Cognitive style and political ideology.

Employed a systematic coding technique to assess the integrative complexity of policy statements of 45 US Senators who, on the basis of their 1975 and 1976 voting records, had been classified as liberal, moderate, or conservative. Two hypotheses were tested. One hypothesis, derived from research on the authoritarian personality and conservatism, was that Ss who consistently voted for conservative ideological causes would be more prone to rely on simple (good vs bad) evaluative rules in interpreting policy issues than liberal or moderate Ss. The 2nd was that Ss who voted in ideologically consistent patterns (regardless of the liberal or conservative content of the ideology) would be more prone to rely on simple evaluative rules in interpreting issues than Ss who voted in less consistent patterns (moderates). 20 paragraph-sized statements were sampled from the speeches of each S; all material was coded for integrative complexity. Results indicate that conservative Ss made significantly less complex statements than their liberal or moderate colleagues. This finding remained significant after controlling for political party affiliation, education, years of service in the Senate, and age. Alternative interpretations of the data are examined. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive style and political belief systems in the British House of Commons.

Used the integrative complexity coding system to analyze confidential interviews with 89 members of the British House of Commons. The primary goal was to explore the interrelation between cognitive style and political ideology in this elite political sample. Results indicate that moderate socialists interpreted policy issues in more integratively complex or multidimensional terms than did moderate conservatives who, in turn, interpreted issues in more complex terms than extreme conservatives and extreme socialists. The latter 2 groups did not differ significantly from each other. These relations between integrative complexity and political ideology remained significant after controlling for a variety of belief and attitudinal variables. Results are interpreted in terms of a value pluralism model that draws on M. Rokeach's (1973, 1979) 2-value analysis of political ideology and basic principles of cognitive consistency theory. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Status, ideology, and integrative complexity on the U.S. Supreme Court: Rethinking the politics of political decision making.

Prior studies of integrative complexity indicate that political conservatives tend to interpret policy issues in less complex ways than do liberals and moderates. However, ideological preference in that work was systematically confounded with decision makers' status in the groups to which they belonged. The study reported here varied both factors independently in a content analysis of Supreme Court opinions. In contrast to previous conclusions, results supported a status-contingency model, which predicts higher levels of complexity among members of majority factions than among members of either minority factions or unanimous groups independently of the ideological content of their views. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive style in two modalities: Vision and audition.

Administered the visual Matching Familiar Figures Sequential Presentation Task (MFF-SPT) and the Auditory Impulsivity Task (AIT), 2 match-to-sample tasks designed to measure cognitive style, to 81 4th graders. A moderate negative correlation was found between errors and latencies on the AIT, thus indicating that longer latency did not always result in better performance. A high negative correlation was found on the MFF-SPT. 55% of the Ss maintained their classification as reflective, impulsive, fast–accurate, or slow–inaccurate across the 2 modalities, providing evidence that the 2 tasks were measuring somewhat different abilities. Ss employed the same search strategy in both modalities. It is suggested that auditory cognitive style be investigated for relationships with reading ability. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in integrative complexity accompanying significant life events: Historical evidence.

Integrative complexity is a state cognitive style variable characterized by differentiation (the recognition of different dimensions within, or perspectives on, a given stimulus) and integration (the recognition of trade-offs, syntheses, and higher order concepts relating the differentiated units). In the current study, 1 positive (e.g., professional achievement or marriage) and 1 negative (e.g., loss of employment or death of close relative) significant life event were identified in the biographies of 30 famous people. Random samples of correspondence from periods 1–2 yrs before, during, and 1–2 yrs after each selected event were scored for integrative complexity. In contrast with previous archival research, in which major stressors (war, increasing international tension, or approaching death) were correlated with reductions in complexity for many (although not all) Ss, the current data showed a substantial increase in the complexity of letters written around the time of negative life events. This was followed by a decrease to around-baseline levels in letters written during the postevent period. Differences were found between the patterns of male and female Ss. There were no significant changes associated with positive life events. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Central and peripheral routes to persuasion: An individual difference perspective.

Examined individual differences in intrinsic motivation to engage in effortful cognitive endeavors in 2 experiments involving 293 undergraduates. Results of Exp I indicate that Ss high in need for cognition were more likely to think about and elaborate cognitively on issue-relevant information when forming attitudes than were Ss low in need for cognition. Analyses further indicated that Ss low in need for cognition acted as cognitive misers rather than as verbal dolts. In Exp II, individual differences in need for cognition were used to test the prediction from the elaboration likelihood model that Ss who tend to engage in extensive issue-relevant thinking when formulating their position on an issue tend to exhibit stronger attitude–behavior correspondence. Results confirm this hypothesis: The attitudes of Ss high in need for cognition, which were obtained in a survey completed approximately 8 wks before the 1984 presidential election, were more predictive of behavioral intentions and reported voting behavior than were the attitudes of Ss low in need for cognition. (49 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Selected process variables as a function of client type and cognitive complexity in beginning counselors.

Investigated the effect on 4 selected counseling process variables by utilizing multiple measures of cognitive complexity and varied counseling tasks. Cognitive complexity was assessed with 5 separate measures (interconcept distance measure of cognitive complexity, intolerance of trait consistency, intolerance of ambiguity, category width, and paragraph completion test), and counseling tasks consisted of 2 counseling sessions with simulated clients. Ss were 33 22–44 yr old 1st-yr counselors grouped according to their cognitive style. The process variables were counselor–client congruency, counselor empathy, counselor verbal mode, and subrole. The principal findings of the study are as follows: (a) Counselor cognitive complexity did not significantly discriminate between measures of the 4 process variables. (b) There was a significant difference in performance on 3 process variables (counselor subrole, verbal mode, and accurate empathy) between the 2 counseling tasks. (c) There was a significant interaction effect between counseling tasks and the low-complexity group on accurate empathy. Within certain restrictions, it is concluded that differences in the simulated clients appear to be more influential on certain process variables than the information processing style of the student counselor. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The generality of cognitive complexity in the perception of people and inkblots.

2 experimental hypotheses were tested: (1) Significant positive relationships exist between the complexity of S's perceptions of people and the complexity of their perceptions of inkblots relative to the determinants used; and (2) Significant positive relationships exist between the complexity of S's perceptions of people and their perceptions of inkblots relative to the context elicited. A measure of cognitive complexity was derived from a concept-formation sorting task originally devised by Kelly. A modified Rorschach technique was used to measure cognitive complexity in the non-personal stimulus realm. Ss consisted of 40 college males. Significant relationships in the predicted direction were found for both hypotheses. Of the various Rorschach determinant categories, only M correlated significantly with the measure of complexity of perceptions of others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The slavery debate in antebellum America: Cognitive style, value conflict, and the limits of compromise.

Explores the relations among value conflict, cognitive style, and policy preferences in pre-Civil War America. Drawing on major historical works, prominent political figures were classified into 1 of 4 political positions: abolitionists, free-soil Republicans who would tolerate slavery in the South but prevent further spread, Buchanan Democrats who would permit slavery in new territories, and advocates of slavery. Results revealed (1) greatest integrative complexity among free-soil Republicans and Buchanan Democrats, with declines in complexity moving either leftward toward abolitionists or rightward toward slavery supporters; (2) integrative complexity was a positive function of endorsing values widely regarded as in conflict in that historical period (property rights, states' rights, and domestic peace vs the threat of "Southern slave power" to free labor and democracy). The results are consistent with the value pluralism model and raise warnings against the tendency to view integratively simple reasoning as both cognitively and morally inferior to complex reasoning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability and change in the complexity of senatorial debate: Testing the cognitive versus rhetorical style hypotheses.

Tested the cognitive vs rhetorical style hypothesis (conservatives have more simplistic rhetorical, not cognitive styles than liberals or moderates) by assessing the integrative complexity of 10 paragraph-sized statements of 81 senators in 5 US Congresses: 3 dominated by liberals and moderates (the 82nd, 94th, and 96th Congresses) and 2 dominated by conservatives (the 83rd and 97th Congresses). Results show that liberals and moderates were more complex than conservatives in the 82nd, 94th, and 96th Congresses but that these differences among ideological groups were much less pronounced in the 83rd and 97th Congresses. The change in pattern was due to sharp declines in the complexity of liberals and, to a lesser extent, moderates in conservative-dominated sessions, not to an increase in the complexity in conservatives. Conservatives displayed more traitlike stability in integrative complexity both within and across Congressional sessions. It is suggested that the integrative complexity of senatorial debate may be a joint product of relatively context-specific styles of political impression management and relatively stable cognitive styles of organizing the political world. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The child's demystification of psychological defense mechanisms: A structural and developmental analysis.

Explored possible relationships between the cognitive developmental level of preoperational, concrete operational, and formal operational children and their success in interpreting each of 8 commonly described mechanisms of psychological defense. Ss were 30 children in kindergarten–Grade 6. Based on a formal analysis of the logical transformations inherent in various defensive strategies, 3 distinct families of defense were identified, each characterized by complex modes of restructuring the appearance of more candid forms of affect expression. The transformations characteristic of these alternative modes of defense were hypothesized to mirror a counterpart set of cognitive operations including the ability to take the inverse or reciprocal of various elements of thought, or to combine such 1st-order operations into 2nd-order operations upon operations. Results indicate that preoperational children, lacking the requisite cognitive skills, fail to understand defensive transformations of any sort; that concrete operational Ss commonly understand defenses involving inverse and reciprocal operations; and that only formal operational Ss are able to decode defenses involving 2nd-order transformations involving operations upon operations. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Religious ideology, a neglected variable.

Comments on an article by J. T. Jost (see record 2006-12925-001), which presented interesting data relating some personality dimensions to voting patterns in the last three U.S. presidential elections. R. K. Unger is surprised that in his extensive review of the role of ideology, Jost ignored the role of religious ideology in political attitudes and voting behavior. There is ample evidence that level of religious observance (sometimes labeled religiosity, hierarchical religious beliefs, or religious fundamentalism) played a role in 2004 and earlier presidential elections. The relationship between religious ideology and political attitudes is correlational, and one needs to look further for an explanation of their impact. A number of studies indicate relationships between religious fundamentalism and what Jost has termed "system-justifying ideologies." Unger suggests that religiosity has been largely ignored by psychologists interested in social and political behaviors. It is quite possible that religiosity is related to the various personality dimensions discussed by Jost. But we cannot learn more about these potential connections if we continue to ignore the importance of religious ideology as a psychological variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of cognitive style and learning passage organization on study technique effectiveness.

129 field-independent and field-dependent undergraduates (as assessed by the Group Embedded Figures Test) read only or took notes on a logically organized or scrambled 80-sentence article. Field-independent Ss scored better than field-dependent Ss on completion items of high structural importance to the meaning of the entire learning passage. However, the effect of cognitive style on material of low structural importance was not significant. An analysis of notes taken by Ss in the low structural importance treatment condition indicated that notes taken on an organized learning passage were of higher average structural importance than notes taken on an unorganized learning passage. The results are discussed in terms of relationships between cognitive style and study technique effectiveness research. (7 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teasing out cognitive development from cognitive style: A training study.

Tested whether cognitive development and cognitive style (field-dependence/independence) are different dimensions. The present study was conducted in the context of J. Pascual-Leone's (1974) model of cognitive development, in which an important aspect of cognitive development is delineated by mental capacity, and an important dimension of cognitive style is field-dependence/independence. 74 5.5–6.5 and 7.5–8.5 yr old Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 trainers who taught half the group with a method developed by R. Case and the present 1st author (1974), and the other half of the group with a method designed to train Ss to actively look for informational cues. It was found that cognitive development and cognitive style are distinctly different dimensions because posttest data showed that, under training conditions that were suited to S's cognitive style, field-dependent older Ss were able to perform developmentally appropriate "control-of-variables" tasks at the same level as their field-independent age peers. Both of these groups outperformed younger field-independent Ss. Findings are discussed with regard to the theoretical model, their relevance to the stylistic dimension of reflection/impulsivity, and their educational implications. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of defense mechanisms to field dependence-independence.

Reexamined the relationships between defense mechanisms and field articulation using 50 male and 60 female psychiatric patients. It was found that (a) Ss who relied excessively on "global" defenses (turning-against-self and reversal) were more field dependent than Ss who relied on "differentiated" defenses (turning-against-object and projection); and (b) Ss who did not rely on any 1 defense were intermediate on field articulation. Knowledge of major defense allowed for prediction of cognitive style, but knowledge of cognitive style permitted prediction of only clusters of defenses. Characteristic defense appeared to be a function of both cognitive style and learning experience. When matched for defense style, men were more field independent than women on the Embedded Figures Test, but not on the Figure Drawing Test. Reversal was the most effective as a defense against anxiety for males, but not for females as judged by Repression-Sensitization Scale scores. (23 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrative complexity of American and Soviet foreign policy rhetoric: A time-series analysis.

Used the integrative complexity coding system to analyze official American and Soviet foreign policy statements concerned with problems that bore directly on American-Soviet relations issued between 1945 and 1983. Time series (ARIMA) and 2-stage least squares analyses revealed that the integrative complexity of Soviet statements was a function of Soviet complexity levels in the past, American complexity levels in the present, Soviet military or political interventions in other countries, the successful culmination of American-Soviet negotiations, and American presidential elections. The integrative complexity of American statements was a function of American complexity levels in the past, Soviet complexity levels in the past, presidential elections, changes in presidential administrations, Soviet military or political interventions in other countries, American military or political interventions in other countries, and the successful culmination of American-Soviet negotiations. Findings are interpreted in terms of 2 complementary levels of analysis: the study of cognitive processes and the study of bargaining and impression management strategies. (77 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality correlates of susceptibility to biasing information.

Asked 113 undergraduates to score 2 drawings, one allegedly made by a high-status child and the other by a disadvantaged child. The difference between the scores that each S attributed to the 2 drawings (compared to the objective base level) was the S's bias score. High-bias Ss (with bias scores 1 standard deviation or more above the overall mean bias) described themselves as more reasonable than no-bias Ss (bias scores of zero) and as less emotionally extreme in the directions of toughness, tenderness, and level of enthusiasm. This pattern is interpreted as reflecting the need system suggestive of the dogmatic personality. In a 2nd study with 179 undergraduates, no differences were found between the extreme-bias groups in responses to self-report questionnaires and the Embedded Figures Test or in political views. However, high-bias Ss responded more extremely than no-bias Ss to direct questions pertaining to their political ideology, independent of its content and direction, in line with the conception of dogmatism as a style of thinking independent of ideological content. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderating influence of self-esteem on relationships between job complexity, performance, and satisfaction.

Administered the Job Diagnostic Survey, the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, and measures of job complexity, job performance, and sense of competence to 166 15–22 yr old 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-yr electrical apprentices. The measures were readministered 20 mo later to 92 of the original 1st- and 2nd-yr Ss to investigate the moderating influence of employee self-esteem on relationships between organizational variables. Analysis showed that global self-esteem and sense of competence did not moderate relationships between (1) job satisfaction and job performance and (2) job complexity and job performance or job satisfaction. It is suggested that the moderating effect of self-esteem on relationships involving job satisfaction, performance, and complexity may have little practical consequence. (39 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intimations of mortality: Integrative simplification as a precursor of death.

Tested the hypothesis that a "terminal drop" in cognitive functioning occurs a few years prior to death. Letters written during the last 10 yrs of life were selected from the published correspondence of 18 eminent individuals (such as Freud and Napoleon) and scored for integrative complexity—a variable related to the degree of integration and differentiation in information processing. The overall analysis supported the terminal drop hypothesis. The predicted decline in complexity was found during the 5 yrs prior to death among Ss who died of protracted illness or old age but only in the year immediately prior to death among Ss who died suddenly. There was no relation between complexity and age, and the mean complexity scores of men were higher than those of women. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differences in group problem-solving behavior and effectiveness as a function of abstractness.

Classes of undergraduates and classes of graduate management students who were experienced managers were administered the O'Connor Abstractness Orientation Scale, a structural cognitive style measure. The 5 highest and lowest scorers in each of 20 class sections were assigned to abstract and concrete problem-solving groups, respectively. Concrete groups required almost twice as long as abstract groups to complete the assigned task (p?≤?.001). Compared to concrete groups, abstract group Ss interacted at a faster pace and demonstrated better cue utilization (p?≤?.001). No differences were found between undergraduate and graduate groups. Results are consistent with findings from prior research on concreteness–abstractness or cognitive complexity. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)