ABSTRACT
To accomplish the first step securing the system of two mutually exclusive sets composing the cognitive substance, an instrument called the semantic differential (SD) will be used. This was first proposed by Osgood et al (1957) and has been widely applied in what its authors called 'the measurement of meaning', particularly in the field of psycholinguistics. On the other hand some more or less severe criticisms have been advanced against the SD, particularly by linguists, and these should be discussed before proceeding to its application in the 'measurement of architectural meaning'. The SD consists of seven-point scales located between pairs of polar adjectives such as 'good-bad', 'hot-cold', etc. Subjects are confronted with stimulus ma terial, which can be either verbal or nonverbal, and mark a particular scale between a polar pair, presumably in accordance with some kind of internal reaction towards the stimulus material.
