SOME DEVELOPMENTAL AND RACIAL DIMENSIONS OF COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY

Abstract

The present study explored two facets of cognitive complexity that, to date, have received very little attention: (1) the examination of selected developmental, socialization correlates of cognitive complexity and (2) the examination of cognitive complexity as a potentially differentiating factor vis-à-vis the racial categories of blacks and whites. Based on the responses of 434 American university students, the principal findings were (1) that nearly twice the amount of variance in complexity scores accounted for by 17 presumably antecedent variables was associated with black rather than white subjects, (2) that the findings noted in (1) were truer of black males than for any other category of subject, and (3) that it was for black females that the independent variables were most strongly correlated with complexity scores. The obvious need remains to advance cognitive complexity research beyond mere correlation and into the more uncertain but potentially more rewarding area of causation.