The basic, comparative, and superlative forms of 16 adjectives of three types—evaluative, potency, and activity—were rated as to intensity by 3 independent groups of approximately 115 college students. The mean ratings of the adjectives in the comparative and superlative forms when plotted against the mean ratings of the adjectives in the unmodified form followed a linear function. The results suggest that the comparative and superlative forms of an adjective vary the connotative meaning of that word in a multiplicative fashion, an average multiplying value of .97 for the comparative and 1.43 for the superlative, that is consistent over the three classes of adjectives.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
CliffN.Adverbs as multipliers. Psychological Review, 1959, 66, 27–44.
2.
ComreyA. L.A proposed method for absolute ratio scaling. Psychometrika, 1950, 15, 317–325.
HoweE. S.Probabilistic qualification of adjectives. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1962, 1, 225–241.
5.
HoweE. S.Verb tense, negatives, and other determinants of evaluating meaning. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1966, 5, 147–155.
6.
LillyR. S.Multiplying values of intensive, probabilistic, and frequency adverbs when combined with potency adjectives. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1968, 7, 854–858. (a)
7.
LillyR. S.The qualification of evaluative adjectives by frequency adverbs. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1968, 7, 333–336. (b)
8.
LillyR. S.Adverbial qualification of adjectives connotating activity. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, in press.
9.
McNemarQ.Psychological statistics. (3rd ed.) New York: Wiley, 1962.
10.
MosierC. I.A psychometric study of meaning. Journal of Social Psychology, 1941, 13, 123–140.
11.
StevensS. S.The direct estimation of sensory magnitudes—loudness. American Journal of Psychology, 1956, 69, 1–25.
12.
ThorndikeE. L.LorgeI.The teacher's word book of 30,000 words. New York: Teachers College, 1944.
13.
TorgersonW. S.Theory and methods of scaling. New York: Wiley, 1958.
