Development and validation of the Body and Appearance Self-Conscious Emotions Scale (BASES)

•A measure that collectively assesses body shame, guilt, and pride was developed.•A 4-factor structure representing shame, guilt, authentic and hubristic pride was supported.•Strong evidence for content, concurrent, convergent, and discriminant validity was presented.•The development and validation of the BASES may help advance body image research. The purpose of these studies was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of shame, guilt, authentic pride, and hubristic pride for use in body and appearance contexts. In Study 1, 41 potential items were developed and assessed for item quality and comprehension. In Study 2, a panel of experts (N=8; M=11, SD=6.5 years of experience) reviewed the scale and items for evidence of content validity. Participants in Study 3 (n=135 males, n=300 females) completed the BASES and various body image, personality, and emotion scales. A separate sample (n=155; 35.5% male) in Study 3 completed the BASES twice using a two-week time interval. The BASES subscale scores demonstrated evidence for internal consistency, item-total correlations, concurrent, convergent, incremental, and discriminant validity, and 2-week test–retest reliability. The 4-factor solution was a good fit in confirmatory factor analysis, reflecting body-related shame, guilt, authentic and hubristic pride subscales of the BASES. The development and validation of the BASES may help advance body image and self-conscious emotion research by providing a foundation to examine the unique antecedents and outcomes of these specific emotional experiences.