The Role of Generalization in the Marketing of Consumer Goods

Osgood Charles , Method and Theory in Experimental Psychology (New York: Oxford University Press, 1961), pp. 701–702.

Osgood , “On Understanding and Creating Sentences,” American Psychologist, XVIII (1963), 739.

Osgood Charles Suci George J. Tannenbaum Percy H. , The Measurement of Meaning (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1957), pp. 66–70.

In general, if all four of the products in question had relatively large factor loadings, the indication of generalization would be stronger than if large factor loadings were associated with only two or three products. Similarly, if the products in question had very large factor loadings compared to the other products, the indication of generalization would be stronger than if only a small difference in the size of factor loadings between product categories existed.

When testing for semantic generalization, factor loadings associated with the homogeneous group were compared with those associated with the heterogeneous group. The test for physical generalization was accomplished by comparing loadings associated with similar products on a particular factor with all other loadings on that factor.

Because of the small number of frequencies in the “very strong tendency” category, it was necessary to combine these with frequencies in the “good tendency” category for the chi-square test.

Small numbers introduce an upward bias, causing the significance level to be overstated.