In order to perform structural analysis of environmental perception and cognition, multidimensional scaling based on similarity and preference ratings were compared to the semantic differential technique in a study employing perspective drawings of urban and suburban views sampled from a medium-sized Swedish city. (BT)

An hypothesis concerning a definition of the concepts assimilation and accommodation was tested. Both assimilation and accommodation were hypothesized to be processes that produce changes in cognitive structures--internal representations used to organize behavior. The hypothesis is that, in contrast to assimilation, the changes in structure caused…

Subjects scaled 48 positive and 32 negative assertion vignettes according to similarity of difficulty to determine how people cognitively present complex social situations. Analyses indicated each dimension could be described according to major component(s) that contributed to it and dimensions varied in importance as a function of assertion…

In four experiments, evidence was found for a complex psychological representation of musical pitch. The perception of music depends not only on psychoacoustic properties of the tones, but also on processes that relate the tones to one another through contact with a well-defined and complex psychological representation of musical pitch. (Author/RD)

A computer-interactive multidimensional scaling program was used together with free response methods to represent and label dimensions of individual cognitive structure underlying persons' perceptions. The dimensional structures derived were predictive of semantic differential, paired comparison, and Repertory Grid Test triad judgments.…

The Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) is designed to measure masculinity and femininity independently. It is based on the dualistic, as opposed to the bipolar, nature of masculinity and femininity. The development of measures for sex role research has relied on empirical techniques; item selection has been based on respondents' stereotyped conceptions…

Studies the dimensions of meaning attributed to facial expressions of emotion in preschoolers and adults. Subjects indicated the similarity or dissimilarity among different emotions by placing photographs of emotional facial expressions into preordained groups. For each age group, multidimensional scaling yielded a two-dimensional structure…

This experiment tested the ability of people to recall the locations of buildings in a familiar campus setting. Ten graduate students represented the relative locations of buildings by pairwise distance judgments and by direct mapping of locations on a Tektronix cathode ray terminal. Both methods led to accurate judgments. (Author/CTM)

This experiment investigated preferences for the location of facilities in an ideal town. Ten graduate students represented the relative locations of facilities (home, school, factory) by two methods: (1) pairwise ideal distances on a 100-point scale and (2) direct planning of locations on a Tektronix cathode ray screen. (Author/CTM)

Similarity plays a central role in cognitive theories. Research has demonstrated that the similarity of a pair increases with its commonalities and decreases with its differences. These common and distinctive elements can take the form of parts of objects, relations between parts of properties of whole objects. Previous work has been unable to…

Multidimensional scaling based on similarity ratings was compared with the semantic differential technique (SDT) in a follow-up study. Previous studies had indicated a fairly close agreement between the results of the SDT and multidimensional scaling which the present study partly corroborated in one experiment for color slides of urban/suburban…

This article reviews two experiments on the mapping and planning of actual (campus buildings) and hypothetical (ideal town facilities) items in a two-dimensional space. Direct mapping (planning) techniques are preferred over the method of pair comparisons, especially for the actual environment. (See TM 504 879-880) (Author/CTM)

Two sets of real sorting data from 50 college students are used to compare results of multidimensional scaling of raw co-occurrence frequencies or dissimilarity measures (D) and profile distances (delta) to determine which yields a better representation of the underlying structure of 2 sets of stimuli. Slight differences are discussed. (SLD)

The encoding and processing components of moral judgment-making responses were investigated by using a "thinking aloud" response mode to Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT) of moral judgment. Three subject groups were asked to "think aloud" as they took the DIT: (1) 30 male and female graduate students from a philosophy…

The 1985 Buros-Nebraska Symposium was devoted to the broad issue of the influence of cognitive psychology on testing and measurement. The (1) "Introduction: The Implications of Cognitive Psychology for Testing" (Royce R. Ronning et. al.) lists four major issues addressed by the symposium--cognitive psychology as a basis for questioning some…