意味の変容の問題

いわゆるSemantic Satiationをめぐって

抄録

The quantitative measurement on the phenomena of “semantic satiation” has been improved by an application of the semantic differential (SD) method. However, it has also been indicated that there still remain several problems as to how to apply the SD method in such cases. The purpose of this study was to investigate some methodological problems in the measurement of “change of meaning”.
In Exp. 1, three questions were presented: (1) to examine in detail the midpoint of a SD scale; (2) to classify the types of “change of meaning”; and (3) to measure separately “the change of meaning” on each scale. The following results were obtained. The interaction among the repeated words, the scale of meaning, and the types of change of meaning proved significant. It was clearly shown that word repetition may lead to transf ormative change (T), in addition to decreases of meaning (S) and increases of meaning (G). It was further displayed that the effects of word repetition on meaning were determined by the interaction among “words”, “scales”, and “types of change”.
Exp. 2 was designed to examine the effect meaningless-word repetition. The results were found consistent to the Johnson's findings, in that the increases of generation change were obtained.
In Exp. 3, the bipolar continuum of an SD scale was examined. It proved that “change of meaning” could be rated more accurately on a bipolar scale than on a unipolar scale. Besides, a few comments were given on the bipolar continuum on the basis of the Green's study.
Exp. 4 was designed to confirm the property of “semantic satiation” by an application of the verbal association method. The results were found to correspond to those obtained by the SD method.
In discussion, three interpretations (Inhibition, Learning, Adaptation-level Interpretation) presented by Amster (1964) were examined. Finally, the writer suggested the possibility of an application of the transformational function (by Berlyne) of mediation process.