2026 / Health and well-being

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

Citation

Sabine, S., Gray, C. E., Kahn Jr, P. H., & Bratman, G. N. (2026). Presence Scale Technical Report: Iterative Conceptualization, Psychometrics, and Validity Evidence. doi.org/10.6069/96vd-xp38

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A person sitting on a park bench looking at a lakeThis report summarizes a four-year effort to create and test a new questionnaire called the Presence Scale. The scale includes 14 questions that people answer about their own experiences. It’s designed to measure “Presence,” which is defined as a combination of three elements: a calm and quiet mind, awareness of what’s happening in the present moment, and a sense of connection that goes beyond oneself.

The goal was to develop a simple tool that helps researchers understand how much Presence someone feels during a past experience. Over time, the aim is to use it to measure Presence right after specific activities or in everyday situations.

Abstract

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Consciousness Beyond Self occurs when one’s consciousness seems to expand beyond the confines of the body and mind, and potentially the self merges—one experiences becoming One—with another entity or realm.

The formal presentation of Presence and the core empirical evidence supporting the validity of the Presence Scale are reported in Kahn et al. (in press). This technical report provides the comprehensive methodological and empirical foundation underlying those findings as well as supplemental validity evidence. Here, we document the entire scale development process, including conceptual iterations, pilot studies, factor analyses, and item-level psychometric evaluation that extend beyond the scope of the journal article (see Figure 1 for an overview). Through providing transparent information about our scale development process, this report serves as a resource for researchers who wish to evaluate the Presence Scale and implement it with fidelity in their own work.