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Aging And The Semantic Differential: Semantic Stability In The Measurement Of Social Evaluation, Marilyn Diane Petersen

Dissertations and Theses

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the validity of utilizing the same semantic differential test as a measure of social evaluation for persons of different ages. The semantic differential, a rating technique by which judgments of stimuli are made on seven-interval bipolar descriptive continua called "scales", currently receives widespread usage as a measure of attitudes toward aging and the elderly. However, a lack of semantic stability across stimuli and across subjects, known, respectively, as "concept-scale" and "subject-scale" interaction, has been found to occur with the technique in various areas of research. That such a lack of stability might …

A Validity Study Of Select Symbol-Referent Relationships Using Semantic Differential Ratings, Stephen Willard

Dissertations and Theses

The present research was conducted in order to develop a method useful for measuring the meaning of symbolic material. Using this method an investigation was conducted to test the validity of several personality theories which ascribe meanings to select symbols.

A summary of the major personality theories dealing with symbolic material was conducted . Each theory was briefly presented with a discussion of the methods employed to determine the meanings of symbols. A set of symbol theory considerations was presented which would suggest the necessary components of an objective investigation attempting to be a validity test of symbol meanings predictions.