UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 28, 2013

Last Modified: January 27, 2023 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements the original UPPS impulsive behavior scale described in:

Whiteside, S. P., & Lynam, D. R. (2001). The Five Factor Model and impulsivity: using a structural model of personality to understand impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(4), 669-689.

And made available by Dr. Lynam on: • https://www1.psych.purdue.edu/~dlynam/uppspage.htm

Duration

3 minutes

Overview

45 4-point Likert Questions regarding impulsive behavior

Scoring

According to Whiteside & Lynam (2001) impulsivity encompasses four personality facets that are
assessed in the UPPS impulse behavior scale:
the 45 questions are assigned to the following facets:

1) Urgency (URG): 2 (R), 6 (R), 10 (R), 14 (R), 18 (R), 24 (R), 28 (R), 32 (R), 36 (R), 41 (R), 43, 45 (R)
"measures an individual’s tendency to act “impulsively” under conditions of negative affect" *

2) (lack of) Premeditation (PREM): 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 23, 27, 31, 35, 39, 40.
"assesses an individual’s tendency to act without consideration of the potential consequences of the behavior" *

3) (lack of) Perseverance (PERS): 4, 8 (R), 12, 16, 20, 22, 26, 30, 34, 38 (R)
"assesses an individual’s tendency to give up in the face of boredom, fatigue, or frustration." *

4) Sensation Seeking (SS): 3 (R), 7 (R), 11 (R), 15 (R), 19 (R), 21 (R), 25 (R), 29 (R), 33 (R), 37 (R), 42 (R), 44 (R)
"refers to an individual’s interest in and tendency to pursue activities that are exciting and novel" *

(R) = reversed scoring
• = see web site above

Summary Data

File Name: upps_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
startDate Date the session was run
startTime Time the session was run
subjectId Participant ID
groupId Group number
sessionId Session number
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed

Raw Data

File Name: upps.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject, group, session With the current subject/groupnumber/session id
build Inquisit version number
q*_response Response given (in assigned values)
Scale: 1 (strongly agree) - 4 (disagree strongly)
R = automatically reversed scored questions
q*_latency How much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveyPage with this particular
question (the last time this particular surveyPage was visited)