Free Association Test Research Articles

Lexical-semantic abilities of five-to-six-year-old children

<p><strong>Introduction.</strong> The development of the semantic level of the language system begins at the end of the first year of life, when a child begins to use the first words. During childhood, the child gradually increases his/her vocabulary and learns semantic characteristics. The main aim of this paper is to determine the lexical-semantic abilities of preschool children.</p> <p><strong>Methods.</strong> The sample included 50 children of both sexes, aged five to six years. According to age, the respondents were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of five-year-olds, and the second of six-year-olds. The Semantic Test and the Free Word Association Test were used in the research. The semantic test assessed the development of the following categories of words: homonyms, antonyms, synonyms, and metonyms. The free word association test was used to assess the types of responses after a given stimulus word.</p> <p><strong>Results.</strong> The results showed that six-year-olds had higher average values compared to five-year-olds on the total score, as well as on individual lexical categories of the Semantic Test. It was also shown that five-year-old girls had higher average values compared to boys of the same age on the Semantic Test. No statistically significant differences were found between five- and six-year-olds in terms of the representation of certain types of answers on the Free Word Association Test. As for sex, it was shown that on the Free Word Association Test, girls had statistically significantly higher number of missing answers compared to boys.</p> <p><strong>Conclusion.</strong> It was concluded that the lexical-semantic abilities of preschool children depended on their age, and that there was certain regularity in the development of the semantic features of words and the lexical-semantic structure</p>

“Nursing students' social representation of tutorial classes in learning process: Qualitative study”

Tutorial guidance, allows nursing students to develop soft skills. The aim is to understand the social representation of nursing bachelor's degree students on tutorial guidance classes. Qualitative, descriptive-exploratory study, guided by the theory of social representations. Data collection was performed through a free word association test delivered to undergraduate nursing students. The social representation of fits into the framework of an active learning methodology. Students should be prepared for assuming an active role.

Free word association analysis of German laypeople's perception of biodiversity and its loss.

Due to the dramatic biodiversity crisis, it is crucial to understand how people perceive biodiversity. Knowledge of how thoughts are organized around this concept can identify which ideas are best to focus on biodiversity conservation information campaigns. The primary aim of the present study was to identify social representations of the German public regarding the concept of biodiversity and its loss using a free word association test. Furthermore, unique association networks were analyzed. For this purpose, data collection was performed in September 2021 in Germany using an online questionnaire to assess participants' associations with the prompt "biodiversity" (n = 131) and "biodiversity loss" (n = 130). Additionally, we used the social network software Gephi to create biodiversity (loss) association networks. The five most commonly mentioned associations for biodiversity were "animal," "plant," "nature," "human," and "flower." For biodiversity loss, the five most commonly mentioned associations were "species extinction," "climate change," "plant," "insect," and "bee." Neither "land use change" nor "invasive species," as key drivers of biodiversity loss, were present in social representations of the German public. A difference was observed in the total number of mentioned associations between biodiversity and biodiversity loss. For both, the associations "plant" and "animal" were related. However, participants associated specific taxa only with animals, such as "insects" and "birds." For plants, no specific taxa were named. Based on the network analysis, the most commonly mentioned word pairs for biodiversity and biodiversity loss were "plant - animal" and "species loss - climate change," respectively. Based on our statistical network analysis, these associations were identified as the most central associations with the greatest influence in the network. Thus, they had the most connections and the function of predicting the flow in the network. In sum, the public's multifaceted views on biodiversity and its loss, as well as the aforementioned central associations, hold great potential to be utilized more for the communication and education of biodiversity conservation. In addition, our findings contribute to the scientific community's understanding of social representations and perceptions of biodiversity and its loss.

The university brand as a factor in attracting applicants

Introduction. Today, the competition in educational market is increasing. A wide range of online courses with a simultaneous tendency decrease the interest of school­children in higher education. This aggravates the competition of universities for the attraction of talented applicants. One of the factors, allowing the university to get an advantage when a student chooses a place of study is a recognisable brand, which includes a certain set of asso­ciations and characteristics perceived by the students, defined as a brand personality.Aim. The present research aims to identify the factors of the brand personality of Rus­sian universities and to develop a brand personality model as a tool for its evaluation.Methodology and research methods. The research was conducted among students and their parents; 414 people took part at different research stages. A free association test was used to determine a set of characteristics describing the brand personality of Russian universities. Using the results, a list of 22 traits describing the university as a “person” was generated through comparative and content analysis. The development of the brand personality model of Russian universities was carried out on the basis of mathematical and statistical methods.Results. The effectiveness of the developed model for assessing the brand personality of Russian universities, which can be used to attract applicants, has been proved using the meth­ods of mathematical statistics. The methodology for assessing brand individuality was adapted on the example of a pedagogical university. This methodology is a tool for assessing brand personality, which allows comparing, and classifying different universities and getting feedback on the university brand perception by potential applicants. The paper shows the difference of traits characterising Russian and foreign universities. The differences between these groups in the perception of brand personality have been highlighted based on the comparison of stu­dents’ and their parents’ brand perception. It is proved that the concept of brand personality can significantly supplement the official measured parameters of university brand success. It is shown that the developed model can be used for communication with applicants, it allows to see the differences of one university from another, translates the values of the university, forms its vision of the target audience.Scientific novelty. The scientific novelty of the study is in the fact that the difference in the applicants' and parents' perceptions of the characteristics of Russian universities in comparison with foreign universities is confirmed. The brand personality model of Russian universities has 20 characteristics united in 4 factors: serious, kind, young, and bright. The developed model allowed the authors to compare and classify universities.Practical significance. The developed model of the brand personality of Russian univer­sities and the adapted methodology of its assessment can be used by universities to obtain feedback, to compare the characteristics of the brand by its developers and features of its perception by the target audience, as well as to compare themselves with competitors. This, in turn, will make it possible to develop marketing strategy for attracting talented applicants.

Adolescents’ Perceptions About Non-suicidal Self-injury, Suicidal Ideation and Suicide Attempts

Introduction: Non-suicidal self-injury, suicidal thoughts and behaviors present high prevalence rates in adolescence. Aims: This study aimed to describe adolescents’ perceptions about these phenomena, and to analyze and compare the differences of these perceptions among adolescents with and without a history of non-suicidal selfinjury, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Methods: The convenience sample consisted of 452 adolescents in ages between 12 and 18 (M(SD) = 15.59(1.50), 48% male and 52% female. For data collection, the Free Association Test was used in a survey, and data was analyzed through content analysis. Results: Results showed that 10.8% of the participants presented a history of non-suicidal self-injury, 19.9% suicidal ideation, and 2.7% suicide attempts. Perceptions were grouped into eight dimensions: Consumption of Psychoactive Substances; Death/Suicide; Interpersonal Factors; Intrapersonal Factors; Moral Judgments; Negative Emotions; Psychological Functions; and Self-Injurious Methods. Further analysis revealed that adolescents with and without a history of non-suicidal self-injury, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts presented differences in their perceptions of these phenomena. Conclusions: These findings contribute to the understanding regarding the perceptions of adolescents about these phenomena and might have implications regarding their prevention and intervention.

Social Representations of COVID-19 Among Brazilian Elderly Women: A Structural Approach

Background: In January 2020, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) «a public health emergency of international concern» owing to the detection of cases and the rapid spread of the disease. Objective: This study aimed at understanding the social representations of COVID-19 among Brazilian elderly women. Method: A total of 100 elderly women selected by convenience sampling, with an average age of 69.24 years old (SD = 6.58), participated in the study. Data were collected online using a sociodemographic questionnaire and a free word association test (FWAT) with the stimulus word «COVID-19.» The responses were examined by prototypical analysis through IRaMuTeQ. Results: The social representations of COVID-19 emphasize death and fear of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. Elements associated with measures to contain the virus are also part of the representational field. Conclusions: Understanding social representations of COVID-19 in elderly women may contribute to short- and long-term interventions to reduce the psychosocial consequences of COVID-19 in this age group.

Free association test type with primary school students as compared to older students and adults in learning foreign language

Free association test type with primary school students as compared to older students and adults in learning foreign language

Covid Epidemic Impact on Education Through Spanish-Turkish-Ukrainian Associative Perception

The article depicts the perception of the concept of «coronavirus» in the linguistic consciousness of native speakers of Ukrainian, Spanish, and Turkish concerning the impact of Covid-pandemic on education. Using the methods of free association test, 30 associative fields to the stimuli specifying the concept of coronavirus: «Coronavirus, Covid-19, pandemic, social distance, lockdown quarantine, mask, tests, self-isolation, vaccine» are obtained. The data provide the clear picture with what social senses of the coronavirus concept associates in the linguistic consciousness of Ukrainian, Spanish, and Turkish students. The negative stimuli linked with danger, uncertainty, disaster and illness are prevailed in three samples. There are practically no reactions form educational subject area.

Judging the emotional states of customer service staff in the workplace: A multimodal dataset analysis.

Emotions play a decisive and central role in the workplace, especially in the service-oriented enterprises. Due to the highly participatory and interactive nature of the service process, employees' emotions are usually highly volatile during the service delivery process, which can have a negative impact on business performance. Therefore, it is important to effectively judge the emotional states of customer service staff. We collected data on real-life work situations of call center employees in a large company. Three consecutive studies were conducted: first, the emotional states of 29 customer service staff were videotaped by wide-angle cameras. In Study 1, we constructed scoring criteria and auxiliary tools of picture-type scales through a free association test. In Study 2, two groups of experts were invited to evaluate the emotional states of customer service staff. In Study 3, based on the results in Study 2 and a multimodal emotional recognition method, a multimodal dataset was constructed to explore how each modality conveys the emotions of customer service staff in workplace. Through the scoring by 2 groups of experts and 1 group of volunteers, we first developed a set of scoring criteria and picture-type scales with the combination of SAM scale for judging the emotional state of customer service staff. Then we constructed 99 (out of 297) sets of stable multimodal emotion datasets. Based on the comparison among the datasets, we found that voice conveys emotional valence in the workplace more significantly, and that facial expressions have more prominant connection with emotional arousal. Theoretically, this study enriches the way in which emotion data is collected and can provide a basis for the subsequent development of multimodal emotional datasets. Practically, it can provide guidance for the effective judgment of employee emotions in the workplace.

Word Association of The Covid-19 Terms: Case Study on Indonesian Generation Z

Nowadays, society needs to understand the Covid-19 virus and improve appropriate attitudes and actions, especially Generation Z. The present study aimed to investigate adolescents' knowledge, responses, and attitudes. This research method was a descriptive case study. Data were collected using a free word association test and semi-structured interviews. Respondents amounted to 400 people with an age range of 17-24 years. Simple descriptive statistics with Ms. Excel analyzed the data; then, the data was coded with the Atlas.ti 9 application. The results showed that most Generation Z produced common words than idiosyncratic ones. Based on the lexico-syntactic pattern, nouns were responded by paradigmatic relation, while adjectives and verbs responded by syntagmatic. Based on the collocation, responded words were dominated by lexical collocations, while grammatical collocation responses were minimal. The association of the Covid-19 term represented knowledge of Generation-Z about the definition, symptoms, origin, impacts, efforts to deal with the virus, and the current condition of Covid-19. Generation Z tried to accept the pandemic by interpreting wisdom and hoping that conditions would be better soon. However, few generation-Z responded negatively, suspected a conspiracy, and thought the Covid-19 virus did not exist.

Word Association of The Covid-19 Terms: Case Study on Indonesian Generation Z

Nowadays, society needs to understand the Covid-19 virus and improve appropriate attitudes and actions, especially Generation Z. The present study aimed to investigate adolescents' knowledge, responses, and attitudes. This research method was a descriptive case study. Data were collected using a free word association test and semi-structured interviews. Respondents amounted to 400 people with an age range of 17-24 years. Simple descriptive statistics with Ms. Excel analyzed the data; then, the data was coded with the Atlas.ti 9 application. The results showed that most Generation Z produced common words than idiosyncratic ones. Based on the lexico-syntactic pattern, nouns were responded by paradigmatic relation, while adjectives and verbs responded by syntagmatic. Based on the collocation, responded words were dominated by lexical collocations, while grammatical collocation responses were minimal. The association of the Covid-19 term represented knowledge of Generation-Z about the definition, symptoms, origin, impacts, efforts to deal with the virus, and the current condition of Covid-19. Generation Z tried to accept the pandemic by interpreting wisdom and hoping that conditions would be better soon. However, few generation-Z responded negatively, suspected a conspiracy, and thought the Covid-19 virus did not exist.

WORD ASSOCIATIONS AND BINOMIALS

There are presented some thoughts about binomials and their importance as related to word associations is emphasized. Firstly, five words in the food domain used as stimuli are examined while searching to outline the association field of each and highlighting the dominant associations. Secondly, these same stimuli are added a conjunction to boost production of binomial pairs. These goals are achieved by means of questionnaires, in Bulgarian and in English, spread among some Bulgarian students studying English, Bulgarians living in the UK, and a small number of native speakers. The methods used are similar to Free association test and Word associate format. The results from the surveys and a comparison between the two languages serve as a basis for drawing conclusions on the preferences of the suggested options. The findings in two corpora confirm the observations.

Free word association analysis of Germans' attitudes toward insects

AbstractIn this paper, the results of two free word association tests were analyzed to gain insight into Germans' attitudes toward insects. We used a novel approach in the form of an association network with the help of the software “Gephi” that was originally developed for social network analysis. The influence of attitude on the willingness to donate (WTD) and actual donation to an insect conservation project was investigated as well. Data collection was conducted via an online questionnaire (n = 515; Mage = 49.36, SD = 16.73; female = 50.1%). For the first test, participants listed three associations for the prompt “insect.” The associations were assigned to the three components of attitude: affective, cognitive, and behavioral. For the second test, participants named insects they pictured when thinking about “insects.” The results were taxonomically classified. The WTD was assessed with a Likert‐type scale and an actual donation could be made at the end of the online questionnaire. “Bee” was the most frequently named association, followed by “useful,” “nature,” “pollination,” and “pesky.” “Pesky” was most often named with “useful,” indicating that being aware of insects' usefulness is not enough to supersede negative associations. In the second test, only 6% of the associations were on the species level, which suggests little taxonomic knowledge about or interest in insects. Linear regression revealed that positive affective associations had a positive influence on the WTD and negative affective associations had a negative influence on the WTD, both with a small effect size. We advise educating people not only about the usefulness of insects but also fostering positive, personal encounters to increase positive affective associations and decrease negative ones.

Taras Shevchenko’s Neologism Снігоквіт (Snihokvit): Psycholinguistic, Lexico-Semantic and Cultural Aspects

The article focuses on the study of Taras Shevchenko’s linguistic identity through the free word association test results. The psycholinguistic experiment, “Author Neologisms of Taras Shevchenko,” held in 2019 involved four hundred forty-eight participants aged 14 to 61 y.o. Among them were professors, graduate students, and students from Rivne State Humanitarian University, Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Sarny Pedagogical College, National University of “Ostroh Academy”, Rivne Economic Technological College, National University of Water and Environmental Engineering, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, and M. Ocheret Zhytomyr City Humanitarian Gymnasium #23 (Ukraine). The responses of the recipients to the word-stimulus снігоквіт/snihokvit (“snow blossom”), Shevchenko’s neologism, have been characterized based on grammatical (paradigmatic, syntagmatic, word-building), meaningful (thematic, reminiscent, reactions-personalities), and formal connections. The following semantic spheres to which the verbal responses belong have been defined: “Names of Flora”, “Natural Phenomena”, “Names of Actions”, “Colour Features”, “Haptic Features”, “Temporal Features”, “Abstract Notions”, as well as types of responses within the boundaries of associative fields. The specificity of a modern Ukrainian speaker’s perception of the meaning of a neologism taken out of the literary context has also been discovered. The authors have come to the conclusion that the poet created a highly artistic lexical neologism with the help of which he tried to communicate to the reader not only the primary meaning of the word лілея/lileya “white lily” (a flower) but also to provoke aesthetic feelings, and actualize the imagination about this special flower that is empowered with magic properties in the national linguistic map of the world. All the responses of the considered semantic spheres that belong to the associative fields of the author’s neologism снігоквіт/snihokvit give a better understanding of the lexicon of modern Ukrainian, the psycholinguistic peculiarities of the perception of Shevchenko’s figurative word. They also make it possible to trace specific changes in the conceptual map of the world and its perception.

Psycholinguistic and Cultural Implications of German Stimulus Words Humor and Lachen in Association Test

The article is focused on the psycholinguistic and cultural study of individual associative responses to German stimulus words 'Humor' and 'Lachen'. The goal is to determine individual cognitive activity features in the target' culture of popular laughter' (Bakhtin, 1965). The research involved a free word association test aimed at examining the German learners' perception of the stimulus words. Sixty undergraduate students aged 20-22 of the educational programme "Language and Literature (German). Translation" at Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Ukraine, participated in the word association test. Quantitative analysis of response words, typical and individual responses allowed building semantic gestalt and productive semantic zones that represent the linguistic culture identification features. Nouns, adjectives, and verbs represented productive associations. The analysis of associative fields allowed modelling the interaction of psycholinguistic and lingo-cultural factors for the emergence of responses to the stimulus words 'Lachen' and 'Humor'. The obtained response words determined communicative, pragmatic, and cognitive productive profiles. Nuclear zones in each associative field tended towards a unified expression of positive emotions. Respondents produced a wide range of semantic potential of stimulus words and frequency of reverse reactions. The expressive spectrum of productivity of individual associations by the respondents is interpretive and results from their cognition of the culture of popular laughter.

Psycholinguistic Dimensions of Designing the Future by Adolescents and Youth

In today's rapidly changing society, the ability of an individual to effectively design their future becomes highly important. It is the youth when a person acquires the ability to realize the project of their future. Constructing life goals and plans for their implementation by youth is carried out in the process of information exchange, life experience expansion and reflection of their semantic cognitions in social communications. The success depends on the characteristics of their image transformation into concepts, their statements' reflection, and their interpretation of other people's statements. The article aims to reveal the psycholinguistic features of designing the future by adolescents and youth. The method of the free association test, along with Leontyev's (2003) method of five-year intervals, was used for empirical research. 120 undergraduate and graduate students aged 17 to 21 from the National Pedagogical Drahomanov University, Ukraine, participated in the study held in 2021. Its results showed that most respondents created their goals mainly in marital, family, or professional modes. The objectives of spiritual growth and personal self-realization were autonomously constructed only by a few respondents. Participants with explicit nuclear semantic cognitions and corresponding associative fields, including altruistic associations, revealed prolonged, consistent, realistic structures of their life goals. In contrast, respondents with underdeveloped structures of semantic fields mostly created intermittent, time-limited structures of life goals with somewhat formal cognitions of satisfying their needs in the future.

The study of the impact of rehabilitation measures on the dynamics of cognitive disorders in Parkinson’s disease

Aim. To assess the level of cognitive impairment and its dynamics over 6 months in Parkinson’s disease.
 Materials and methods. The study involved 31 people with Parkinson’s disease, including 15 women and 16 men. The average age of patients at the beginning of the study was 65.1 (m = 0.54). The duration of the disease varied from 3 to 8 years. The Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Mattis dementia scale were used to study cognitive functions. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) was used to assess attention. The study of speech was conducted using the free and directed association test, and visual-spatial functions were studied using the “drawing clock” test. The visual memory test from the SKT test battery was used to assess memory, and affective disorders were studied using the Beck Depression Scale. Depression was diagnosed according to the ICD-10 criteria. The vegetative disorders were assessed using the autonomic disorders scale. The results obtained were processed using mathematical statistics methods.
 Results. The data obtained in the course of the study allow us to state the stability in disturbance of the vegetative function. The affective symptoms in patients with mild cognitive impairment were improved. In patients with moderate and severe cognitive impairment, affective symptoms remained stable. There were also no significant changes in the Mattis dementia scale, the Beck Depression Scale, the coding test, visual-spatial functions, grammatical associations, semantics and phonetics.
 Conclusions. The studies showed that after the introduction of a comprehensive rehabilitation program for 6 months there were minor improvements indicating the need for further improvement and implementation.

Концепт ЧУЖИЙ у свідомості носіїв перської мови (за результатами психолінгвістичного експерименту)

The goal of the paper is to determine the content of the concept of OTHER as a member of “self – other” binary opposition in the consciousness of Persian speakers based on the results of psycholinguistic experiment and their further cognitive interpretation. The need for studying the conceptual structure of this opposition by means of psycholinguistic experiment is determined by the fact that it substantially affects both interpersonal contacts of representatives of a given linguistic society and intercultural relations as a whole. Two methods of psycholinguistic analysis of word semantics have been used in the research, viz. free word association test and the method of direct interpretation of a word meaning. In total 102 Persian speakers of different age and social status took part in the experiment. The associative field of the concept was formed based on the results of processing of the data collected during the 1st stage of the experiment. Its semantic field was determined after analysis of unabridged predications in the course of explanation of the proposed words. Result data were processed using special method of grouping language material based on content-analysis: the benchmark words repeated in the answers of different participants were taken as units of the analysis and regarded as key concept features. At the final stage the cognitive interpretation of the data was performed after the principle of “construing” the meaning of linguistic expressions stipulated by R. Langacker. The obtained results demonstrate that the perceptions of Other in Persian language consciousness completely match the common worldview, in which the notions of Self and Other play an important role in conceptualization of human value system.

A Study on the Developmental Features of Yi Students' Chinese Mental Lexicon.

Adopting free word association test, the present study investigated the developmental features of Yi students’ Chinese mental lexicon. Eighty primary school students and 85 senior high school students in two typical Yi-Han bilingual schools in Yuexi County were recruited as the research subjects. With Yi language as their L1, all the participants started learning Chinese after entering primary school. The stimuli were 108 words selected from the 9,000 most frequently used words in modern Chinese, including 36 nouns, 36 verbs, and 36 adjectives. The responses were analyzed using the framework proposed by the responses were analyzed using a three-layer framework. The results showed that (1) the mental lexicon of Yi primary and middle school students were mainly connected with each other by meanings, with form-based connection followed. Compared with previous studies, their phonological associations accounted for a relatively higher proportion, while semantic associations were relatively weakened. (2) Syntagmatic associations were of primary importance, with paradigmatic and encyclopedic associations followed. (3) While syntagmatic relation was centered on determinative and governing associations, paradigmatic relation was dominated by adjacent and reverse associations. (4) The development rate of syntagmatic associations was faster than that of paradigmatic and encyclopedic associations; no significant improvement was found on students’ adjacent, layer, homogeneous and supplement associations from primary school to high school. The findings generate important implications for Yi students’ Chinese language education.

Preferences and Perceptions of Workplace Participation: A Cross-Cultural Study.

Despite the amount of theorization on the forms and effects of participation, relatively little research directly examines what the concept of workplace participation entails in the minds of employees, and whether employees across cultures think positively when the concept of participation is activated in their mental representation. Three studies (n = 1,138 full-time employees) investigated the perceptions and preferences of full-time employees from the United States and China, cultures that might be expected to differ in their societal participation norm. Using a free association test and text analyses, Study 1 demonstrated that Chinese and American employees differed in their construal of workplace participation, yet both culture groups associated positive valence to the concept of participation. Study 2 showed that employees’ preference for workplace participation is positively related to their perceptions of its outcomes on productivity, job satisfaction, and workplace conflict. Study 3 had employees interact with either a prototypically high or low participation work environment and tested whether clear cultural contrasts might occur. American employees expressed unambiguous endorsement and predicted positive outcomes of a high participation workplace, whereas Chinese employees expressed slightly higher endorsement to a low participation work environment and associated it with higher productivity. This research provides insights on how workplace participation is construed by employees from different cultures, especially from cultures where democratic participation is not the normative default. Different perspectives on workplace participation across cultures may inform practitioners of the goals and approaches when shaping a more participatory workplace and a more democratic society.