Associative characteristics of sixty-three adjectives and their relation to verbal paired-associate learning in children.

Abstract

Considerable information regarding verbal learning phenomena has been derived from studies employing the paired-associate method of learning. Fruitful use of this method has been made in conjunction with adult (college age) populations in the empirical and theoretical analyses of such areas of investigation as learning, motivation, and personality. Although it would seem readily adaptable, and considering that the only major requirement determining selection of subjects to be studied by this method is the ability to read, it is surprising that it has not received systematic attention in connection with younger (elementary school age) populations. Characteristically, work with this method has employed verbal material (word lists), e.g., adjectives, nonsense syllables, etc., whose associative characteristics have been assessed. Examples of word lists which have been standardized on adult populations and used extensively in paired-associate as well as serial learning experiments are those described by Hilgard (I). However, comparable lists which have been standardized on younger populations are not currently available. The present report describes the associative characteristics for 63 common adjectives obtained from a population of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade children. The procedure that was used is an adaptation from one followed by Russell and Storms (2) in their development of norms of associative strength in a college age population. Basically, the procedure represents a variation of the word-association method. The frequencies with which given associations occurred to each adjective are described. In order to assess the utility of the present list for paired-associate learning in children, two lists consisting either of high or low association values between the