[Changes occurring in psychotherapy measured by the Osgood semantic differential--methodologic elaboration]. / Changements survenus en psychothérapie mesurés à l'aide du différenciateur sémantique d'Osgood--élaboration méthodologique.

General recall on Osgood's semantic differential. Motive and way of integrating it in research on the effects of psychotherapies. Report of some preliminary results from a transversal study of normal, neurotic and schizophrenic subjects and from a longitudinal study of normal and neurotic subjects. These first results strengthen the assumption that the semantic differential provides an appreciably adequate picture of mental state, for both its stable and evolutive components.

Methodological aspects of the evaluation of psychotherapies.

With the aim of methodically examining the evaluation of short-term psychotherapies, the authors study the conditions of setting up and applying Osgood's semantic differential. For an ad hoc selection of the inducive words, an in-depth study of the parametrization of bipolar scales based on new premises is undertaken, after which the semantic space is reconstructed. These stages are carried out, on the one hand, on a sample of patients under treatment at a psychiatric policlinic, and on the other hand, on a sample drawn from the general population. The results are compared step for step. In addition, correspondence analyses between the inducive words and the scales shed new light on the stability of Osgood's semantic differential.