Negative thinking/affect (NTA) in depression and anxiety is an important target of clinical intervention. However, individuals recognize the benefit of NTA. There is a need to develop a scale for empirical studies of NTA. Two‐hundred and fifty‐nine Japanese university students were assigned to answer: (a) the state in the past week (positive affect (PA) and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale), (b) the current state (PA and State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory‐State (STAI‐S)), and (c) the usual state (PA and STAI‐Trait), after completing the Recognized Benefit of NTA Scale (RBNTA). Another 291 students completed the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale and the Revised Life Orientation Test, after completing the RBNTA. Two weeks later, 76 participants completed the RBNTA. The RBNTA with nine subscales was developed after comparing the indices of fitness from 14 different factor solutions. The internal and test‐retest reliability and content validity were confirmed. Correlation analyses revealed that the recognition of trying to obtain benefits/avoid costs tends to associate with positive/negative affect and that most of such recognitions did not associate with self‐esteem and optimism.