Osgood’s mediational theory: what it explains, and examples

A summary of the main psychological theory of researcher Charles E. Osgood.

Osgood's mediational theory proposes a variant to the more classical behavioral equation, which only contemplated stimuli and responses to understand how an individual reacted to the demands of the environment.

Charles E. Osgood postulated the existence of concepts to which human beings tended to attribute meaning, thus posing a historical milestone in the evolution of behaviorism. From his model would emerge the technique of the semantic differential, whose purpose was to evaluate this extreme.

In the following lines we will delve into the fundamental ideas of his mediational theory, which was a milestone for psychology and has inspired much research on how individuality mediates the relationship between stimuli and responses.

Osgood's mediational theory

The mediational theory of Osgood grants a special value to the words, since it assumes that they harbor the capacity to represent tangible objects of the reality and to mobilize in every human being some of the behaviors that he would articulate before the direct presence of these. It is, therefore, a model that a model that puts special emphasis on the symbolic properties of languageand which adds richness to the classical behavioral equation (from which any reaction to the environment was limited to the well-known stimulus-response).

This theory is based on the fact that words, and the cognitive processing that can be suggested from them, act as the mediational axis between the presentation of any stimulus and the response associated with it. It is for this reason that it is considered a model of clear neobehavioral cut.Osgood's postulate, since it broadens his theoretical framework and contemplates the constructive capacity of the human being in his interaction with the reality that surrounds him.

The following are the three levels included in Osgood's postulate, which detail the progressive transformation of sensations (dependent on the sense organs) to perceptions and meanings, which imply higher level elaborations and which are the basis for the selection of a range of behaviors to mediate on the natural environment.

1. Projection level

The level of projection refers to the realm of immediate sensations, as they occur in the natural environment.as they occur at the moment they are perceived by the sense organs. It includes both those belonging to the visual domain and the rest of the sensory modalities, and traces the way in which every human being immerses himself in the physical environment that surrounds him. In particular, it is a wide universe of sensations that unfold during the experience, in a composition of nuances that can be apprehended by the sensory and organic limits.

This initial process obeys to a perception of the facts as they are (icons), without the (icons), without their interpretation or the contribution of the individuality of the one who participates in this situation.

At the other end of the equation, the level of projection includes all the possible behaviors (movements) that the agent subject can use to interact with that which is to interact with that which surrounds him. Thus, the projective level brings together stimuli and potential responses, without using filters of any other nature.

2. Integration level

In this second level, two sequential processes occur, independent in their definition but functionally connected. Firstly, the stimuli of the preceding phase are brought together in a rich subjective experience that integrates them according to the form in which they tend to that integrates them according to the form in which they tend to present themselves. In any case, they are part of the canvas of a complex experience that can hardly be reduced to the sum of all its parts.

The way in which all of them are assembled depends on past experiences, which constitute the second point of reference.The way in which all of them are assembled depends on past experiences, which constitute the second point of this process. Through our interaction with the world we learn that certain phenomena tend to occur together (by temporal and spatial contingency) and furthermore, that their confluence endows them with a new meaning.

This process is equivalent to perception, through which sensation is reworked and certain behavioral expectations are generated. It is not, therefore, a passive reception of the stimulus matrix, but the person endows it with value or meaning.

3. Mediation level

At this level, the following would arise a semantic meaning to capture the experience, which would be translated into verbal terms (words) that are distant in structure from the object to which they allude, but which represent a symbol in whose essence lies the convergence of all its elements. that are distant in structure from the object to which they allude, but that suppose a symbol in whose essence resides the convergence of all the elements that conform it. This symbol would play the role of a triggering stimulus, but not a purely physical one, but one with a very notable subjective charge (emotional, for example) of an abstract type.

Life allows us to understand that certain events make sense when they are presented together, and that we do not react to each one of them separately, but to what makes up their semantic uniqueness. This can be represented by a single word whose appearance is the result of social consensus. From it, and from the value given to it, and the value attached to it, responses will unfold in the form of complex behavioral patterns and personal emotions. personal emotions.

In the same way that the stimulus is the union of icons of the perceptual field in a significant unit, the response implies a pattern of movements (understood as the most elementary form of action) that are selected from the whole range of possibilities, according to the way in which the person values the semantic unit. For this reason, each of them responds in a different way to the same situation.

Representational capacity

At this point, it is essential to consider that words symbolically represent things that occur in reality and elicit responses comparable to what they are representing, this being the key point of mediational processing. This process implies a cognitive elaboration that goes beyond the sensation or perceptionIt involves the realm of the meanings that the event may have for each person.

Thus, the sensations that accompany each word (icons) depend on the experiences that have been depend on the experiences one has had with what it represents (a storm is not the same for someone who has never experienced one (a storm is not the same for someone who has never experienced one up close as it is for someone who has lost their home as a result of a storm), which would precipitate in each individual a different pattern of behaviors/emotions when presented to the consciousness (as a result of the perception of suggestive signs of the same in the environment).

The truth is that words such as "storm" could be associated with a Wide range of responses, but the individual will deploy only those that are congruent with the value they have for him/her.

Thus, for those who have never experienced its dramatic effects, it will be enough to walk home, but for those who have suffered from it, it will be inevitable to make the same journey running as if their life depended on it or to look for a place where they can immediately take shelter.

The semantic differential

The semantic differential is an evaluation procedure with which to explore how a person perceives a particular word (and therefore what it represents). (and therefore what it represents).

A list of several pairs of adjectives is usually used, each of which forms a continuum at the ends of which are opposites expressed in bipolar terms (good or bad, adequate or inadequate, etc.), with the subject being able to place himself somewhere between the two (with seven different response options, ranging from -3 to +3 and with a value of 0 indicating neutrality).

Since the best way to understand Osgood's mediational theory is through examples, we proceed to present the case of a person facing a natural catastrophe. We will break down the process into its more concrete parts, in order to shed light on each of the points raised throughout the article.

Osgood's mediational theory in action

It was a balmy June afternoon on the eastern shores of Japan. Shigeru was spending time fishing on a makeshift rocky beach, although he had not had much success so far. For some unknown reason the fish were wary of taking the bait, so he simply rested after a busy work week. There he often found a haven of peace, where he could take refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Suddenly he felt the earth seem to tremble beneath him.. A flock of seagulls scurried from the sea horizon inland, squawking erratically until they disappeared behind the silhouette of the cottages that lined the shore a few yards offshore. A dense, foamy wave lapped the shore and surged uncharacteristically forward on the sand. Behind it, the ocean seemed to shrink and retract as if breathing in, exposing hundreds of yards of glittering boulders and colorful shells. A wild roar, bubbling and aquatic, filled the air and crashed against her ears.

Somewhere a nervous bell rang, barely discernible behind the angry growl of a suddenly raging sea. It was not the first time he had experienced something like this. His body shuddered and he began to piece together everything he had seen and felt in just a few seconds. The noise, the fleeing birds, the shaking.... Without a doubt, it was a tsunami. He got up like an exhalation and picked up a few of his most prized gear, and scuttled out of there like the devil takes the hindmost.

A few years ago he had lost everything because of a natural phenomenon like that, so wild and uncertain.so wild and uncertain. His possessions were annihilated or engulfed by a brutal mass of destructive water, and since that day he had always lived with the floating feeling that it could happen again. Just hearing the word "tsunami" made him feel a deep horror, so dense that it even took his breath away. After all, it was something that only those who had experienced firsthand the destruction that the sea can leave in its wake could understand.

He survived, but after many months, Shigeru continued to think about everything that had happened. The word "tsunami" came into his head from time to time, and just by pronouncing it he felt the need to run and hide somewhere. It was as if he suddenly had the power to awaken a primitive panic, stark and visceral.and visceral panic, forcing him to seek shelter. But he was sitting on a central terrace, safe, in a city located in the center of the Japanese archipelago. Far, far away from the coast.

He could just make out that, a few meters away, a group of young women were talking loudly about the recent news of another tsunami that had swept through the fishing villages in the south and east of the country. And although their words seemed affected by that tragedy, one could sense behind them that they had never before heard the news of the tsunami, they had never before experienced nature's cruel fury on their own skin.a. They paid for their respective coffees and left the place, chatting about some mundane and completely different matter.

Interpretation of the example

Shigeru was spending a pleasant day in solitude, fishing without further pretensions. After a while, he sensed a series of events around him (raging sea, fleeing birds and the ocean's low roar) that he could signify in a single word: tsunami.

This term would act for him as a stimulus to respond to, of which he already knew enough to understand its scope and risk. And all this despite the fact that the tsunami was not actually present in the natural environment, but only the objective indications of its imminence (being at that time, therefore, a symbolic threat).

Because he had once lost everything to such a natural phenomenon, and he associated the term "tsunami" with the associated the term "tsunami" with very particular adverse experiences, he chose to flee quickly from there.He chose to flee quickly from there (out of all the options available in that situation). Thanks to his behavior, he managed to take refuge and save his life.

The word "tsunami" would symbolize for him a whole series of difficult affections, since it had the power to evoke dramatic events in his life, but the women who drank coffee were able to address this question without being seized by the same pain. At this point the different meanings that each human being can attribute to the same term, depending on the way in which it is used, can be appreciated.according to the way in which it has been related during his life with the reality to which it alludes, which is intimately associated with the behavior and emotion that will be displayed when it emerges to consciousness.

Bibliographical references:

• Holland, P.C. (2008). Cognitive versus stimulus-response theories of learning. Learning Behavior, 36(3), 227 - 241.
• Tzeng, O., Landis, D., & Tseng, D. (2012). Charles E. Osgood's continuing contributions to intercultural communication and far beyond! International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 36(6), 832 - 842.