Individual differences in hedonic capacity

Hedonic capacity--an individuals ability to experience pleasurable affect--is important, not Only in accounting for the development of psychopathology but in understanding normal personality as well. In this article, the development and validation of three scales of hedonic capacity are described. One scale consists of MMPI items, a second consists of CPI items, and the third combines items from both inventories. These scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Initial support for the construct validity of the scales was also obtained. Because they have been constructed from the MMPI and CPI, the scales described in this article can be used to address important questions in research on schizophrenia, depression, and normal personality with a wide variety of data that has already been collected.