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Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS)3

Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) Test

Understand how you experience pleasure both in anticipation and in the moment in about 4 minutes. 18 quick items give clear insights to support therapy, coaching, or research.

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Questions: 184 minutes

08:30

October 2, 2025

October 2, 2025
Material has been updated

October 2, 2025
Material has been published

27,176 views

1,684 completions

1,301 likes

Verified by Daniel Hall

Psychologist with 25 years of experience

Scale Explorer

How the Scales are Structured

example score

4/6

Anticipatory Pleasure (AP)

Measures how strongly a person typically feels positive emotion when anticipating future enjoyable events or rewards.

Low

Moderate

High

1 – 2.8: Low | 2.9 – 4.4: Moderate | 4.5 – 6: High

A score of 4 indicates a moderate tendency to experience pleasure in anticipation, suggesting generally present but not consistently strong positive anticipation of upcoming rewarding events.

example score

3/6

Consummatory Pleasure (CP)

Measures how strongly a person experiences pleasure and positive emotion in the moment of a rewarding or enjoyable event.

Lower in-the-moment pleasure

Moderate in-the-moment pleasure

Higher in-the-moment pleasure

1 – 3.6: Lower in-the-moment pleasure | 3.6 – 5.3: Moderate in-the-moment pleasure | 5.3 – 6: Higher in-the-moment pleasure

A score of 3 indicates a lower tendency to feel strong enjoyment during pleasurable experiences compared with typical in-the-moment responses.

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DATA-BASED USER COHORTS

Who Usually Takes This Test?

Low mood and burnout

41%OF USERS

People who feel emotionally flat, unmotivated, or burned out take it to see whether the problem is in anticipating pleasure, enjoying it in the moment, or both.

Therapy progress trackers

34%OF USERS

Clients in psychotherapy or coaching use it to monitor changes in how rewarding life feels over time and to guide next steps.

Psychology students and researchers

25%OF USERS

Students and researchers take it to study reward processing and compare anticipatory versus in-the-moment pleasure across groups.

BASED ON AGGREGATED, ANONYMIZED DATA FROM TENS OF THOUSANDS OF FREUDLY USERS.

Benchmarking

See How You Compare

Once you complete the test, your results are compared with real-world data from people in your country.
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.

Anticipatory Pleasure (Ant) (AP()

Average

3.8

Normal range

3.1 — 4.5

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

Consummatory Pleasure (Con) (CP()

Average

4.3

Normal range

3.6 — 5

min.

max.

This curve shows how scores are typically distributed.
Once you complete the test, your result will appear on the scale so you can see how you compare.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS

Example Questions From the Test

Please read each statement carefully and decide how true it is for you overall. Please respond to all items. If you have not had a similar experience, think of something very close or comparable and answer accordingly.

- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Somewhat agree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Somewhat agree
- Agree
- Strongly agree
- Strongly disagree
- Disagree
- Somewhat disagree
- Somewhat agree
- Agree
- Strongly agree

These are 3 of the 18 real questions — the rest appear in the test. No sign-up needed to start.

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WHAT THE TEST MEASURES

About This Assessment

Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) Test - Symptoms and Signs

pleasure

This self-report measure assesses individual differences in hedonic capacity across time, distinguishing anticipatory pleasure (enjoyment related to expecting future positive experiences) from consummatory pleasure (enjoyment during the experience itself). The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) is commonly used in clinical and research settings to characterize patterns of pleasure responsivity that may be relevant to motivation and affective functioning.

The instrument includes 18 items and typically requires about 4 minutes to complete. Respondents rate how well statements describe their usual reactions to potentially enjoyable situations, yielding separate indices for anticipatory and consummatory pleasure. The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) was developed by G. P. John, D. M. Gard, D. H. Gard, and J. P. Kring and is intended to support screening, baseline characterization, and outcome monitoring when interpreted in conjunction with other clinical information.

Author: D. H. Gard, D. M. Gard, G. P. John, J. P. Kring

Literature: Gard, D. E., Gard, M. G., Kring, A. M., & John, O. P. Anticipatory and consummatory components of the experience of pleasure: a scale development study. Journal of Research in Personality. 2006.