A SCALE FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF HEDONIC TONE - THE SNAITH-HAMILTON PLEASURE SCALE

Background. Hedonic tone and its absence, anhedonia, are important in psychopathological research, but instruments for their assessment are lengthy and probably culturally biased. Method. A new scale was constr ucted from the responses of a large sample of the general population t o a request to list six situations which afforded pleasure. The most f requent items were reviewed and those likely to be affected by cultura l setting, age, or sex were removed. A pilot study led to an abbreviat ed scale of 14 items, covering four domains of pleasure response. This questionnaire was subjected to psychometric evaluation in new samples from the general population and psychiatric patients. Results. The sc ale was found to have a score range that would distinguish a 'normal' from an 'abnormal' response. Validity and reliability were found to be satisfactory. Conclusions. The new scale, the Snaith-Hamilton Pleasur e Scale (SHAPS), is an instrument which may be recommended for psychop athological research.