Objective Measurement of Social Role Concepts via the Semantic Differential

A methodological study for quantifying the construct of role on three dimensions of a Semantic Differential: Evaluative, Potency, Activity. Male and female university students rated 8 social roles on a standard 25-item Semantic Differential under two instructional procedures. Support was obtained for a central assumption embraced by role theorists, that there is consensual agreement as to characteristics associated with certain roles. Ratings of the roles for the two instructional conditions, actual and ideal, closely paralleled the concepts “role” and “position,” respectively. Each of the three semantic dimensions significantly differentiated the 8 roles, indicating that three semantic dimensions provided greater precision in measurement than only an attitudinal dimension.