ABSTRACT
A long time ago, Charles Osgood (1952) invented the semantic differential, a procedure designed to capture the meaning of all sorts of things in terms of adjectives such as good–bad, active–passive, and strong–weak. Over the years, Osgood’s theory of semantic differentiation has been replaced by newer conceptions of meaning, although researchers still use semantic differential scales to describe people, objects, situations, and so on. To come now to the present case, suppose someone told you that he or she had ratings for individuals in some specific occupation and that the major defining adjectives were wise, articulate, good, spontaneous, honest, and powerful. Suppose he or she told you these adjectives also agreed with a more conceptual analysis of traits required for success in that profession. Now suppose he or she asked you to guess the profession: “Let’s see, articulate, wise, spontaneous, good, powerful, and honest—why, that’s me—a college professor in all of my academic virtue and glory.”
