MMPI Correlates of Extreme Field Independence and Field Dependence in a Psychiatric Population

Abstract

34 male and 34 female hospitalized psychiatric patients were divided into field-independent and field-dependent groups on the basis of rod-and-frame test performance and their MMPI scores were compared. A multiple discriminant analysis followed by a series of 2 X 2 factorial analyses of variance was used to assess the results. As in previous studies, more similarities than differences were found between the two cognitive styles. However, field-independent subjects tended to be more unconventional, aggressive, antisocial, and perhaps defensive than field-dependent subjects. Explanations of results were explored in reference to previous findings.

Migration and mental illness: What role do traditional childhood socialization practices play?

“…Relatively field-independent persons, for example, are more likely to be unconventional and independent minded, cold and distant, and to have a greater awareness of their needs, feelings and attributes as being distinct from those of other persons than are field-dependent persons. They are more likely to be interested in the abstract and theoretical, to obtain higher masculinity scores, to demonstrate more initiative and aggressiveness, and to use structured, specialized defenses and controls, such as intellectualization and isolation, for the channelling of impulses (Elliot 1961 ;Garai and Scheinfeld 1968;Goldstein and Scheerer 1941;Stansell 1975;Wardell 1975;Witkin 1967;Witkin et al 1977).…”