The Threat Sensitivity Scale
People differ in their tendency to perceive the possibility of physical harm in the world around them. Some are highly attuned to potential danger, even in seemingly harmless situations, whereas others perceive relatively little threat. The Threat Sensitivity Scale (TSS) is a brief, five-item self-report measure designed to capture these individual differences in physical threat sensitivity. Unlike measures of fear, anxiety, or beliefs about a dangerous world, the TSS directly assesses the tendency to perceive the potential for physical harm in everyday objects and situations that are not inherently threatening.
The TSS is projective in nature, asking individuals to judge the likelihood of physical harm across a range of ambiguous, ostensibly innocuous situations. Across four studies, we demonstrated the scale's reliability and validity, including its associations with theoretically relevant individual differences, perceptual threat biases, and behavioral defensive responses. The TSS provides researchers with a quick, accessible tool for investigating how individual differences in physical threat sensitivity shape perception, judgment, and behavior across a wide range of psychological domains.
Publication: March, Hasty, & Olivett (2024), Scientific Reports
Norming Data: TSS Norms_v1.0_Sept2026
Translations of the Threat Sensitivity Scale