DEVELOPMENT OF DIFFERENTIATION, AS REFLECTED IN COGNITIVE STYLE, WAS FOLLOWED LONGITUDINALLY IN 2 GROUPS, 1 FROM 8-13 YR., THE OTHER FROM 10-24 YR. A BATTERY OF TESTS OF FIELD DEPENDENCE WAS USED TO EVALUATE EXTENT OF DIFFERENTIATION IN PERCEPTUAL FUNCTIONING. COMPARABLE CROSS-SECTION DATA WERE OBTAINED FROM GROUPS IN THE SAME AGE RANGE. A PROGRESSIVE INCREASE IN EXTENT OF FIELD INDEPENDENCE IS EVIDENT UP TO AGE 17, WITH NO FURTHER CHANGE FROM 17-24. WITHIN THIS GENERAL DEVELOPMENT TREND, CHILDREN SHOW MARKED RELATIVE STABILITY IN EXTENT OF FIELD DEPENDENCE, EVEN OVER 14 YR. AT EACH AGE, INDIVIDUAL CONSISTENCY IN PERFORMANCE ACROSS TESTS OF FIELD DEPENDENCE IS FOUND. DATA FROM OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL AREAS CONFIRM THE PICTURE OF DEVELOPMENT OF DIFFERENTIATION DERIVED FROM THE PERCEPTUAL DATA. (20 REF.)

Witkin and his colleagues have suggested that field dependence involves ability to overcome the effects of embedding contexts. The present study evaluates this hypothesis in relation to an alternative one, that field dependence involves ability to resist distraction. ISO male college students were given a battery of 18 tests including tests of field dependence, WAIS subtests, Adaptive Flexibility measures, and measures of ability to resist distraction. A factor analysis was carried out on the matrix of intercorrelations between these variables. The results tend to support the Witkin hypothesis; the field dependence and other embeddedness tests load and define different factors than the distraction tests. The two kinds of factors do, however, tend to be moderately correlated.1 Based upon the author's dissertation at New York University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The author is indebted to Jacob Cohen, sponsor of the dissertation, and to Richard Loeff for his assistance in gathering and analyzing the data.

Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of field dependence by Witkin and his associates suggest a course of decreasing field dependency between childhood and adolescence or early adulthood. The present study is an initial attempt to explore changes in field dependency through adulthood and old age. Three groups of Ss, 17-, 30- to 39-, and 58- to 80-yr.-olds, were given three tests of field dependency, the body-adjustment, rod-and-frame, and embedded-figures tests. On each test field dependency increased significantly with age. Between sex comparisons suggest that males were significantly less field dependent at ages 17 and 30 to 39, however, these differences were not present in the geriatric group.

This is the 1st of a series of studies of stability of perceptual field dependence (taken as an indicator of level of differentiation) during the alcoholic cycle. These studies are in preparation for a longitudinal study of the development of alcoholism. In this 1st study, alcohol ingestion failed to have a significant effect on performance in 2 tests of field dependence, the rod-and-frame and bodyadjustment tests. In a 3rd test, the embedded-figures test, speed of locating a simple figure in a complex design was reduced under the influence of alcohol, but this change seems attributable to reduced ability to concentrate under alcohol rather than to a change in perception per se.1 From the Alcohol Research Unit and the Psychology Laboratory. We are indebted to Carol Eagle, Beverly Goodman, and Peggy Plumeau for their assistance in administering the test battery.

Level of psychological differentiation, a measurable dimension of personality structure, has previously been found to distinguish various pathological "symptom" groups from matched control groups. In the present study, perceptual tests reflecting differentiation were administered to obese and control patients to determine the existence of a significant difference between these groups. Thirty-four obese female volunteers from a nutrition clinic and 34 matched controls within the normal weight range were given a battery of three perceptual tests reflecting differentiation. Results showed the obese group to be significantly less differentiated than the control group.