagery, while consummatory pleasure was related to openness to different experiences, and appreciation of positive stimuli. Potential applications of the TEPS, particularly in psychopathology research, are discussed.