A powerful nation that commits reprehensible actions but only holds other countries accountable must be checked, especially if the nation's populace turns a blind eye. This thesis sought to validate a new scale called the American Exceptionalism Index. The current study draws from instruction and examples from academics and professionals who have experience with scale validation – a primer was developed and available to guide future scale development. Following these steps or the inherent purpose behind these steps, the current study seeks to contribute to the American Exceptionalism literature. The current study seeks to validate the American Exceptionalism Index (AEI) and compare it to Gilmore's thirteen national exceptionalism bias items (2015). A total of 506 U.S. adults (M = 35.8, SD = 10.7) took part in the study, and 477 were included in analyses. The average score of the AEI and the average scores of each of the four domains were correlated to the average score of the two domains of Gilmore’s items separately and conjointly. A mistake was made in creating the survey; one item of Gilmore’s first domain was mistakenly left out of the current study and was not intentional. Despite the error, the second domain remained fit to analyze. The AEI nearly achieved convergent validity with Gilmore’s thirteen U.S. national exceptionalism bias items. Despite this, the current study asserts that, with some future improvements, the AEI is a new, valid scale measuring American Exceptionalism.
","abstract_html":"<p>A powerful nation that commits reprehensible actions but only holds other countries accountable must be checked, especially if the nation's populace turns a blind eye. This thesis sought to validate a new scale called the American Exceptionalism Index. The current study draws from instruction and examples from academics and professionals who have experience with scale validation – a primer was developed and available to guide future scale development. Following these steps or the inherent purpose behind these steps, the current study seeks to contribute to the American Exceptionalism literature. The current study seeks to validate the American Exceptionalism Index (AEI) and compare it to Gilmore's thirteen national exceptionalism bias items (2015). A total of 506 U.S. adults (M = 35.8, SD = 10.7) took part in the study, and 477 were included in analyses. The average score of the AEI and the average scores of each of the four domains were correlated to the average score of the two domains of Gilmore’s items separately and conjointly. A mistake was made in creating the survey; one item of Gilmore’s first domain was mistakenly left out of the current study and was not intentional. Despite the error, the second domain remained fit to analyze. The AEI nearly achieved convergent validity with Gilmore’s thirteen U.S. national exceptionalism bias items. Despite this, the current study asserts that, with some future improvements, the AEI is a new, valid scale measuring American Exceptionalism. </p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Charles, Evan Hunter"],"institution":"Eastern Kentucky University","degree_name":"Master of Science (MS)","degree_level":"Master's","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:53Z","subjects":["Politics and Social Change","Social Psychology"],"languages":[],"rights":["Copyright 2022 Evan Hunter Charles"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/695","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Charles, Evan Hunter"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Master's"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Eastern Kentucky University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Politics and Social Change","Social Psychology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2022 Evan Hunter Charles"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/695"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["A powerful nation that commits reprehensible actions but only holds other countries accountable must be checked, especially if the nation's populace turns a blind eye. This thesis sought to validate a new scale called the American Exceptionalism Index. The current study draws from instruction and examples from academics and professionals who have experience with scale validation – a primer was developed and available to guide future scale development. Following these steps or the inherent purpose behind these steps, the current study seeks to contribute to the American Exceptionalism literature. The current study seeks to validate the American Exceptionalism Index (AEI) and compare it to Gilmore's thirteen national exceptionalism bias items (2015). A total of 506 U.S. adults (M = 35.8, SD = 10.7) took part in the study, and 477 were included in analyses. The average score of the AEI and the average scores of each of the four domains were correlated to the average score of the two domains of Gilmore’s items separately and conjointly. A mistake was made in creating the survey; one item of Gilmore’s first domain was mistakenly left out of the current study and was not intentional. Despite the error, the second domain remained fit to analyze. The AEI nearly achieved convergent validity with Gilmore’s thirteen U.S. national exceptionalism bias items. Despite this, the current study asserts that, with some future improvements, the AEI is a new, valid scale measuring American Exceptionalism.
"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/PDF"]},{"key":"dc:source","label":"Dc Source","values":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Scale Validation Of American Exceptionalism Index"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Charles, Evan Hunter"],"dc:description.abstract":["A powerful nation that commits reprehensible actions but only holds other countries accountable must be checked, especially if the nation's populace turns a blind eye. This thesis sought to validate a new scale called the American Exceptionalism Index. The current study draws from instruction and examples from academics and professionals who have experience with scale validation – a primer was developed and available to guide future scale development. Following these steps or the inherent purpose behind these steps, the current study seeks to contribute to the American Exceptionalism literature. The current study seeks to validate the American Exceptionalism Index (AEI) and compare it to Gilmore's thirteen national exceptionalism bias items (2015). A total of 506 U.S. adults (M = 35.8, SD = 10.7) took part in the study, and 477 were included in analyses. The average score of the AEI and the average scores of each of the four domains were correlated to the average score of the two domains of Gilmore’s items separately and conjointly. A mistake was made in creating the survey; one item of Gilmore’s first domain was mistakenly left out of the current study and was not intentional. Despite the error, the second domain remained fit to analyze. The AEI nearly achieved convergent validity with Gilmore’s thirteen U.S. national exceptionalism bias items. Despite this, the current study asserts that, with some future improvements, the AEI is a new, valid scale measuring American Exceptionalism.
"],"dc:format":["application/PDF"],"dc:identifier":["https://encompass.eku.edu/etd/695"],"dc:publisher":["Encompass Digital Archive, Eastern Kentucky University"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2022 Evan Hunter Charles"],"dc:source":["Encompass Digital Archive: Online Theses and Dissertations"],"dc:subject":["Politics and Social Change","Social Psychology"],"dc:title":["Scale Validation Of American Exceptionalism Index"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Master's"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS)"],"thesis:institution_name":["Eastern Kentucky University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:15:53Z"}