A two-dimensional semantic differential.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
SEARCH · Search PubMed
Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The purpose of this study was to propose an exploratory positioning analysis method based on a three-mode multivariate statistical model for analyzing semantic differential (SD) data. This new method can be easily implemented by using a structural equation modeling (SEM) program such as LISREL and CALIS, because the mean structure and covariance structure of this method are expressed as submodels of SEM. Two necessary conditions for checking identifiability of this model are shown. It is also shown that this model is scale equivariant for SD data.
Eighteen female out-patients suffering from chronic anxiety states and 25 normal women matched for age filled in an anxiety inventory and completed semantic differential forms on 21 concepts grouped into four areas: characters, locations, human interactions and abstractions. Each concept was rated on 15 scales grouped into four types: evaluation, activity-potency, sex evaluation and danger. The normal subjects were divided into high anxiety and low anxiety subgroups on the basis of their trait anxiety scores. Anxious patients rated themselves with lower self-esteem and confidence. They reacted with apprehension to unfamiliar locations and perceived danger in other people. Sexual activity and the human body were viewed negatively. Anxious patients' apprehension were particularly raised by vague abstractions.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Two groups of older (60 plus) respondents, matched on age but differing in educational level, and a group of young university undergraduates were compared for scale-checking styles on the Semantic Differential. Subjects rated six concepts pertaining to stages of life on 27 pairs of bipolar adjectives. Although the three groups did not differ in frequency of endorsing extreme scale positions, the less well-educated older group showed a greater tendency to use fewer intermediate scale positions and more neutral midpoint positions than either the undergraduates or the group of retired professors emeriti. Data were interpreted as a propensity for older people to emphasize concrete, well-anchored scale positions in making ambiguous multiple-point scale discriminations, a tendency related to educational background but not to age per se.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Several studies have shown correlations between personality types and affective disorders. To investigate the influence on personality assessment of the reporting individual's own schemata according to the cognitive theory of depression, we used an instrument of 29 items of semantic differentials. We obtained responses from 45 patients (18 men, 27 women) upon their recovery and from their spouses. Each of these 90 individuals indicated self-perception on one copy and his or her perception of spouse on another. Factor analysis yielded four factors. Self-perception and perception by spouse were significantly positively correlated for all these factors for the patients and their spouses, indicating lack of schemata influence. Anxiety scores were higher for patients and for women. There was negative correlation for extroversion within couples. Male (but not female) patients showed a negative correlation with their spouses for anxiety.
A prospective study was carried out to investigate the relationship between family attitudes and relapse in a cohort of 80 schizophrenic patients followed up for 2 years. A significant relationship was found between attitudes as measured by means of a semantic differential during hospitalization and later relapse. Lack of treatment compliance, negative symptoms, unemployment and poor pre-morbid adjustment were also associated with relapse. In a multivariate analysis some of these variables changed their predictive power but the association between attitudes and relapse was maintained.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) is a non-verbal pictorial assessment technique that directly measures the pleasure, arousal, and dominance associated with a person's affective reaction to a wide variety of stimuli. In this experiment, we compare reports of affective experience obtained using SAM, which requires only three simple judgments, to the Semantic Differential scale devised by Mehrabian and Russell (An approach to environmental psychology, 1974) which requires 18 different ratings. Subjective reports were measured to a series of pictures that varied in both affective valence and intensity. Correlations across the two rating methods were high both for reports of experienced pleasure and felt arousal. Differences obtained in the dominance dimension of the two instruments suggest that SAM may better track the personal response to an affective stimulus. SAM is an inexpensive, easy method for quickly assessing reports of affective response in many contexts.
Recent knowledge of the widespread extent of child sexual abuse and its consequences has led to an increasing interest in the understanding and treatment of perpetrators. This study examined a group of pedophiles in an English Special Hospital to determine possible characteristics that make children attractive and adults unattractive to them, using Repertory Grid technique and Semantic Differential. A small number of significant findings suggest that pedophiles may perceive some children and women in an unusual way. The large number of insignificant findings are discussed with reference to the sensitivity of the instrument; the pedophiles' desire to give socially acceptable answers; and subject characteristics of low IQ and "psychopathic disorder." Future directions for research are suggested.
This study is an attempt to evaluate the treatment relationship with schizophrenic patients by examining the patients' and their therapists' perceptions of themselves and each other, which are hypothesized to reflect features of the relationship. One hundred fifty-eight schizophrenic patients and 11 psychiatrists who maintained a supportive relationship with the patients as a therapist estimated their perceptions using the semantic differential (SD) technique with 17 adjective pairs. Eight composite scales with sufficient internal consistency were constructed from the estimations. The interrelationship among the perceptual elements, which was represented by correlation analysis of the composite scale scores, seemed consistent with our clinical experience. A factor-analytic study of the scales yielded 3 orthogonal factors that could be assumed to characterize the treatment relationship. The patient-therapist cooperation factor indicated the degree of trust between the two participants, supposedly the affective or relational aspect of the therapeutic alliance. The therapist passivity factor reflects the therapist's passive role-taking and the clinical stability of the patient. The patient strength factor was related to the condition-related and characterological strength of the patient. It is demonstrated that the estimations performed by patients and therapists are valid and useful for evaluation of the treatment relationship in the current status.
In the paper, a proposal of using the semantic differential (by Osgood) for the research on social perception of mentally ill is presented. It allows for investigation of the basic attributes of the stereotype of psychiatric patient: social character, evaluative aspect, simplification, over-generalization of the opinion and its stiffness. The article presents the pilot results coming from the research in a group of students of psychology (first year of studying), who had no lectures in psychiatry by that time (N = 149). The results lead to the conclusion that the picture of mentally ill has social character, that is--some of its attributes are common for a majority of responders (over 77%). They also confirm (with a high certainty--coming to 79%) that most of mentally ill persons (64-80%) are unpredictable, lost, difficult to understand, introvert, unconscious, not self-possessed, excitable, threatening, aggressive and violent. The results show that in the portrait of mentally ill negative attributes are in majority. This portrait--so one-sided and negative--can be one of the basic predictores of social rejection of mentally ill persons.