Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evidence for a predication effect in deciding on the personal significance of abstract word meanings

  • Published:
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted on college students (combinedN=240) to test for the effect of sentence predication on the independent judgement of word significance. Students judge which of two nouns was personally more significant to them. They also employed these nouns in a task which required them to place one word in the subject location and the other in the predicate location of an incomplete sentence. Administration order of these two experimental tasks was counterbalanced. Experiment I demonstrated that when the sentence-completion task is taken first-in which a predication is necessarily framed between the two nouns-the student will subsequently be more likely to judge the noun placed in the subject location of the sentence as more significant than its counterpart (p<.025). Experiment II provided a cross-validation of these findings and also demonstrated that the location of the more significant noun in the sentence can vary between subject and object location depending on whether the verb relation in the sentence unites the two nouns positively or negatively (p<.001).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anderson, R. C., & Ortony, A. (1975). On putting apples into bottles—a problem of polysemy.Cognitive Psychology, 7, 167–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aristotle. (1952).Categories. In R. M. Hutchins, (Ed.),Great books of the western world (Vol. 8, pp. 5–21). Chicago: Encyclopedia Brittanica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bobrow, S. A., & Bower, G. H. (1969). Comprehension and recall of sentences.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 80, 455–461.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bower, G. H. (1975). Cognitive psychology: An introduction. In W. K. Estes (Ed.),Handbook of learning and cognitive processes (pp. 25–80). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Braine, M. D. S. (1976). Children's first word combinations.Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development,41, (Serial No. 164, Issue No. 1).

  • Bugaj, A. M., & Rychlak, J. F. (1989). Predicational versus mediational modeling and the directedness of cognition in impression formation.The Journal of Mind and Behavior, 10, 135–199.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cermak, L. S. (1976).Improving your memory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Estes, W. K. (1982). Learning, memory and intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.),Handbook of human intelligence (pp. 170–224). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plato. (1952).Sophist. In R. M. Hutchins (Ed.),Great books of the western world (Vol. 7, pp. 551–579). Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rock, I. (1957). The role of repetition in associative learning.American Journal of Psychology, 70, 186–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rock, I., & Heimer, W. (1959). Further evidence of one-trial associative learning.American Journal of Psychology, 72, 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rundus, D. (1971). An analysis of rehearsal processes in free recall.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 89, 63–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rychlak, J. F. (1988). Predicational versus mediational theorizing in psychology. In W. Baker, L. Mos, H. Rappard, & H. Stam (Eds.),Recent trends in theoretical psychology (pp. 117–126). New York: Springer-Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rychlak, J. F. (1990). George Kelly and the concept of construction.International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, 3, 7–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rychlak, J. F. (1991).Artificial intelligence and human reason: A teleological critique. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rychlak, J. F., Barnard, S., Williams, R. N., & Wollman, N. (1989). The recognition and cognitive utilization of oppositionality.Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 10, 135–152.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thorndike, E. L., & Lorge, I. (1944).The teacher's word book of 30,000 words. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ultan, R. (1969). Some general characteristics of interrogative systems.Working Papers in Language Universals (Stanford University),1, 41–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yartz, F. J. (1984).Ancient Greek philosophy: Sourcebook and perspective. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Co.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Loyola University of Chicago, 6525 North Sheridan Road, 60620, Chicago, Illinois

    Joseph F. Rychlak

Authors
  1. Joseph F. Rychlak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lenora S. Rychlak
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Rychlak, J.F., Rychlak, L.S. Evidence for a predication effect in deciding on the personal significance of abstract word meanings. J Psycholinguist Res 20, 403–418 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067972

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01067972

Keywords

Search

Navigation