forced choice method in triads used by Simmons and Estes... or some other more advance and newer method... please see if we want to access if a decision is the result of thematic thinking or not... what approach can be used.
Is "thematic thinking" similar to what cognitive psychologists refer to as "schematic knowledge"? If so, there are a wide variety of techniques that they use to measure this concept. One of the most important is reaction time, so that those who have better organized and consolidated knowledge with regard to some domain are ability to work with that knowledge more quickly than those who are not schematic.
Respected David its not schematic thinking yet I am thankful for your kind response. I am talking about similarity decisions made on the basis on taxonomic and thematic approach. I hope you can help further...
To the extent that people are schematic on a domain, they will be able to make judgements of similarity both more quickly and more confidently. The classic work on this topic in social cognition is by Eleanor Rosch. Are you familiar with that?