| Abstract: | A study by Thompson, Hatchett, and Phillips (1981) found that males and females differed in their judgment of interpersonal verbs (IPVs). Females were said to give more extreme affect ratings and less extreme control ratings to IPVs than did males. The present study re–examined these findings utilizing multidimensional scaling techniques. Similarity/dissimilarity ratings of 105 combinations of 15 paired IPVs were made by 43 female and 39 male students. Analysis via COSPA yielded two dimensions of meaning underlying IPVs which were similar to those used by Thompson et al.: Affect and Control. Analyses of the data using three different approaches failed, however, to bear out Thompson et al.'s findings of sex differences in the judgment of IPVs. |
