An Analytical Approach to the Concept of Image

Boulding K. E. , The Image Knowledge in Life and Society (Ann Arbor, Mich.: The University of Michigan Press, 1956).

Ibid., pp. 5–6.

Public Opinion (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1922), esp. Part III. See also “The Parable of the Cave,” Book VIII, Plato , Republic.

Lewin Kurt , Principles of Topological Psychology, trans., Fritz Heider Grace (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1936), pp. 12, 217.

Krech David Crutchfield R. S. Ballachey E. A. , Individual in Society; A Textbook of Social Psychology (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1962), p. 137.

This entity characteristic is essentially Leon Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance phrased in terms of image formation. See page 9 ff. of A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Evanston, Ill.: Row, Peterson and Company, 1957), in which Festinger refers to knowledges as elements of cognition.

See Krech , op. cit., pp. 140–142, and Daniel Katz and Ezra Stotland, “Preliminary Statement to a Theory of Attitudes,” in Koch Sigmund , ed., Psychology: A Study of a Science (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959), III, 423–475.

Osgood C. E. Suci C. J. Tannenbaum P. H. , The Measurement of Meaning (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1957).

See the definition of image above; of attitude, in Katz Stotland , op. cit., p. 428; of meaning, in Osgood , op. cit., p. 9.

Perhaps a more precise definition of image could be achieved by employing more than three dimensions. Boulding, for example, uses ten (op. cit., chap. 4). But the use of more than three dimensions would complicate the model (e.g., graphic presentation would be impossible) and would probably yield a less than proportionate increase in precision of definition.

This model is analogous to the equi-marginal equations of the cardinal approach or the indifference maps (ordinal approach) employed by economists to explain individual satisfaction by measuring utility.

My perceptive colleague, Hite Bennent, once suggested that a “well-rounded” individual would tend to have a sphere-shaped image set. Though originally offered somewhat facetiously, his remark seems to summarize the essence of the concept.

The appellation of this process of image set intensification must surely be imagination.

The circles correspond to the points in Figure 1. The model has been simplified to only three individuals' images for the sake of clarity. The schema has some resemblance to the “coding-encoding” concepts of Wilbur Schramm (The Process and Efforts of Mass Communication [Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1954], pp. 3–26) and Fearing Franklin , “Principle of Necessary Ambiguity” (Toward a Psychological Theory of Human Communication, Journal of Personality, XXII:1 [Sept. 1953], 71–88).

Neadle Dexter , “The Relationship of Corporate Image to Product Behavior,” Public Opinion Quarterly, XXVII:2 (Summer 1964), 293–302.

Ibid., 302. Note that Neadle has used the concepts of image and attitude interchangeably.

Ferber Robert Wales H. G. , Motivation and Market Behavior (Homewood, Ill.: Richard D. Irwin, Inc., 1958), pp. 206–231.

Ibid., p. 208.

Ibid., p. 230.

Martineau Pierre , “Social Classes and Spending Behavior,” Journal of Marketing, XXIII:4 (Oct. 1958), 129–130.

See, for example, other studies considered in Ferber Wales , op. cit., esp. Mason Haire's classic instant coffee research, pp. 93–103; Brehm J. W. Cohen A. R. , Explorations in Cognitive Dissonance (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1962); Public Opinion Quarterly, XXIV:2 (Summer 1960), edited by Katz Daniel and devoted to attitude change; and references cited in these sources.

Festinger Leon , “Behavioral Support for Opinion Change,” Public Opinion Quarterly, XXVIII:3 (Fall 1964), 404–417.

Ibid., p. 417.

See Edwards A. L. , Techniques of Attitude Scale Construction (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1957), and references cited there.

See Fruchter Benjamin , Introduction to Factor Analysis (New York: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., 1954), and references cited there.

Becknell J. C. Jr. Maher Howard , “Utilization of Factor Analysis for Image Clarification and Analysis, Public Opinion Quarterly, XXVI:4 (Winter 1962), 658–663. Also see: Spector A. J. , “Basic Dimensions of the Corporate Image,” Journal of Marketing, XXV:6 (Oct. 1961), 47–51; and Easton Allan “Corporate Style Versus Corporate Image,” Journal of Marketing Research, III:2 (May 1966), 168–174.

Osgood , op. cit., chap. 3.

Mindak W. A. , “Fitting the Semantic Differential to the Marketing Problem,” Journal of Marketing, XXV:4 (April 1961), 28–33; Clevenger Theodore Jr. Lazier G. A. Clark M. L. , “Measurement of Corporate Images by the Semantic Differential,” Journal of Marketing Research, II:1 (Feb. 1965), 80–82.