Cognitive aspects of step- terms in American kinship

In this article we extend the study of judged similarity among kinship term s from consanguineal to step-terms. Based on a sample of college students, we present a Euclidean representation of American kinship terms that shows that the distinction between consanguineal terms and step terms is crucial. This representation matches predictions from the componential analysis par adigm and is shared by respondents of both genders with different ethniciti es and first languages spoken.