A study was conducted to determine if leaders with high cognitive complexity scores had better performance and manifest different behavior than leaders with low complexity scores. The results indicated how the performance of groups with high complexity leaders was significantly better than groups with low complexity leaders and how high complexity leaders seemed to show more variance in their behavior over four task settings. (Modified author abstract).
Work groups (or teams) are widely used in current organizations because modern tasks impose mental demands that are too large for one individual alone to successfully manage. Although the use of work groups has become popular as a solution to the growing complexity of modern tasks, many group activities still contain a variety of cognitive tasks, such as problem solving, judgment, inference, decision making, and so on. Furthermore, these group works entail new forms of cognitive requirements, such as pooling and coordinating individual member inputs. Therefore, an understanding of group cognition is important in understanding better group behaviors. By focusing on the collective cognitive processes of individual group members, this dissertation addresses one of the most pervasive questions in group research: Why do some groups perform better than others? From a group-as-a-whole perspective, this dissertation conceptualizes group-level cognition as emergent qualities reflecting social cognitive interaction among group members. By extending the concept of cognitive complexity that has been studied to describe human cognitive structure at the group level, this dissertation explores how emergent group cognitive complexity forms and operates. By drawing on extant research in the areas of cognitive diversity, information sharing, social influence, and perspective taking, this research proposes a group-level model of cognitive complexity. The proposed model details how social cognitive processes among group members influence the emergence of the two primary dimensions of group cognitive complexity (i.e., group differentiation and group integration). It also considers the role of group cognitive complexity in effective group performance. To test the research hypotheses, the study employed a business simulation game (the B & B Enterprises Management Flight simulator; Sternman, 2003). The participants in this study were undergraduate students enrolled in introductory Organizational Behavior classes at the University at Buffalo. They were randomly assigned to three- or four-person groups which assume the role of a management team for a firm in a simulated market. The total sample size was 106 groups of 376 individuals. The findings of this study suggest that group differentiation and group integration emerge through different social cognitive processes. Specifically, in addition to combined individual cognition, the dominant member's differentiation was positively associated with group differentiation, while information sharing was positively related to group integration. Furthermore, the findings clearly demonstrate the emergent group cognitive complexity construct as a significant predictor of group performance.
The present three-part study investigated the links between cognitive complexity, message processing, and extremity of attitudes. The focus of the first two studies was to create and validate a self-report measure of cognitive complexity. The development of a reliable and easy to administer instrument will further clarify the investigation in the area of cognitive complexity and message processing. In Study 3, social judgment theory was utilized to provide a theoretical framework for examining the relationship between cognitive complexity, message processing and outcome variables. Study 3 used a repeated measure design with two weeks between pre- and posttests. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the eight different experimental groups, varying by topic (alcohol vs. sleep) and message evidence (narrative vs. statistical; two message replication each), with a control group. The project concluded with analysis of the performance of the new measure and the potential role of cognitive complexity in health message design. The results confirmed previous findings that cognitive complexity is not a static trait variable, but rather a function of the interaction of psychological, contextual, and environmental variables. In addition, results from this study indicated that although message evidence types do not have a direct impact on attitudes and behaviors, some do affect message perception variables. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
This research monograph describes a new approach to the measurement of thinking processes. The author begins with a discussion of the logic of thought versus the psychology of thinking. Traditionally, thinking has been defined in terms of the logical thought processes which lead to warranted conclusions. The psychological processes, on the other hand, involve the individual's perceptions, intentions and information-processing strategies. Traditional logical approaches appear to be most suitable for analysis of thinking in "formal" highly structured problem situations. Current tests of critical thinking reflect the "logical" approaches to measuring thinking; two tests of this type are evaluated by the author. The authors define the information-processing approach to measurement of thinking, which emphasizes the way situational information is perceived, selected, organized and interpreted. Using this approach, the authors have developed two interpretive exercises, The Holocaust and The Bomb Factories. The results of a number of studies conducted with these exercises are presented, and future work is projected.
Understanding how task complexity affects second language learning, interaction and spoken and written performance is essential to informed decisions about task design and sequencing in TBLT programs. The chapters in this volume all examine evidence for claims of the Cognition Hypothesis that complex tasks should promote greater accuracy and complexity of speech and writing, as well as more interaction, and learning of information provided in the input to task performance, than simpler tasks. Implications are drawn concerning the basic pedagogic claim of the Cognition Hypothesis, that tasks should be sequenced for learners from simple to complex during syllabus design. Containing theoretical discussion of the Cognition Hypothesis, and cutting-edge empirical studies of the effects of task complexity on second language learning and performance, this book will be important reading for language teachers, graduate students and researchers in applied linguistics, second language acquisition, and cognitive and educational psychology.
