The conceptual/integrative complexity scoring manual

Abstract

OVERVIEW Integrative complexity is scored on a 1–7 scale. Scores of 1 indicate no evidence of either differentiation or integration. The author relies on unidimensional, value-laden, and evaluatively consistent rules for processing information. Scores of 3 indicate moderate or even high differentiation but no integration. The author relies on at least two distinct dimensions of judgment, but fails to consider possible conceptual connections between these dimensions. Scores of 5 indicate moderate to high differentiation and moderate integration. The author notes the existence of conceptual connections between differentiated dimensions of judgment. These integrative cognitions can take a variety of forms: the identification of a superordinate category linking two concepts, insights into the shared attributes of different dimensions, the recognition of conflicting goals or value trade-offs, or the specification of interactive effects and causes of events. Scores of 7 indicate high differentiation and high integration. A general principle provides a conceptual framework for understanding specific interactions among differentiated dimensions. This type of systemic analysis yields second-order integration principles that place in context, and perhaps reveal, limits on the generalizability of integration rules. Scores of 2, 4, and 6 represent transitional levels in conceptual structure. Here the dimensions of differentiation and integration are implicit and emergent rather than explicit and fully articulated.