Field Dependence-Independence and Social Traditionalism
Title:
Field Dependence-Independence and Social Traditionalism
Author:
Nedd, Albert N. B. Gruenfeld, Leopold W.
Appeared in:
International journal of psychology
Paging:
Volume 11 (1976) nr. 1 pages 23-41
Year:
1976
Contents:
Three independent variables-ethnicity, sex, and urbanism-were used to investigate differences in the cognitive style, field dependence-independence, among six ethnic subcultures of Trinidad. It was assumed that differences in field dependence-independence reflected differences in adherence to values of social traditionalism among the six subcultures. The major hypothesis of the study was that a field-dependent cognitive style would be functional for the maintenance of social traditionalism, whereas a field-independent cognitive style would facilitate modernization. It was found that ethnicity, sex and urbanism were significant predictors of field dependence-independence, but because of a significant interaction effect, the results were not uniform. Ethnicity was the strongest predictor of cognitive style, for example, but whether it did, in fact, significantly predict field dependence-independence depended on the sex and the urbanism of the subjects. Consequently, the hypothesized rank order of ethnic groups by field dependence-independence held only for urban males.
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