Automated Personal Thesaurus TEZAL: Reconstructing the Psychosemantic Foundations of Interpersonal Relations

Abstract

The present research featured the psychosemantic foundation of interpersonal relations, the latter represented as a three-level system. The psychosemantic foundation contains implicit models of interpersonal relations; the regulatory level regulates interpersonal relationships in various contexts; the behavioral level manifests itself in direct interpersonal behavior. The research was based on the method of semantic differential. However, the method proved too sensitive to various kinds of heterogeneity of the test subjects, which rendered it impossible to identify the factor structure. As a result, the semantic differential was converted to factorial personality systems through the Automated Personal Thesaurus TEZAL. In this research, the semantic differential vocabulary profile was converted to 16PF personality profile. The semantic differential and converted data underwent statistical and comparative analyses, which singled out the general structures of perception in the system of interpersonal relations. The procedure revealed two bipolar factors. The factor of social self-organization reflected the degree of orderliness of social activity and behavior. The factor of social interaction demonstrated the flexibility, activity and initiative of social behavior. A regression analysis of the psychosemantic foundations revealed a more complex system, when interpersonal relations are perceived through the role image of mother and friend. Thus, initial data conversion provided a more detailed reconstruction of the psychosemantic foundation of interpersonal relations.