Differentiated, field independent individuals are presumably better able to separate the self from the nonself than less differentiated, field dependent individuals (Witkin, Goodenough, & Oilman, 1979). This should have important implications for reality monitoring : the process of determining whether a memory originated in thought processes (internal) or in perception (external). In Experiment 1, field dependent and independent subjects were asked to discriminate between internal and external sources of memories. Field independent subjects were more accurate at identifying the origin of their memories (they made fewer reality monitoring confusions) than were field dependent subjects. When subjects were asked to discriminate between two external sources of memories (Experiment 2) or between two internal sources of memories (Experiment 3), field independent subjects did not show the source discrimination advantage. Recognition memory also varied across experiments with field independent subjects showing an advantage in some (Experiments 1 & 2) but not all (Experiment 3) cases. The results are discussed in terms of an overreliance by field dependent subjects on the sensory, semantic, and contextual detail characteristic of externally derived memories; and, a lesser awareness by these subjects of their own cognitive operations.Recent work in personality psychology has begun to attract the attention of cognitive psychologists. This is due, in part, to the growing realization that ideographic approaches can contribute much to a more complete understanding of the ways people encode, store, elaborate, and retrieve information.
In the first half of the 20th century, three cults suddenly spread throughout the southern part of the area inhabited by the Dogon. By the 1980s, they had completely disappeared. They were : two cults of possession against sorcery (juru andiɲa) and a society of « ritual buffoons » (ara-mɔ͂ɲu-nã), which ensured and controlled feminine fertility. Limited in time and space, the diffusion of these three « brotherhoods » can be explained both by their ethnic plurality and by social and political upheaval in the early part of this century.
The construct of field dependence-independence was explored with respect to individual efficacy in forming automatized sequences. Thirty-six female subjects developed and used such sequences. They experienced either severe, mild, or no interruption of the sequences at various points during 60 trials (such that each trial was a repetition of the sequence). Attention deployment to task-relevant and task-relevant material during these interruptions was assessed using recognition confidence measures. Results indicated that the distinction between task-relevant and task-relevant items was important to both field-dependent and field-independent subjects: Field-dependent subjects incorporated more task-relevant material as an attentional focus and monitored both kinds of material more closely when the sequence was not interrupted. The opposite was true for field independent subjects, who were also faster in forming the sequence.
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