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same set of criteria. As a first step in preparing such a
set, a master list of 40 plausible criteria of ownership was
compiled. Each criterion was identified by a label and by
an example expression, both created by the experimenter,
e.g. Purchase: "I paid for it." (See Appendix A for a
complete listing of the 40 criteria.)
One pilot study was undertaken to determine whether or
not the wordings were adequately clear, and whether or not
there were additional, important criteria that might have
been overlooked. (See Appendix B.) Based on the results,
no new criteria were identified. The example expressions of
two criteria were modified slightly. ' A second pilot study
was undertaken to select those criteria for which most
subjects would be able to list exemplars. (See Appendix C.)
The selected criteria for use in the major study appear in
Table 1. Finally, a pilot study was undertaken to determine
whether or not subjects could sensibly list exemplars of
things owned and things not owned. (See Appendix D.) The
results showed that subjects were able to do these tasks
without apparent difficulty.
Subjects
The goal of the major study was to examine the
semantic intension of the concept of ownership in the
general population. Employed adults were assumed to be