Further inquiry has been made into children's propensity to imbue our primary communication symbols with extraneous meanings. In this study we examined the English alphabet, and, more specifically, the upper-case letters, employing a slight modification of the semantic differential. Data were obtained from 50 male and 52 female high school students. It was surprising that high school students 10 yr. from the age at which they learned the alphabet retain extraneous and yet important associations to letters of the alphabet with high consensus. It is our present opinion that configurational properties are primary determinants, but certain individuals are clearly guided by vocal considerations.
References
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KnappR. H.ChenR. J. C.On the surplus meanings of numbers. Psychological Reports, 1964, 15, 319–322.
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OsgoodC. E.SuciG.TannenbaumP. H.The measurement of meaning.Ubrana, Ill.: Univer. of Illinois Press, 1957.
