Predicting Context-Dependent Cross-Modal Associations with Dimension-Specific Polarity Attributions Part 1 – Brightness and Aggression

Although researchers have repeatedly shown that the meaning of the same concept can vary across different contexts, it has proven difficult to predict when people will assign which meaning to a concept, and which associations will be activated by a concept. Building on the affective theory of meaning (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957) and the polarity correspondence principle (Proctor & Cho, 2006), we propose the dimension-specificity hypothesis with the aim to understand and predict the context-dependency of cross-modal associations. We present three sets of experiments in which we use the dimension-specificity hypothesis to predict the cross-modal associations that should emerge between aggression-related concepts and saturation and brightness. The dimension-specificity hypothesis predicts that cross-modal associations emerge depending upon which affective dimension of meaning (i.e., the evaluation, activity, or potency dimension) is most salient in a specific context. The salience of dimensions of meaning is assumed to depend upon the relative conceptual distances between bipolar opposed concept pairs (e.g., good vs. bad). The dimension-specificity hypothesis proposes that plus and minus polarities will be attributed to the bipolar concepts, and associations between concrete and affective abstract concepts that share plus or minus polarities will become activated. Our data support the emergence of dimension-specific polarity attributions. We discuss the potential of dimension-specific polarity attributions to understand and predict how the context influences the emergence of cross-modal associations.

The Relationship Between Sociocultural Variables and Chicano and Anglo High School Student Responses on the Potency Dimension of the Semantic Differential

The potency dimension of the semantic differential was used to investigate responses of Chicano and Anglo high school students on the concepts of (a) mother, (b) father, (c) female, and (d) male. Also, the ratings of both Chicano and Anglo students were related to various sociocultural variables related to family, socioeconomic status, language usage, and citizenship. The clearest ethnic differences were observed in the subjects' ratings of father and male. There were also powerful sex differences that crosscut ethnic lines. In general, the findings indicated that males are more stereotyped in their ratings than females. Chicanos are best discriminated from Anglos on the basis of language usage. Chicanos may be discriminated on the basis of the proportion of Chicanos found in the communities where they live, viewed in relation to either the birthplace or citizenship of the head of the household. This may represent a pattern of acculturation since citizenship (U.S. or Mexican) and birthplace (U.S. or Mexico) of the head of the household are related in an opposing manner to the percentage of Chicanos in the community. Finally, a multiple regression analysis that examined ethnic differences in relation to both sociocultural and semantic variables showed that the potency dimension of the semantic differential taps into psychological differences between Chicanos and Anglos.

First Impressions of Talking Rates in Opposite-sex and Same-Sex Interactions

Four experiments were conducted in which subjects evaluated people who talked 20, 50 or 80% of the time in opposite-sex or same-sex interactions. Multivariate analysis of results showed that first impressions of talking rate can be understood in terms of a "potency" dimension and a "liking" dimension. People who talked 80% of the time were evaluated as being domineering, out going, selfish, inconsiderate, inattentive, impolite, cold, and disliked by the other person. People talking 50% of the time were evaluated as being likeable, attentive, polite, and warm. People talking 20% of the time were evaluated as being submissive, introverted, unselfish and unintelligent. There was no interaction between speaker sex and amount of talking in opposite-sex dyads. Males in same-sex interactions were evaluated as being cold when they spoke 20% of the time and females in same-sex interactions were evaluated as being cold, inattentive, and intelligent when they spoke 80% of the time. Suggestions were given for an attributional study of talking rate.

Measure of Acculturation for Chicano Adolescents

A paper-and-pencil measure of acculturation for Chicano adolescents was developed using multiple regression techniques and 924 Chicano and Anglo high school students in three Southern California communities. A linear combination of sociocultural and semantic diffèrential variables provided for optimal discrimination between Chicanos and Anglos. The acculturation score for an individual was defined as the linear combination of semantic and sociocultural variables which provided the best least squares estimate of that individual's score on a dichotomous variable in which Chicanos were assigned a value of 0 and Anglos a value of 1. A double cross-validation procedure indicated that the 20-variable regression equation is reasonably stable from the first sample to the next, yielding validity coefficients from .66 to .80. An ancillary study of 129 Chicano and Anglo junior college students showed scores are stable 2 or 3 wk.; test-retest reliability ranged from .66 to .89. A factor analysis of the items included in the regression equation resulted in three factors; two were slightly intercorrelated and loaded primarily with sociocultural variables pertaining to language spoken at home, nationality, and socioeconomic status of the head of household. The third factor was essentially orthogonal to the other two and showed high loadings for semantic differential scales for concepts, “mother,” “father,” and “male” on the Potency dimension. Chicanos vary widely along the derived acculturation continuum. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed with respect to educational and psychological assessment.

Use of the Semantic Differential in the Study of Motivation

Separate groups of students in general psychology were told that they had either failed or succeeded on a test which presumably measured their general background knowledge. Educationally related words were then rated on the semantic differential by these Ss and were compared to the ratings of a control condition. Words were rated significantly more active by the success group, but no experimental-control difference was found for the failure group on the activity dimension. Neither the evaluative nor the potency dimension showed any difference between groups. An approach to the study of motivation through analysis of changes in word meanings was proposed.