The suspension of dis/belief (Sd/B) chronicity scale: Psychometric development and validation

Suspension of dis/belief (Sd/B) refers to temporarily withholding truth evaluation to engage with fictional, hypothetical, or counter-attitudinal information. Although Sd/B is widely invoked across media, education, and social cognition, research has relied on context-bound measures tied to specific media or settings, such as film, gaming, virtual reality, or simulation-based learning. We developed and validated a brief self-report instrument assessing how frequently individuals report engaging in behaviors that require Sd/B (the Sd/B Chronicity Scale). Across three studies in Portugal and the United States (N = 854), exploratory and confirmatory analyses supported a stable two-factor structure (Fictional Sd/B and Social Sd/B) with good internal consistency in Portuguese and English. In six additional independent samples (N = 1083), Sd/B showed a coherent nomological profile: strong associations with Openness to Experience, moderate links with Need for Cognition, narrative transportation, and cognitive empathy, and smaller positive associations with print exposure and mental-state recognition. Sd/B was largely unrelated to overall Need for Closure but showed the expected negative link with closed-mindedness. Together, findings support Sd/B as a coherent individual-difference construct and provide a concise instrument for research on how people navigate the boundary between belief and imagination.