This study assessed evidence of validity and precision of a semantic differential test that has been used to measure the transfer of meaning among equivalent stimuli. Participants were 196 college students who evaluated pictures of faces expressing emotions and also abstract pictures using an instrument comprised by 13 bipolar scales anchored by opposite adjectives. The factor analysis of the data evidenced the validity of the instrument. Values of alpha coefficients indicated that the factors extracted by this analysis have acceptable levels of precision, although one of the factors might be revised. It is discussed that the stimulus equivalence paradigm, an experimental model for symbolic relations, can benefit from instruments that provide valid measures of meaning transfer.
Semantic differential; validation of a measure of meaning; stimulus equivalence; symbolic behavior
