Abstract

The Personal Sense of Power Scale (PSPS) is an 8-item instrument originally proposed by Anderson et al. (2012) to measure the perception of one’s ability to influence others. Since its introduction, the PSPS has been extensively used in psychological research. Despite its significant use, few studies have systematically explored its psychometric properties. In this research, we filled this gap for the PSPS’s Italian version. In two studies, we found that 7 out of 8 items of the scale capture two distinct but related aspects of the personal sense of power: power over others’ opinions and power over others’ behavior. The correlations of these variables with self-esteem, dominant personality, motivation to lead, and motivation to be admired provided further indications of the validity of this two-factor structure. All in all, our results suggest that the Italian PSPS is a valid instrument to measure the perception of power as a psychological state.