Presence Scale Technical Report: Iterative Conceptualization, Psychometrics, and Validity Evidence

This technical report details the four-year process through which we developed and completed an initial validation of the Presence Scale (see Appendix K or Table 20 for the finalized scale). The Presence Scale is a 14-item self-report measure of Presence, a hierarchical construct composed of three factors: Stillness of Mind, Present Moment Awareness, and Consciousness Beyond Self. Our goal in creating the Presence Scale was to have a self-report measure from which we can draw inferences about the degree to which a person experienced Presence during a recalled experience or, eventually, following an experimental condition or immediately after an experience in everyday life. Our formal definition of Presence and its three factors are provided below: Presence is the state of being in which conditioned thinking ceases, and the mind is open, aware, non-reactive, and still; and often a witness of itself. In this state, one can experience one’s consciousness as expanding, and one’s self as becoming part of something larger than the self. Presence is the mind attuned. Subject, not object. Life affirming. Stillness of Mind occurs when discursive thinking subsides and the mind is clear, calm, and settled. Present Moment Awareness occurs when one is open to and aware of the now, of the present moment, of being, even if one is involved in activity. This technical report details the four-year process through which we developed and completed an initial validation of the Presence Scale (see Appendix K or Table 20 for the finalized scale). The Presence Scale is a 14-item self-report measure of Presence, a hierarchical construct composed of three factors: Stillness of Mind, Present Moment Awareness, and Consciousness Beyond Self. Our goal in creating the Presence Scale was to have a self-report measure from which we can draw inferences about the degree to which a person experienced Presence during a recalled experience or, eventually, following an experimental condition or immediately after an experience in everyday life. Our formal definition of Presence and its three factors are provided below: Presence is the state of being in which conditioned thinking ceases, and the mind is open, aware, non-reactive, and still; and often a witness of itself. In this state, one can experience one’s consciousness as expanding, and one’s self as becoming part of something larger than the self. Presence is the mind attuned. Subject, not object. Life affirming. Stillness of Mind occurs when discursive thinking subsides and the mind is clear, calm, and settled. Present Moment Awareness occurs when one is open to and aware of the now, of the present moment, of being, even if one is involved in activity.