Herman A. Witkin

Social Conformity and Psychological Differentiation

Abstract This study examined the role of socialization experiences in the development of psychological differentiation. In each of three countries (Holland, Italy, Mexico) two villages were selected as presenting a contrasting picture with regard to degree of emphasis on conformity to family, religious and political authority. It was hypothesized that within the pair of villages in each country children from the village which stressed social conformity would tend to be more field dependent and show other signs of less developed differentiation than children from the village in which social conformity was less emphasized. In each of the six villages approximately 100 children (boys and girls, aged 9–11 and 13–15) were studied. Differentiation was assessed by a battery of tests of field-dependence-independence and the figure-drawing test. In every comparison of mean test scores between pairs of villages, in each of the three countries, children from the village in which social conformity was stressed obtain...

Psychological differentiation as a factor in conflict resolution.

Previous studies have shown that persons matched in level of differentiation are likely to develop greater interpersonal attraction in the course of an interaction than are mismatched persons. These studies were all conducted in situations where the interacting persons were working toward a common goal. To test the hypothesis that situational variables may moderate match-mismatch effects, the present study investigated these affects when the interacting persons were in conflict. Based on their performance in tests of field dependence-independence, subjects were selected as relatively high or relatively low in level of differentiation. Three kinds of dyads were composed-high-differentiation/high-differentiation, low-differentiation/low-differentiation, and high-differentiation/low-differentiation--and their task was to reconcile conflict on an issue about which they were known to disagree. It was predicted that because of the more accommodating quality of low-differentiation persons, dyads including one or two such subjects would more often reconcile their disagreements and show greater interpersonal attraction than would dyads consisting of two high-differentiation subjects. Both predictions were confirmed, supporting the hypothesis that the outcome of match or mismatch is mediated by situational variables.

Socialization, Culture and Ecology in the Development of Group and Sex Differences in Cognitive Style.

An overview is given of the theory of psychological differentiation and particularly of its field-dependence-independence cognitive-style component. Recent cross-cultural research on the roles of child-rearing, culture and ecology in the development of individual, group and sex differences in cognitive style is reviewed.

Cognitive styles in the development of medical careers

Abstract Recent research has shown that academic choice and achievement may be partly a function of the students standing on the field-dependence-independence cognitive-style dimension. The results of two longitudinal studies suggest that information about field dependence-independence may be of value for student guidance in the medical setting. The first, a study of college undergraduates who early expressed an interest in medicine, showed that these cognitive styles play a discernible role in determining who will eventually enter medical school. The second, a study of medical students, showed that field-dependent and field-independent students subsequently tend to choose different medical specialties. These results are consistent with cognitive-style theory, which proposes that field-independent people will choose vocations that require cognitive restructuring skills, whereas field-dependent people will choose vocations that require greater social-interpersonal involvement.

PERCEPTUAL DISEMBEDDING IN MONKEYS: NOTE ON METHOD AND PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

A technique has been developed to study the ability of monkeys to disembed a visual item from the complex organized field of which it is a part. By means of a variation of single-cue concept-formation techniques 3 monkeys were trained to indicate the presence or absence of a particular simple figure on a stimulus card. Following this, Ss were tested in a critical series of complex figures. In some of these (positives) the simple figure was present but “hidden” or embedded; in others (negatives), which were structurally identical with the positives except for a change in a small element, the simple figure was absent. Preliminary results with two series of simple and complex figures indicate that some monkeys are very proficient at perceptual disembedding. This ability seems to be independent of learning and related capacities. Some of the possible uses of this technique in the study of problems of perceptual development in monkeys were discussed.