Conscience Measure

Abstract

The Conscience Measure (CM), developed by Schutt and Exline (2023), is a 16-item psychological scale designed to quantify an individual’s beliefs regarding their conscience—the inner feeling or voice perceived to guide moral behavior. The instrument specifically measures three core dimensions: the self-reported frequency of following one’s conscience, and the perceived importance and reliability of this internal guide. The scale’s content was informed by previous measures, such as the Stilwell Conscience Interview (Stilwell & Galvin, 1985).

Initial validation of the CM was conducted using a sample of U.S. adult Mechanical Turk workers. The findings confirmed strong psychometric properties, demonstrating good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .86 to .94) and robust factor analysis results. Furthermore, the instrument provided preliminary evidence for solid convergent and discriminant validity.

Keywords

Conscience Beliefs, Conscience, Morality, Following Conscience, Importance, Reliability, Attitude Measures, Psychological Assessment

Authors

William A. Schutt, Julie J. Exline

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Conscience Measure is to provide a standardized, quantifiable assessment of the cognitive and attitudinal beliefs individuals hold about their inner moral guide. It aims to operationalize the specific ways in which people relate to the internal feeling or voice they understand to be their conscience.

This measure allows researchers to investigate variables related to moral psychology by quantifying individual differences in three key domains: the behavioral tendency to heed the conscience (Following), the subjective value placed upon it (Importance), and the degree of trust invested in its guidance (Reliability).

Construct

The Conscience Measure is a multi-dimensional inventory assessing an individual’s orientation toward their personal conscience. The scale is structured around three distinct subscales, each representing a critical facet of the construct:

• Following: This dimension assesses the frequency with which an individual engages in behaviors such as listening to, noticing, paying attention to, or relying on their conscience during decision-making, contrasting these with acts of ignoring or disregarding it.

• Importance: This dimension measures the extent to which the individual views their conscience as a valuable, essential, important, or useful component of their moral life.

• Reliability: This dimension evaluates the degree to which the individual perceives their conscience as trustworthy, accurate, reliable, and dependable as a guide for ethical behavior.

Validity

Preliminary evidence supports the psychometric validity of the Conscience Measure, particularly regarding its relationships with theoretically related and unrelated constructs.

The instrument demonstrated good Convergent and Discriminant Validity. The multi-item conscience measures showed expected strong correlations with their corresponding single-item slider measures (Schutt & Exline, 2023). Furthermore, the scales correlated appropriately with relevant items from the Perceptions of Conscience Questionnaire (PCQ; Dahlqvist et al., 2007) and exhibited expected patterns of correlation with the broader Big Five personality trait of conscientiousness, confirming that the CM measures its intended constructs effectively.

Reliability

The Conscience Measure demonstrates strong internal consistency, confirming that the items within each subscale cohere well and measure the same underlying construct.

The measure’s Internal Consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients. Across all subscales (Following, Importance, and Reliability), the alpha values ranged from .86 to .94, indicating a high level of reliability suitable for psychological research.

Factor Analysis

An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed to examine the latent structure of the Conscience Measure items. The results largely supported the hypothesized three-factor model corresponding to Following, Importance, and Reliability.

For the “Following” subscale, the EFA revealed a two-factor solution, suggesting a distinction between positively and negatively worded items. Factor 1 (eigenvalue = 4.18), which accounted for 52% of the variance, comprised the positively framed items. Factor 2 (eigenvalue = 1.4), accounting for 17% of the variance, included the three negatively worded items (e.g., ignoring or disregarding). For both the “Importance” and “Reliability” subscales, the EFA confirmed a single-factor structure, demonstrating clear unidimensionality for these two constructs.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: The instrument uses structured Likert scale response options for all 16 items, with specific anchors tailored to each subscale:

• Following: A 5-point scale anchored by frequency (1=never to 5=always).

• Importance: A 5-point scale anchored by extent (1=not at all to 5=extremely).

• Reliability: A 5-point scale anchored by extent (1=not at all to 5=extremely).

Language Available: English

Population Group: Human (Male; Female)

Age Group: Adulthood (18 years & older)

Population Details: The validation sample consisted of adult Mechanical Turk workers located in the United States.

Test Methodology: Test Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Psychometrics, Moral Psychology, Inner Voice, Conscience Assessment, Belief Measures

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier:

• Schutt, William A.: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0473-1380

Affiliation and Email addresses:

• Schutt, William A.: Case Western Reserve University, Department of Psychological Sciences ([email protected])

• Exline, Julie J.: Case Western Reserve University, Department of Psychological Sciences

Correspondence Address:

• Schutt, William A.: Case Western Reserve University, Department of Psychological Sciences, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio, United States, 44106-7123 ([email protected])

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

• Permissions: May be used for Research and Teaching purposes.

• Commercial Use: No commercial use is permitted.

• Fee: No fee is required for non-commercial use.

• Test Year: 2023

References

1. Schutt, W. A., & Exline, J. J. (2025). Do adults believe that god or the devil can influence their conscience? Links between religion/spirituality, beliefs about the conscience, and attempts to follow one’s conscience. Spirituality in Clinical Practice, 12(1), 98–113. https://doi.org/10.1037/scp0000320

2. Dahlqvist, O., Sjöberg, L., & Sjöberg, T. (2007). Perceptions of Conscience Questionnaire (PCQ).

3. Stilwell, B. M., & Galvin, M. R. (1985). Stilwell Conscience Interview.

Items of the Conscience Measure

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Conscience Measure

Following One’s Conscience

When making decisions, how often do you:

Importance of One’s Conscience

To what extent do you think your conscience is:

Reliability of One’s Conscience

To what extent do you think your conscience is: