Two studies on the process of negative modification

The properties of words with negative affix are investigated in two studies. The first analyzed a subset of qualifier adjectives elicited from three age groups. A significant age differential was found for the proportion of words with negative prefix to the number of negatively evaluated words generated; this could not be simply explained by the "Pollyanna hypothesis." In a second study, alternative words of similar meaning were elicited for 80 words: 20 personality-descriptive adjectives, two versions of their negative modification, and antonyms for the 20 words. A measure of informational uncertainty was calculated for each of the four word types across subjects. Significant effects for words with a negative affix result, which are distinct from that obtained with negatively evaluated antonyms. Comment on these findings makes reference to linguistic work on negation while pointing out that, in the context of other experimental studies, this behavior may be subsumed under a more general cognitive process. The observations open up to experimental investigation the subject of the negative prefix and the generative process which probably underlies it.