Frequency Stability of Adjective Trait Names
John H. Bowen · Psychological Reports · 1972
Using frequencies from the earlier Thorndike-Lorge and the later Kučera-Francis frequency counts, a lognormal distribution model is applied to judge shifts in the frequencies of occurrence of trait adjectives from a like-ableness scale. In the time between frequency counts, the frequencies of the adjectives have shifted an average of approximately .68 words per million toward higher frequencies of occurrence. The amount of shift would probably not vitiate the generalizability of results based upon the Thorndike-Lorge count.