What’s in a House? An Analysis of Gender Specific Word Associations
What’s in a House? An Analysis of Gender Specific Word Associations

Author(s): Elena Korshuk
Subject(s): Gender Studies, Sociolinguistics
Published by: Universitatea Petrol-Gaze din Ploieşti
Keywords: gender specific word associations; cross-cultural studies; free word associations;
Summary/Abstract: Throughout the century and a half of its existence, the free word association experiment first psychologists, then psycholinguists and now modern day interculturalists have used it for their scopes. However, only a few authors have undertaken attempts to analyze the gender/sex differences in the association process, and virtually no one combined it with cross-cultural studies. The present report will concentrate on cross-cultural and gender comparison in free word association. The author will offer a comparison of the 1952 results obtained from respondents in France with the 2000 data of the experiments conducted by the author in the US and in Belarus, and discuss the differences in the modern reactions. The conducted research demonstrates some common gender differences in free word associations throughout various times and cultures. Free word association experiment provides another tool for studying culture and gender variability in language use.

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