Many authors have drawn attention to the differences in psychosocial variables which exist between national cultures. This paper investigates Prato Previde's (1991) hypothesis that Adaptive-Innovative (A-I) cognitive style is a stable cognitive process within the individual which is largely uninfluenced by national culture. Empirical findings and statistical analyses are brought together from a range of studies in different countries to test this hypothesis. In all, the conclusion is drawn that the data are largely consistent with this hypothesis. The principal factors supporting this conclusion comprise: (1) the similarity between the psychometric properties and factor structures obtained for each of the current five language versions (English, French, Dutch, Italian, and Slovak) of the KAI — the measure of (A-I) cognitive style; and (2) the evidence that A-I cognitive style varies more by occupation and by work function than by nation.
Bibliography: leaves 240-257. ; This thesis proposes to answer a single question: do the stylistic features of cognition operate independently of cognitive contents? The question itself has a history, and the way it has been framed, and the types of answers it has attracted have been related to ideological and political interests. Chapter 1 reviews four social psychological theories of the relationship between cognitive style and ideological beliefs - authoritarianism, extremism theory, context theory, and value pluralism theory. It argues that these (empiricist) accounts have been bedeviled by a tension between theoretical universalism and political critique, and have fostered the view that cognitive traits are stable, general, and pervasive properties of individual psychology. Chapter 2 focuses on the construct of intolerance of ambiguity, and shows how - in the manner of Danziger's (1985) "methodological circle" - universalistic assumptions have become incorporated into measurement instruments; and how all evidence of individual variability in cognitive style has been accommodated by interactionist models of personality, leaving the empiricist view intact. Roy Bhaskar's critical realism is used as an alternative to a empiricist psychology, and Michael Billig's rhetorical psychology is used as an alternative to universalistic theories of cognitive style. A measurement procedure is developed which can assess cross-content variability in ambiguity tolerance. Three studies are performed in order to justify a move towards an anti-universalistic conception of cognitive style. Study l evaluates the hypothesized generality of ambiguity tolerance on a sample of university students. Factor analysis and correlational matrices show that ambiguity tolerance toward different authorities is domain specific, and that different factors are related to each other positively, negatively, and orthogonally. Study 2 employs the same sample, and uses polynomial regression analysis to show that the relationship between ambiguity tolerance and ideological conservatism is highly variable across content domain. Study 3 replicates these central findings with another student sample and with different scale contents. The results of all three studies arc contrary to the predictions of the social psychological accounts of cognitive style. They show that expressions of cognitive style are context- and content-dependent, and suggest that the empiricist "thing-like" ontology be replaced with a praxis- and concept-dependent ontology.
The current debates on metatheory in sociology do not account for the fact that metatheorizing, as a distinct intellectual activity, is unequally distributed throughout the sciences. As a reflexive and critical subspecialty, metatheory and metasociology are more likely to routinely accompany work in loosely coupled and highly controversial disciplines. The theory of scientific organizations explains the propensity for metatheorizing as the outcome of weak and conversational fields that rely mostly on texts to support their discourse.
Features of association of traditional cognitive styles with 18 coping strategies are considered in this article. 3 factors on cognitive styles and 3 factors on coping strategies were allocated. Repeated factorisation was carried out for communication existence confirmation. 3 factors with the following interrelations were revealed – field independent, with narrow range equivalence, flexible, reflective, with abstract conceptualisation and tolerant of unrealistic experience – such people seldom use unproductive coping behaviour styles; field dependent, with narrow range equivalence, rigid, reflective, with concrete conceptualisation and intolerant of unrealistic experience; such people are inclined to equal extent of use of both productive and unproductive coping behaviour styles; social coping behaviour styles are used to a lesser extent; people with a wide range of equivalence, rigid, impulsive and intolerant ones use more social coping behaviourstyles, resorting to productive style just occasionally.
The practice of policy analysis requires an ability to understand the political context of decisions. This political sensitivity involves a readiness to address certain intellectual questions. In order to answer these questions about the political environment, a practitioner needs to have a particular cognitive style. Examination of empirical studies of planners shows understanding of the political environment among these practitioners to be associated with a distinctive cognitive map and related cognitive style. This cognitive style should be considered part of the requisite expertise for policy analysis. Practitioners without this cognitive style are likely to have little influence in decision making.
The new philosophy of cultural democracy in educ is discussed in relation to cognitive styles & how practices based on the exclusionist melting pot ideology have affected learning in culturally diff children, specifically, Mexican-Amer children. Cultural democracy is the individual's right to maintain a bicultural identity, that is, to retain his identification with his ethnic group while simultaneously adopting mainstream Amer values & life styles. Cultural democracy includes the right of each individual to be educated in his own learning style. The exclusionist melting pot philosophy, on the other hand, assumes that values & life styles differing from those of the Amer Mc are inferior & must be changed. G. S. Lesser, G. Fifer & D. H. Clark, in "Mental Abilities of Children from Different Social-Class and Cultural Groups," Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1965, 102, have shown that members of diff ethnic groups exhibit diff patterns of intellectual ability, each group performing better in some areas than in others. Intellectual patterns varied for each of 4 ethnic groups & the patterns were similar for diff SE groups within the same culture. These findings imply that intellectual patterns observed are manifestations of culturally unique learning styles. Rejection of an individual's culture is accompanied by rejection of his established learning, incentive-motivational, human relational, & COMM styles (or cognitive styles) which are determined through soc'ization, itself culturally determined. The hyp is developed that the primary reason for the failure of educ'al instit's to fulfill the needs of the majority of Mexican Amer's is that they do not recognize or reflect the cognitive styles of these people. This hyp is supported by a study in which the Portable Rod & Frame Test was admin'ed to 53 teachers & 711 elementary students. Results showed teachers to be more field independent than Mexican Amer students. The hope is put forth that this res will lead to the development of techniques for training teachers to teach in both styles, to write curricula & to develop assessment instruments which are appropriate for both field sensitive & field independent children. Modified AA.
This study examined the relationship between work-specific cognitive style, and measures of organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and involvement. One hundred working adults completed the revised Occupational Attributional Style Questioinaire and three validated measures of work attitudes. In general, cognitive style showed few associations with demographic variables, occupational status, and salary. Internality and perception of personal control over positive outcomes were positively correlated with job commitment, involvement, and satisfaction, a finding that appears to generalize across different occupational groups. The discussion considers the relative merits of attributional style vs. locus of control methodology in assessing work-related cognitions.
Forty-two male and 42 female college students were subdivided into field independent, medium, and field dependent identity groups and matched for sex. Each subject was given 24 active and 24 passive touch form discrimination trials. The results showed that active touch form discrimination yielded fewer errors than passive touch and that females were better form discriminators than males. The interaction between field dependence, form discrimination and sex showed that in contrast to field independent subjects, field dependent males made more form discrimination errors while females improved. This interaction is discussed in relation to the field dependence literature.
