Cognitive Complexity Measures and the Relationship of Cognitive Complexity to Communication

Abstract

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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