Social Distance Scale

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Description The Social Distance Scale (Taylor, 1960) is a questionnaire designed to measure social attitudes, including hostility or friendliness, toward minority and authority groups. The instrument consists of two subscales: one for minority group acceptance and another for authority group acceptance. It evaluates the willingness of individuals to accept members of various groups in different social contexts, such as close kinship, neighborhood, or country residency. Ethnic minority groups assessed include Negroes, Turks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Hindus, while authority groups include Fascists, Nazis, and similar organizations. Although the scale has limitations, it serves as a supplementary tool for evaluating social attitudes.
Author Irving A. Taylor
Purpose To measure social attitudes, specifically overt hostility or friendliness, toward minority and authority groups.
Construct Authority Group Acceptance; Minority Group Acceptance; Social Attitudes
Instrument Type Rating Scale
Administration Method Paper-based questionnaire with a checklist format.
Number of Items 10
Population Group Adults aged 18 and older, including college students.
Population Details Male and female college students.
Reliability The correlation between the Minority subscale and the Authority subscale was positive, with a contingency coefficient of 0.25 and a corrected coefficient of 0.37.
Validity Not reported.
DOI 10.1037/t06926-000
Keywords Attitudes Measures, Ethnic Minority Groups, Racial Attitudes, Social Distance Scale, Social Perception, Test Development, Extreme Social Attitudes, Extreme Liberalism, Extreme Conservatism.
Index Terms Attitude Measures, Conservatism, Ingroup-Outgroup, Liberalism, Minority Groups, Racial and Ethnic Attitudes, Rating Scales, Social Perception, Test Construction.

Reference

Taylor, I. A. (1960). Similarities in the structure of extreme social attitudes. Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 74(2), 1–36. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0093754

 

On this blank are listed the names of a number of different groups and descrip9ons of six different social rela9onships. For each group please check all the social rela9onships to which you would be willing to admit members of that group. If you would prefer not to admit members of a par9cular group to any of these six rela9onships, put a check mark opposite the name of that group in Column 7 (Would exclude from my country).

Social Distance Scale

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
 

To close

  

To my club as

  

To my street

  

To employment

  

To

  

As visitors

  

Would
kinship by personal as neighbors in my ci9zenship to my exclude
marriage chums   occupa9on in in my country from my
      my country country   country
Fascists                                                                             
Hindus                                                                             
Puerto Ricans                                                                             
Reac9onaries                                                                             
Mexicans                                                                             
Nazis                                                                             
Turks                                                                             
Negroes                                                                             
Ku Klux Klan                                                                             
Totalitarians                                                                             

 

 

Cite this article

Mohammed looti (2025). Social Distance Scale. Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Retrieved from https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/social-distance-scale/

Mohammed looti. "Social Distance Scale." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 28 Oct. 2025, https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/social-distance-scale/.

Mohammed looti. "Social Distance Scale." Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, 2025. https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/social-distance-scale/.

Mohammed looti (2025) 'Social Distance Scale', Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. Available at: https://db.arabpsychology.com/scales/social-distance-scale/.

[1] Mohammed looti, "Social Distance Scale," Psychological Scales & Instruments Database, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, October, 2025.

Mohammed looti. Social Distance Scale. Psychological Scales & Instruments Database. 2025;vol(issue):pages.

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