The awareness attribution scale: development, validation, and short-form reduction

This research introduces the Awareness Attribution Scale (AAS), a tool for measuring how humans attribute awareness to a variety of entities, including artificial agents. Grounded in philosophical theories of consciousness, the scale is designed to assess 14 core constructs of awareness, each represented by a single item. Study 1 identified the most comprehensible item for each construct. Study 2 confirmed the internal consistency of the resulting 14-item scale in a context where participants imagined an interaction with a humanoid robot. Study 3 validated the scale across four distinct entities (rock, robot, dog, and human), demonstrating its ability to discriminate between levels of perceived awareness. Finally, Study 4 used Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) to create a reliable 5-item short form, offering a more efficient version for time-constrained settings. The AAS provides a validated, theoretically grounded, and accessible tool for empirical research on awareness attribution.