Connotative

Definition:

Griffin uses connotative to reference words. More specifically a connotative word has a 
definition in a book somewhere but can be used associatively with feelings (positive or 
negative), or predisposed ideas (cultural or social) and images. Connotation is concerned 
with the association that our minds make about the word rather than taking the 
definition literally. Usually words can be synonyms and have different connotations. Such as 
cheap versus economical. 

Example:

"In a study literally called: ‘The Effect of Background Music in Shark Documentaries on Viewers' Perceptions of Sharks’ researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego showed over 2,000 participants 60-second video clips of sharks swimming - one silent, one set to uplifting music and one set to ominous music. “This is the first study to demonstrate empirically that the connotative attributes of background music accompanying shark footage affect viewers’ attitudes toward sharks,” said lead author Andrew P. Nosal." (Hooton)

From the text:

The one time Griffin uses the word connotative he is talking about the connotation in the word movement used to describe social change. "As students of rhetoric our concern is obviously with those efforts which at- tempt to effectuate change, not through the forces of wealth or arms, but through the force of persuasion. In the term historical movement, then, movement is the significant word; and in particular, that part of the connotative baggage of the word which implies change conveys the quality 
of dynamism. For as the historical movement, looked upon as a sustained process of social inference, is dynamic, and has its beginning, its progression, and its termi- nation, so the rhetorical component of the movement is dynamic, and has its inception, its development, and its con- summation."

Works cited:

Christopher Hooton. "Ominous music linked to negative perception of sharks, study finds"  independent.co.uk, 8 Aug. 2016, http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/ominous-music-linked-to-negative-perception-of-sharks-study-finds-a7178776.html