Carolyn K. Staats

Independent Manipulation of Meaning and M

Abstract : THE INDEPENDENCE OF MEANING AND WORD ASSOCIATION PROCESSES WAS DEMONSTRATED THROUGH THE SEPARATE MANIPULATION OF THE TWO PROCESSES. Analyses indicated significant differences between the means of the 2-positive, 2-neutral, and 2-negative word groups, showing the independent effect of the meaning variable. Further, the syllables paired with 4 pleasant word associates scored significantly more pleasant ratings than the syllables paired with only 2 pleasant words. Thus, meaning and m (m is the number of word responses given to a stimulus word in a specified interval of time) were increased in parallel fashion under conditions where the word associates elicited a common meaning response. However, syllables presented with 2-neutral and 4-neutral word associates showed no significant differences in semantic rating, indicating the mere learning of word associates is not sufficient to establish meaning. These results show the independence of meaning and word association processes. The meaning of a word is not established solely by forming word associations. The separate processes of word meaning and word association must be given separate consideration in understanding language development. (Author)

Conditionability of Responses to Occupational Scale Items of the Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Men

Previous investigations (Oakes & Droge, 1960; Staats, Staats, Heard, & Finley, 1962) have demonstrated that responses to a self-report personality scale can be operantly conditiofied as a homogeneous response class. These studies have successfully conditioned responses to the Social Introversion scale of the MMPI and to the Activity and Sociability scales of the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey. The present study was designed to test the hypothesis that responses to the Strong Vocational Interest Blank for Men can be conditioned in a similar manner. The study thus extends operant conditioning cechniques to the domain of occupational interest measurement.