THE IMPRESSION VALUE OF THREE-SYLLABLE VERBS

Experiment I The impression values of 200 verbs were measured by a procedure similar to that of Dixon and Dixon (1964). Sixty-six male and 66 female college students served as subjects. From a list of association value of 523 verbs (Kashu, 1966), 200 verbs were selected on the basis of a pilot study. Out of 200, 60 verbs were estimated on a three-point rating scale, as good impression verbs, 80 as neutral impression verbs, and 60 as bad impression verbs. The subjects were instructed to imagine themselves using the verbs in sentences while talking to a friend. On the basis of this hypothetical situation, the 200 verbs were rated in terms of the kind of impression subject thought a friend would get of him when he used each verb in a sentence. The impression value was rated on a 7-point scale ranging from very good impression (+3) to very bad impression (-3). The results showed that (a) females judged the good and bad impression verbs as giving more extreme impression than males did, and that (b) the variances of ratings were larger for females than for males in case of the good and neutral verbs. The former result was consistent with the Dixons' study, but the latter was inconsitent. Experiment II Using good, neutral, and bad imprssion verbs of 30 in each, a contingency of verb and pronoun was examined under operant conditions in a Taffel-type verbal conditioning task modified for group administration. Eightysix female college students were handed a mimeographed paper on which 30 sets of three different kinds of verbs and a pronoun of I, YOU, or HE appeared, and they were instructed to select a verb which they thought they would like to use when they made a sentence containing the pronoun. The results indicated that the good impression verbs were selected more frequently than the other two, irrespective of the kind of pronuns. These results were inconsistent with the Dixon's results (1965). Further analysis of the data evidenced that the aeutral impression verbs had higher association values than good or bad impression verbs