ANALYSIS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF COSMETICS 85 What other word comes to your mind first when each of the following words is mentioned: Depilatory. Odor Bath oils Greasy Vanishing cream Permanent Mascara Color Rinse Indelible In actual test, these words are mixed with others not related by function, such as chair, hammer, etc. The answers obtained begin to assume a pattern which is surprising to the psychometrist and the cosmetic chemist alike. For example, "odor" alone may prove to be a pleasant association for most, while "depilatory" may be associated with an unpleasant odor. Bath oils may be for the affluent or for the ho• pollo• by association, while it may be learned that rouge is believed useful only for certain age groups, make-up for different skin conditions, and color rinses for graying hair. There the indirect ap- proach leads to very useful information where the direct is only misleading. Another type of sentence completion test which is often used is one de- signed at eliciting responses which reflect consumer attitudes toward a par- ticular product or class of products. For example, in the cosmetic field we have used the following questions which are representative of a wide range of problems: 1. I hate lipsticks that are always 2. A shampoo must ..... in order for it to be any good. 3. A really good bar of facial soap must cost at least 10e 25e $1.00 4. Deodorants don't work equally well for me because 5. In choosing a shaving soap, I am particularly concerned with its 6. I-don't like depila cbries because__ 7. The best soaps have in them. 8. Most of the less expensive perfumes are 9. I wish under-arm deodorants were 10. I know it is better to buy a premium nail polish because A T•.sT CAS•. To illustrate another difficulty encountered in attempts to get a true ex- pression from consumers, let us look at a very simple example. Consumers returned a large number of packages of a certain product, believed to be stable, to the stores with complaints about the odor. Some mild deterioration had apparently affected the contents, but the manu-

86 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS facturer was uncertain whether or not he should attempt to withdraw all of his product from the market. Only if the negative consumer reaction was general, did he wish to suffer the expense of recalling all of the merchandise. The obvious way to determine if a significant consumer segment finds the odor objectionable is to question directly in some such manner as this: "If you purchased this product (hand out a complaint sample) would you find the odor objectionable?" When this approach was tried on convenient "consumers" about 1 in 6 advanced mild objections. Does such a procedure give a true answer, or will there be many more complaints forthcoming? To recheck the findings, why not resort to a common psychological technique? It is known that in many instances a simple, indirect question is more effective in obtaining an individual's "real" reactions than is the direct avenue. Protective methods such as the ink-blot (Rorschach) and the tell-a-story-about-a-picture test are premised on this knowledge (4). The indirect approach was employed on a second group of consumers who were asked, "Please note the odor of this product. Do you believe your friends or acquaintances who might buy it would object to the odor of it?" When they "projected" themselves into the position of others, about 90 per cent objected. The reasoning of'thee'test •consumer is stated somewhat like this: "I myself am rather tolerant, but I am sure Mabel, John, and Harry would object strongly to this odor." As a consequence of the latter test the vendor quickly recalled all of the merchandise and, later, the pattern of store returns indicated that the indirect questioning more nearly evoked the truth than did the direct approach. REPRESENTATIVE QUESTIONS In other cases, typical of those referred to the Psychometric Laboratories of the United States Testing Company, the problems are not nearly so sim- ple and must be subjected to many different approaches. Such questions as the following require answering: "Is my product sufficiently uniform from lot to lot, and if not what specific quality is at variance ?" "Which of these three proposed package designs is most attractive, has most attention value, best legibility, and greatest apparent size ?" "Is my product perceived to be as permanent in its protective capac- ity as its two leading competitive brands ?" "Which of these five colors is most preferred when applied to the skin by the consumer herself?" "If I must sacrifice color, odor, or lasting quality in the present product change, which is least important ?" For the solution of each of these problems it is necessary first to obtain the test materials in the form in which they are used. We learned many years ago that the number of consumer respondents or panel members can