FREE-ASSOCIATION RESPONSES TO THE PRIMARY RESPONSES AND OTHER RESPONSES SELECTED FROM THE PALERMO-JENKINS NORMS11The collection of these norms was facilitated by Grant MH-10249 from the National Institutes of Health. The data were analyzed and processed at the Institute of Human Learning which is supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health., 22The authors wish to thank Vicky Campbell, Ed Eng, Sally Lorch, Marilyn Myers, and Judy Rupley for their help in preparing the norms for publication.

Abstract

This chapter discusses free-association responses to the primary purposes and other responses selected from the Palermo–Jenkins norms. A useful supplement to free-association norms is the additional determination of associations to responses that are elicited on the original test. These supplemental norms increase the number of association hierarchies available to the investigator and also provide information concerning the independent probabilities of chains of words. Free-association responses allow the independent manipulation of associative directionality of pairs of words, for example, A and B, that is, it becomes possible to choose word pairs on the basis of either the A-B or B-A associative strength. Listing of the associative probabilities of other words, given in response to B, can greatly increase the size of the pool of associative triads, that is, A-B-C chains. The original norms can be used to discover A-B-C word chains or word pairs varying in degree of bidirectionality. However, such a procedure identifies only a limited number of usable word pairs or chains.