On Consistency of Cognitive Complexity Between Different Grids

Abstract

Cognitive complexity was measured in terms of dimensionality and articulation. How consistent they were between different measuring conditions was examined by correlating their measures with one another obtained from two sets of grids differing in constructs, objects (role persons), and tasks (rating vs. grouping).Measures of dimensionality were the modified Bieri's matching score, Scott's D, and Ware's percent of variance of the first principal component, and those of articulation, Bieri's matching score, Scott's C, and the number of groups. The main findings were as follows. (1) Dimensionality varied quite largely between two conditions differing in elements of grids, while articulation kept some coherence. (2) According to the results of split-half method, alternation of objects in a grid contributed more to fluctuation of dimensionality than of constructs.

Cognitive Complexity Measures and the Relationship of Cognitive Complexity to Communication

“…Bieri's measure has been found to be unrelated to the number of Repgrid factors, with correlations ranging from -.28 to .28 (Bavelas, Chan, & Guthrie, 1976;Honess, 1976;Kuusinen & Nystedt, 1975;Wachter, Kohler, & Schneider, 1976). Although several researchers have reported substantial correlations between versions of Bieri's measure and indices of the explanatory power of the first Repgrid factor, with correlations from .58 to .90 (Adams-Webber, 1970;Bieri et al, 1966;Laucht & Krohne, 1978), other investigators have found large negative correlations of -.59 and -.84 (Leitner, Landfield, & Barr, 1975), and most reported correlations range from -.35 to .35 (Kuusinen & Nystedt, 1975;Leitner et al, 1975;Ohbuchi & Horike, 1978;Reker, 1974;Wachter et al, 1976). Smith and Leach's (1972) hierarchical clustering measure has been found to be unrelated to Bieri's measure (Alban Metcalfe, 1974Honess, 1976;Smith & Leach, 1972), to the number of Repgrid factors (Alban Metcalfe, 1978;Honess, 1976).…”

“…Other measures of "complexity" or differentiation" have been suggested by Boynton (1979), Honess (1979), Landfield (1971), Schroder, Driver, andStreufert (1967;also, Streufert & Streufert, 1978), Scott (1962), Scott, Osgood, and Peterson (1979), and Zajonc (1960). However, the present review focuses on instruments that are directly related to personal construct theory and the idea of interpersonal construct differentiation, and for which relatively more research evidence exists: Bieri's measure, Crockett's (1965) Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ), the number of different factors extracted from the Repgrid (e.g., Jones, 1954;Kuusinen & Nystedt, 1975), the explanatory power of the first Repgrid factor (e.g., Jaspars, 1963;Ohbuchi & Horike, 1978), Smith and Leach's (1972) use of Johnson's (1967) hierarchical clustering technique to determine the number of clusters underlying Repgrid responses, and Mayo's (1960) technique of repeated Reptest elicitation of constructs. Of these measures, Bieri's and Crockett's instruments have been employed most frequently and thus deserve special note.…”

“…For Bieri's measure, one-week test-retest reliabilities in samples of adults have ranged from .46 to .85 (Bieri, 1955;Kapp, 1971;Smith & Leach, 1972); a two-week adult reliability of only .26 was reported by Ohbuchi and Horike (1978); Bavelas, Chan, and Guthrie (1976) found a .67 reliability among adults over short randomly varied time intervals of one to three weeks; and Schaff (1975) obtained three-week test-retest reliabilities of .79 (males) and .84 (females) in a sample of adults. In a sample of elementary school children, a children's version of Bieri's measure was found to have a four-week test-retest reliability of .82 (Vacc & Vacc, 1973).…”

“…19. For indices of the explanatory power of the first grid factor, two-week reliabilities among adults of .48 (Pedersen, 1958) and .79 (Ohbuchi & Horike, 1978) have been reported, and Kapp (1971) found a one-week reliability of .66 in a sample of adults. Smith and Leach (1972), in their study of adults, found a one-week test-retest reliability of .76 for their measure; Alban Metcalfe (1978) found Smith and Leach's measure to have a 30-month reliability of .57 in a sample of children and adolescents, but (as noted previously) the utility of complexity test-retest reliability figures under such conditions is limited.…”