Measuring contrarianism: Conceptual framework and scale validation

The term “contrarian” often refers to those who “go against the grain”. Although many pieces of conventional psychological wisdom focus on the tendency to conform (e.g., groupthink, conformity, social norms), people also actively resist social pressure and deviate from social norms. Contrarianism, the extent to which someone adopts beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors that diverge from the mainstream, plays a key role in shaping social change. While other constructs measure compliance to direct requests, others' wishes or commands (e.g., agreeableness, reactance), no construct to date hones in on the tendency to or frequency with which one deviates from observed norms in one's environment. Across six high-powered studies (total N = 2434), we developed and validated the Contrarianism Scale (21-items, single factor) for measuring trait contrarianism and six supplemental scales for measuring four key dimensions for classifying contrarianism and five proximal motives for contrarianism. We provide evidence of the scale's high internal and test-retest reliability, convergent and divergent validity from relevant psychological traits, and power for predicting real-world contrarianism beliefs and behaviors. These scales enable researchers and other professionals to study the psychological effects of individual-level contrarianism.