REPORT RESUMES ED 011 0% 24 CG 000 811 NON-INTELLECTUAL FACTORS IN COGNITIVE EFFICIENCY. BY- BLATT, SIDNEY J. YALE UNIV., NEW HAVEN, CONN. REPORT NUMBER BR-5-0829 PUB DATE JUN 67 CONTRACT OEC-3-10-071 EDRS PRICE MF-$1.50 HC- $14.24 354P. DESCRIPTORS- *RESEARCH, *PSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES, INTELLIGENCE TESTS, *PERSONALITY STUDIES, *PERSONALITY, EXPERIMENTS, CREATIVITY RESEARCH, INTELLIGENCE, COGNITIVE ABILITY, INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT, PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT, PERSONALITY PROBLEMS, TASK PERFORMANCE, TESTS, COGNITIVE TESTS, MENTAL TESTS, PERCEPTION TESTS, PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS, MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENTS, PERFORMANCE, FAILURE FACTORS, ANXIETY, PSYCHOLOGICAL PATTERNS, EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED, JOHN RIMOLDI PROBLEM SOLVING APPARATUS, RORSCHACH TEST THIS SERIES OF STUDIES INVESTIGATED THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY ORGANIZATION AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING. PART I PRESENTS RESEARCH REPORTS EXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EFFICIENCY ON TWO COMPLEX COGNITIVE PERCEPTUAL TASKS AND SEVERAL PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS. IT WAS CONCLUDED THAT COGNITIVE-PERCEPTUAL EFFICIENCY CAN BE RELATED TO IMPORTANT PERSONALTY VARIABLES. PART II CONSISTS OF STUDIES ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY VARIABLES AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS ASSESSED BY SEVERAL SUBTESTS OF THE WECHSLER ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE. THREE STUDIES INVESTIGATE TEMPORAL CONCEPT. THE OBJECT ASSEMBLY SUBTEST IS SUSCEPTIBLE TO INTERFERENCE. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INFORMATION AND COMPREHENSION SUBTESTS AND SEXUAL IDENTITY IS EXPLORED, AS IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ENERGY DEPLOYMENT AND ACHIEVEMENT. NEGATIVISM AS MEASURED BY THE RORSCHACH IS CORRELATED WITH VARIOUS TYPES OF SUCCESS ON THE DIGIT SPAN SUBTEST. FAILURE IMPROVES PERFORMANCE ON DIGIT SPAN AND DIGIT SYMBOL SUBTESTS. A STUDY ON ANXIETY INDICATES THAT THIS FACTOR REDUCES RESPONSES TO PERIPHERAL STIMULI. (PR) '41) ON FINAL REPORT CD Project No. 5-0829 ....1. Contract No. GE-3-10-071 1"---i CD C) L1.1 NON-INTELLECTUAL FACTORS IN COGNITIVE EFFICIENCY June 1967 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION& WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENTHAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVEDFROM THE PERSON OR ORGAMIATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OROPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE Office of Education Bureau of Research 4 CG 000811 i. Project No. 5-0829 Contract No. 0E-3-10-071 NON-INTELLECTUAL FACTORS IN COGNITIVE EFFICIENCY Sidney J. Blatt with: Joel Allison (co-investigator) Bruce L. Baker Louis S. Dickstein Alan Feirstein Elizabeth Fox Joseph LoPiccalo Paul Quinlan A. Robert Sherman Paul Wachtel June 1967 Yale University New Haven, Connecticut The research reported hereinwas performed pursuant to a contract with the Office of Education,U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Contractors undertaking such projectsunder Government spons(zship are encouraged toexpress freely their professional judgment in the conduct of the project. Points of view or opinions stated do not, therefore, necessarilyrepresent official Office of Education position or policy. ii. Table of Contents Page Preface Part I Studies of the RelationshipBetween Efficiency on Complex-Cognitive Perceptual Tasks andPersonality Organization 6 Chapter I Introduction 6 Chapter II Rorschach Correlates of Problem Solving Efficiency 24 Chapter IIIMethodolOgical Considerations in Rorschach Research: The W Response asan Expression of Abstractive and Integrative Strivings 60 Chapter IV Personality Correlates of Tolerancefor Unrealistic Experiences 92 Chapter V Summary 123 Part II Studies of the RelationshipBetween Personality Variables and Cognitive FunctionsAssessed on Several Subtests of the Wechsler intelligence Test 130 Chapter VI Introduction 130 Chapter VII The Wechsler Picture ArrangementSubtest 173 a. Death Concern, Futurity, and Anticipation . 173 b. The WAIS Picture Arrangement Subtestas a Measure of Anticipation 196 c. Punctual and Procrastinating Students: A Study of Temporal Parameters 215 Page Chapter VIII The Wechsler Object Assembly Subtest and Bodily Concerns 235 Chapter IX The Wechsler Information and Compre- hension Subtests 259 a. Sexual Identity and Cognitive Functioning On the WAIS 259 Chapter X The Wechsler Digit Span and Digit Symbol Subtests 282 a. Energy Deployment and Achievement 282 b. An Attempt to Test Assumptions About Some Indications of Negativism on Psychological Tests 305 c. WAIS Digit Span, Digit Symbol, and Vocabulary Performance as a Function of Prior Experi- ences of Success and Failure 310 Chapter XI Anxiety; Attention and Coping with Threat 328 PREFACE Thought, perception, andvisual-motor organizationare basic psychologicalfunctions which forma matrix from which many stable and persistent modesof adaptation evolve. Modes of adaptation include thedefenses used in coping withinternal conflict and externalstress, the symptom formationsseen in psychological disorders, andalso the relatively neutraland conflict-free functions suchas interests and skills. These modes of adaptationare based on variations in the preferred ways of thinking, perceiving, and experiencing(Shapiro, 1965). Though cognitive and perceptualfunctions may be expressed in somewhat different form in psychologicaldefenses than they are in conflict-free interests and skills,there still should be a basic similarity in thecognitive-perceptual functions that an individual tends to utilizein most situations (con- flictual or conflict-free). These consistenciescan be con- ceptualizedas the stable and persistent modes of adaptation. Recent research on cognitive styles andcognitive control principles (Gardner, Holzman, Klein,Linton & Spence, 1959; G6rdner, Jackson and Messick, 1961)has offeredsome support for the formulation that thereare consistent and preferred modes.of cognition-perception whichare utilized in relatively 2. neutral, conflict-free situations as well as in the psycho- logical defenses used to cope with internal and externalconflict and stress. Thus, there seems to be a complexinterweaving between cognitive-perceptual processes and personalityorgani- zation. The study of cognition-perception shouldprovide salient data about personality dimensions and conversely,the study of personality should permitinferences to be made about cognitive-perceptual functioning. There are a number of ways in which the complex inter-relationshipsbetween personality and cognition- perception can besystematically studied. In the present research theinter-relationships between personality on the one hand and thinking, perceptionand visual-motor organiza- tion on the other, will be examined bystudying some personality correlates of efficiency on avariety of tasks. The first section of this report presents aseries of studies which examine. the relationshipbetween efficiency on two complex cognitive-perceptualtasks and personality dimensions such as the extent to whichillogical, inconsistent or drive= - laden elements enter intothinking and the degree to which the individual is capable of integrating this more"primitive" mode of functioning into realistic andappropriate responses. Much theoretical discussion and research has beendevoted to the 3. assumption that both drive-laden, illogical thinking (primary process thought) and the ability tointegrate these elements in appropriate responses plays a role in creativity (Kris, 1952; Schafer, 1958). Frequently, the illogical and drive- laden elements are seen as the "well springs" of inspired thought, whereas the ability to integrate primary process thought is viewed as an indication of thecapacity for the integrative or elaborative phase of the creative process. Part I of this report presents attempts tostudy some aspects of this conceptualization of thecreative process. Part II of this report is devoted toexamining, in a somewhat different way, the assumptionthat cognitive efficiency is related to personality dimensions. The relationship between cognitive efficiency and personality dimensionsdoes not necessarily mean that the overall intellectual levelis directly related to the degree of personalityorganization. Rather, within a given intellectual level,, it isassumed that the efficiency with which the generalintellectual level is expressed and utilized in specificcognitive-perceptual functions relates to personality variables. Thus, there may not necessarily be a significantrelationship between IQ and degree of psycho- pathology. Rather, given a general intellectual baseline,the 4. level of efficiency on the specific cognitive-perceptual processes which constitute the composite IQ, may vary as a. function of personality variables. This hypothesis has been the basis for much of the research on the relationship between personality variables and cognitive processes. With essen- tially normal subjects, similar in intellectual and educational level, many studies have examined the relationship between cognitive-perceptual functions and personality variables. The second part of this report will present a series ofstudies with subjects of essentially similar intelligence and education on the relationships betweenefficiency in particular cognitive- perceptual functions and personality dimensions. Studies in this section, rather than examining correlates of efficiency on complex tasks, willinvestigate the relationship between more specific cognitive-perceptualfunctions and more limited personality variables. This series of studies will examine some hypotheses that havebeen developed about the personality variables which are assumed to be assessed