SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (1 & 2)
INSTRUCTIONS
In certain social situations people can exhibit different emotions. For example‚ being late for a meeting may cause some people to feel anxious or irritated. Below you will find a list of situations which may cause you to feel either anxious or distressed‚ or angry/irritated or some degree of both.
On the left hand side of the questions we would like you to indicate the degree of anxiety/level of distress you would feel for each situation.
After you have worked through the items once‚ we would like you to go through them again‚ this time indicating in the right hand column how angry‚ irritated and annoyed you would feel.
Please use the following scale.
1 = NOT AT ALL‚ 2 = SOMEWHAT‚ 3 = RATHER‚ 4 = VERY‚ 5 = EXTREMELY
SCALE | ||||||||||
How anxious/distressed | How angry/irritable | |||||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | a) Being criticised | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | b) Being shown up in public | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | c) Being called a derogatory name e.g. stupid/ugly | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | d) Being treated like a child | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | e) Someone pointing out your unattractive qualities | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | f) Being looked at with contempt | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | g) Someone getting the better of you | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | h) having your opinion dismissed as irrelevant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | i) People reacting critically to what you say | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | j) Being seen as inferior | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | k) Being told you are ‘not good enough’ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | I) People running you down behind your back | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | m) Someone trying to make you look weak or stupid | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | n) People having a joke at your expense | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0) Not being treated with respect | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | p) Someone picking on your faults | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | q) Being seen as a nuisance | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | r) Being told your performance is inadequate | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | s) Someone making fun of you in public | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | t) Someone making negative comments about your physical appearance | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
© Gilbert & Miles‚ 2000
SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (2)
INSTRUCTIONS
When we are criticized or feel put-down in social situations we sometimes attribute blame. For example‚ a critical comment might lead us to think that we are at fault in some way. We might also think that we are flawed or inferior. In other words we blame ourselves for the put-down. On the other hand we can also blame others and think they are unjust‚ unfair‚ or unkind. With this thought in mind please read the statements again and rate the degree to which you are likely to blame yourself (left hand side) and the degree to which you are likely to blame others (right hand side). Please use the following scale.
1 = NOT AT ALL‚ 2 = SOMEWHAT‚ 3 = RATHER‚ 4 = VERY‚ 5 = EXTREMELY
SCALE | ||||||||||
Blame myself | Blame others | |||||||||
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | a) Being criticised | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | b) Being shown up in public | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | c) Being called a derogatory name e.g. stupid/ugly | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | d) Being treated like a child | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | e) Someone pointing out your unattractive qualities | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | f) Being looked at with contempt | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | g) Someone getting the better of you | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | h) having your opinion dismissed as irrelevant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | i) People reacting critically to what you say | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | j) Being seen as inferior | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | k) Being told you are ‘not good enough’ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | I) People running you down behind your back | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | m) Someone trying to make you look weak or stupid | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | n) People having a joke at your expense | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 0) Not being treated with respect | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | p) Someone picking on your faults | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | q) Being seen as a nuisance | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | r) Being told your performance is inadequate | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | s) Someone making fun of you in public | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | t) Someone making negative comments about your physical appearance | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
The scale has two parts (how one feels and direction of blame) giving four scores – but each scale could be used separately. Items are simply added.
DESCRIPTION
Sensitivity to Put-Down
The literature was scanned for typical situations that are associated with criticism and social put-down. Clinicians were also asked to note typical situations that patients often felt were hurtful‚ upsetting or caused a sense of grievance. As a first step in this research the idea was not to obtain an exhaustive list but a representative sample of situations that were typical of common social criticisms and social put-down experiences. From these‚ twenty were chosen during a research meeting to act as the core questions. Items include: being criticised and being told you are ‘not good enough’
The design of the scale used a format suggested’ by Arrindell et al. (1990). They studied the level of distress (felt emotions) and frequency of certain behaviours in various assertive situations‚ by using two columns for responding (one for distress and one for behaviours) on either side of the questions. Hence‚ in this study the first part of the scale is scored by participants rating on a Likert scale on the left-hand side the degree of anxiety/upset (distress) they would feel to each situation. They then went through the questions again and rated them (on the right hand side) for how angry/irritated they would feel. The totals of each are taken as levels of distress and anger/irritability respectively. Following this participants were given an identical scale but this time asked to answer it in regard to how much they blamed themselves for the criticism or social put-down (left hand column). Following this they were asked to read through the items again scoring them for how much they blamed others (right hand column). This gives a total blame-self score and a total blame-other score. The alpha reliability coefficients (Cronbach‚ 1951) are above 0.9 and for each of the four subscales‚ suggesting good internal reliability of this scale.
REFERENCE
Gilbert‚ P. & Miles J.N.V. (2000). Sensitivity to put-down: Its relationship to perceptions of shame‚ social anxiety‚ depression‚ anger and self-other blame. Personality and Individual Differences‚ 29‚ 757-774.
Gilbert‚ P. Irons‚ C. Olsen‚ K.‚ Gilbert‚ J. & McEwan‚ K. (2006). Interpersonal sensitivities:Their link to mood‚ anger and gender. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory Research and Practice‚ 79‚ 37-51.
© Gilbert & Miles‚ 2000
Cite this article
mohammad looti (2026). SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (1 & 2). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Retrieved from https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/sensitivity-to-put-down-1-2-2/
mohammad looti. "SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (1 & 2)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 26 Apr. 2026, https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/sensitivity-to-put-down-1-2-2/.
mohammad looti. "SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (1 & 2)." PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, 2026. https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/sensitivity-to-put-down-1-2-2/.
mohammad looti (2026) 'SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (1 & 2)', PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. Available at: https://scales.arabpsychology.com/s/sensitivity-to-put-down-1-2-2/.
[1] mohammad looti, "SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (1 & 2)," PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES, vol. X, no. Y, ص Z-Z, April, 2026.
mohammad looti. SENSITIVITY TO PUT-DOWN (1 & 2). PSYCHOLOGICAL SCALES. 2026;vol(issue):pages.