SEMANTIC GENERALIZATION OF GSR AS A FUNCTION OF SEMANTIC DISTANCE OR ORIENTING REFLEX

60 undergraduates were conditioned with a positively evaluated CS word and 60 with a negatively evaluated word. CS conditions were subdivided into 3 groups for generalization: Group DS received the generalization test words in a decreasing order of connotative similarity from the CS word, Group IS received the test words in the order of increasing similarity, and Group R received their test words in different random orders. Positive and negative CS words conditioned equally well. No reliable evidence was obtained of semantic generalization as a function of connotative similarity. Reliable gradients were obtained as a function of the order of presentation of the test words, indicating the influence of the orienting reflex evoked by the change from conditioning to generalization test words. These results contradict C. E. Osgood's theory of reciprocally antagonistic representational mediation processes and his theory that semantic generalization may occur as a function of similarity in connotative meaning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.