A MULTIDIMENSIONAL-SCALING MODEL ACCOMMODATING DIFFERENTIAL STIMULUS-FAMILIARITY

We introduce a multidimensional scaling procedure that attempts to der ive a spatial representation of stimuli unconfounded by the effect of subjects' degrees of familiarity with these stimuli. The proposed mode l assumes that stimulus unfamiliarity produces a tendency for a subjec t to anchor his/her dissimilarity judgments towards a reference value on the response scale. The input data needed to perform such analyses are the degree of stimulus familiarity along with the dissimilarity ju dgments for all pairs of stimuli. In a Monte Carlo study, we investiga te the extent to which the procedure recovers known parameters. Furthe rmore, empirical applications of the model to positioning studies of m agazines and banks in the Netherlands are provided.