Own vs Provided Constructs in a Reptest Measure of Cognitive Complexity

Metcalfe, Robert J. Alban

doi:10.2466/pr0.1974.35.3.1305

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…In fact, Bannister and Mair (1968) argued that "the procedure of supplying adjective labels has become more widely favoured than can be theoretically or experimentally justified" (p. 67). This notion is consistent with the conclusion of Metcalfe (1974) that "while provided constructs can afford adequate data [for measures of cognitive complexity], preference should be given to the use of own constructs" (p. 1306).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…One explanation concerns differences in the content of the provided and personal constructs themselves, whereas the other involves the actual process of construct elicitation. With regard to construct content, several authors have discussed the consequences of using provided versus elicited constructs in the investigation of cognitive structure (e.g., Adams-Webber, 1979; Kuusinen & Nystedt, 1975a, 1975b; Metcalfe, 1974; Neimeyer, 1988). Although results of some of these studies confirmed the functional similarity of provided and elicited constructs, results of several others have suggested the contrary.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Beyond gender concerns, a growing literature now also documents the differential effects of construct type on cognitive complexity (e.g., Caine & Smail, 1967; Kuusinen & Nystedt, 1975a, 1975b; Metcalfe, 1974; and Tripodi & Bieri, 1963). Within the vocational literature, research has shown that the use of personally elicited constructs generally results in higher levels of differentiation than does the use of experimentally provided constructs (Brown, 1987; Cochran, 1977; Neimeyer et al, 1989).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of gender and construct type in vocational complexity and choice of academic major.

Leso

Neimeyer²

1991

Journal of Counseling Psychology

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This study was designed to replicate and extend two sets of earlier findings reported by Bodden and his colleagues. With regard to the first of these, our results, in contrast to Bodden's, failed to reveal any relation between aspects of vocational structure and the selection of an appropriate academic major. Second, the replicability of Bodden and James's (1976) finding that providing occupational information decreases vocational differentiation was investigated. Results of our study again confirmed this decrease in differentiation, but only when subjects used experimentally provided constructs, not when they used their own, personally elicited constructs. The implications of these findings for vocational counseling are discussed, and future directions for research are noted.The ways in which people perceive the world play an important part in the decisions they make and the behaviors they engage in. According to Kelly (1955), people use their perceptions to construct representations of the real world and to predict and control everyday events. These representations of reality take the form of dichotomous "constructs" (e.g., good vs. bad) organized into structured schemata that enable people to interpret events and "chart a course of behavior" (Kelly 1955, p. 9). Of particular interest in this study is a subset of personal constructs that Kelly (1955, p. 740) referred to as the "vocational construct system," described by Neimeyer (1988) as "an interrelated matrix of bipolar dimensions whose focus of convenience is occupational or vocational experience (e.g., high vs. low salary)" (p. 441).Beginning with the early work of Bodden (1970), a considerable body of research has involved the use of Kelly's (1955) repertory grid technique to investigate the relation between the complexity of the vocational construct system and vocational behavior (see Neimeyer, 1988, for a review). Our study focused on two programs of research from this literature initiated by Bodden (1970) and Bodden and James (1976). In the first of these, Bodden (1970) argued that vocational complexity (defined in terms of vocational differentiation, or the number of independent constructs available to a person in perceiving careers; Tripodi & Bieri ,1969), should be positively correlated with the selection of an appropriate vocational choice. As Bodden (1970) reasoned, if "cognitively complex persons are able to make finer discriminations among stimulus information input ... then [they] should be more likely to make appropriate vocational decisions" (p. 364).Using a sample of 200 college undergraduates, Bodden (1970) compared the appropriateness of subjects' intended vocational choices with their levels of cognitive differentiation. Bodden determined vocational appropriateness by

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Role of gender and construct type in vocational complexity and choice of academic major.

Leso

Neimeyer²

1991

Journal of Counseling Psychology

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“…Adherents to Kelly's (1955) original method of eliciting constructs have maintained strong allegiance to an idiographic tradition (Cochran, 1977(Cochran, , 1983a(Cochran, , 1983b(Cochran, , 1983c, whereas other researchers have maintained equal adherence to Bodden's (1970) preference for using provided construct dimensions (see Neimeyer, 1988, for a review). The former have traditionally justified their allegiance to the method of eliciting constructs on the basis of preserving the personal meaning of an individual's constructions (Metcalf, 1974), whereas the latter have placed a premium on standardization and control of error variance. If replicated and extended, the present results may question both claims and qualify the usefulness of both positions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of construct type in vocational differentiation: Use of elicited versus provided dimensions.

Neimeyer¹,

Leso²,

Marmarosh³

et al. 1992

Journal of Counseling Psychology

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Recent studies of vocational structure have demonstrated that experimentally provided vocational constructs are used in less complex, less differentiated ways than are subjects' personally elicited construct dimensions. The possible reasons underlying these differences are addressed in this 2part study. Results of Study 1 supported significant differences between the use of elicited and provided constructs and ruled out one methodological artifact that may have accounted for these differences. Study 2 helped to isolate the personal meaningfulness of the elicited construct as an active agent that accounts for differences in the use of these vocational constructs. Findings of both studies document, for the first time, a means of increasing differentiation and converge to suggest the important role of personal meaning in vocational structure.

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“…The scoring procedure, and the underlying logic of the measurement, is similar in these other versions; thus the remainder of this review will not distinguish these various species of Bieri's measure. Although some investigations have found these various versions not to correlate highly (e.g., Alban Metcalfe, 1974;Coleman, 1975;Tripodi & Bieri, 1963;Vacc & Vacc, 1973), we hope it will become clear that the evidence concerning Bieri's measure is rather univocal across the variations and hence that to distinguish the several species would only unnecessarily complicate matters.…”

Section: Alternative Measuresmentioning

confidence: 95%

Cognitive Complexity Measures and the Relationship of Cognitive Complexity to Communication

1981

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This review assesses the adequacy of several commonly employed cognitive complexity measures on the basis of five criteria: high test-retest reliability with adults, association with chronological age across childhood and adolescence, independence from intelligence and verbal abilities, association with other indices of developed social cognition, and association with measures of developed communicative functioning. Extant research indicates that only one complexity measure-Crockett's Role Category Questionnaire-is satisfactory on all these criteria, whereas Bieri's widely used measure is deficient on most. However, research to date concerning the relationship of cognitive complexity (as assessed by Crockett's measure) to communication has failed to illuminate the specific role played by complexity as opposed to other social-cognitive factors with which it is associated.Cognitive complexity, a variable that describes persons' social-cognitive systems, has been argued to be an important determinant of sophisticated interpersonal functioning. However, research on cognitive complexity is clouded by the existence of a large number of different assessment procedures, and it is not clear which (if any) of these instruments are adequate indices of cognitive complexity. Moreover, there is at present no comprehensive and current review that assesses alternative measures of cognitive complexity and explores their relationships to communication-relevant functioning.In this review we sketch personal construct theory and explicate the general concept of cognitive complexity, describe alternative complexity measures and their interrelationships, and review research relevant to the evaluation of existing complexity instruments. On the basis of that review we then discuss the status of cognitive complexity as a

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Own vs Provided Constructs in a Reptest Measure of Cognitive Complexity

Abstract: Both cognitive complexity and cognitive differentiation scores calculated using own vs provided constructs were significantly correlated over treatments, but the two indices were independent of each other.

Cited by 9 publications

References 5 publications

Role of gender and construct type in vocational complexity and choice of academic major.

Role of gender and construct type in vocational complexity and choice of academic major.

The role of construct type in vocational differentiation: Use of elicited versus provided dimensions.

Cognitive Complexity Measures and the Relationship of Cognitive Complexity to Communication

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