Exercise 1
Bypassing: How often is “often”?
Below you will find a group of words that we use to indicate differing degrees of
“oftenness” with which events tend to happen. Obviously, some of the words mean
different things to different people. The purpose of this exercise is to determine what the
words mean to you.
Simply indicate how many times out of 100 you think the word indicates an act has
happened or is likely to happen.
For example, if “almost never” indicates to you that a thing should happen about 2 times
out of 100, you should mark a “2” in the space before the expression. If it means about 1
time out of 100, then mark a “1”.
1. Almost never
2. Always
3. About as often as
not
4. Frequently
5. Generally
6. Hardly Ever
7. Never
8. Not often
9. Now and then
10. Occasionally
11. Often
12. One in a while
13. Rarely
14. Rather often
15. Seldom
16. Sometimes
17. Usually
18. Usually not
19. Very Seldom
20. Very Often
How many (numerically) are:
A few? _____
Several? ______
Many? ______
1
Personal Characteristics of 4 Individual Profiles



Woman
27 yrs. Old
Interested in
women’s
rights


Assist. Prof at
Midwest
Univ.
Democrat



Sunday
School teacher
Factor
worker’s
daughter
Likes soap
operas



KU student
Speech major
Reads
romantic
fiction
Magazine
subscriptions?
Hobbies?
Education
Level?
Religion?
Personality
Type?
Married?
Children?
Liberal?
Conservative?
Clothing Worn?
Tattoos?
2