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Semantic Differential

Definition

The semantic differential is a method of measurement that uses subjective ratings of a concept or an object by means of scaling opposite adjectives to study connotative meaning of the concept or object. For example, the first level meaning of a car is that of a transportation device; the second level meaning of a car can also be its value as a status symbol. The semantic differential is designed to measure these second levels—in other words, connotative meanings of an object. The semantic differential is mostly used for measuring attitudes toward social and nonsocial objects, but also to assess quality and type of interactions between people. The method was developed by Charles Osgood in the 1950s and has been broadly used in and outside of psychology.

The semantic differential usually consists of 20 to 30 bipolar rating scales (i.e., the scale is anchored by an adjective on each side, for example warm–cold) on which the target object or concept is judged. Basis for the judgment is not so much the denotative or objective relation of the object and the adjective anchors of the bipolar scales (because it may not be given at first glance given our car example earlier and the rugged warm–cold adjective pair) but, rather, the metaphoric or connotative closeness of the object and the anchors of the bipolar scales. For example, on a metaphorical or connotative level, a family car might be judged as warm, whereas a delivery truck might be judged as more cold. The denotative meaning, that is, firsthand meaning, might be quite similar, in terms of being an adequate transportation device in both cases.

Background

Social psychologists, but also market researchers or public pollsters, are often interested in the subjective (i.e., somewhat hidden and varying between individuals) definition of meaning that an object or concept has beyond its mere brute facts, as well as in the attitude of a certain group of people concerning a certain object or concept.

Meaning can be divided into four different dimensions: structural (a possible higher-level similarity to other objects, e.g., a sports car and a truck are different, but structurally similar because they are both means of transportation), contextual (depending on the current context, e.g., a truck serves as a transportation device, but can also be an vintage car later on), denotative (objective, brute facts of the car, such as horsepower), and connotative (more metaphoric, second-level associations). Osgood was particularly interested in this fourth dimension of meaning. His scaling method was meant to measure individual differences in the connotation of a word describing an object or a concept.

Construction and Use of Semantic Differentials

The actual questionnaire consists of a set of bipolar scales with contrasting adjectives at each end. The positions on the scale in between can be numbered or labeled. Note that the neutral middle position is usually marked by zero and the other positions by numbers increasing equally in both directions. Thus, each scale measures the directionality of a reaction (e.g., good vs. bad) and its intensity (from neutral via slight to extreme). In most cases, the universal adjective pairs are used because translations in many languages are available. Besides universal semantic differentials, objector concept-specific sets of adjective pairs can be used. For the latter, great care while constructing the respective semantic differentials is necessary to avoid problems (outlined in the next section). For the universal semantic differential, cross-cultural comparisons revealed that three basic dimensions of response account for most of the covariation. These three dimensions have been labeled “evaluation, potency, and activity” (EPA) and constitute the semantic space (i.e., the set of descriptive attributes) of the target to be judged. Some of the adjective pairs are direct measures of the dimensions (e.g., good–bad for evaluation, powerful–powerless for potency, and fast–slow for activity); others rather indirectly relate to the single dimensions of the EPA structure. Given the research conducted, for each new case meaning of the scales should not just be inferred from previous results. Dimensionality should be checked so that scales that do not represent a unidimensional factor are not summed up.

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