The Words Can Harm Scale
The Words Can Harm Scale is a 10-item measure of the belief that words can cause lasting psychological harm (Pratt et al., 2026). This interactive data dashboard allows you to:
- Take the scale to see how you compare to others.
- Interact with the results of a 956-person nationally representative survey measuring who believes most strongly that words can harm, and what is associated with holding this belief.
Pratt, S., Jones, P. J., Bellet, B. W., McNally, R. J., & Gray, K. (2026). The words can harm scale: Measuring beliefs about harmful speech. Personality and Individual Differences, 257, 113785. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2026.113785
Take the Words Can Harm Scale
Read each statement and move the slider to indicate how strongly you agree — from 1 (strongly disagree) to 100 (strongly agree). Your score is the average of your answers. Your responses are completely anonymous and no data will be collected; your responses stay in your browser.
How people answered each statement.
Each row shows the full distribution of responses to that item across the 956-person nationally representative sample, with the sample's mean marked. Once you've taken the scale above, your answers will appear as orange markers alongside the sample's responses.
Score distributions by group.
Compare how the score distribution shifts across demographic and political groups. The grey baseline is always the full 956-person sample.
Correlations with 37 other measures.
Select a measure below to see how strongly it correlates with the Words Can Harm Scale. All correlations are Pearson's r, computed from the nationally representative sample of 956 U.S. adults.