Conceptual/integrative complexity

Abstract

THE DEVELOPMENT AND CURRENT STATE OF THE CONSTRUCT Theoretical origins The conceptual/integrative complexity construct is a descendant of Kelly's (1955) personal construct theory. Generally, it fits within the cognitive styles approach. Because the emphasis of the work is on the structure of thought rather than on its content, the closest relatives of integrative complexity are cognitive complexity (Bieri, 1971) and cognitive structure (Scott, Osgood, & Peterson, 1979). More remote kinship – the remoteness being empirically demonstrated by low correlations (Schroder, Driver, & Streufert, 1967; Suedfeld, Tomkins, & Tucker, 1969; Vannoy, 1965) – exists with contentladen cognitive traits such as authoritarianism (Adorno, Frenkel-Brunswik, Levinson, & Sanford, 1950), dogmatism (Rokeach, 1960), and field independence (Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough, & Karp, 1962). The direct line of development proceeds through conceptual systems (Harvey, Hunt, & Schroder, 1961), conceptual complexity (Schroder et al., 1967), interactive complexity (Streufert & Streufert, 1978; Streufert & Swezey, 1987), to integrative complexity (Suedfeld & Tetlock, 1990) and meta-complexity (Streufert & Nogami, 1989). Briefly, the successive versions of the theory focus on the complexity of information processing and decision making, complexity being defined and measured (usually on a 1–7 scale) in terms of degrees of differentiation and integration (cf. Streufert, 1970).