A STUDY OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN INTERPERSONAL COGNITIVE STYLE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore individual differences in tendency to restore balanced state (Heider, 1946, 1958), as applied to both real and fictitious p-o-q triads. According to the previous investigations, balance hypothesis has been substantiated only when sign of p's relation toward o is positive. Therefore, the present study dealt with triads where p liked o.One hundred and fifty-three girls' highschool students served as subjects (Ss). In real situations, they were, first, asked to rate each classmate on a three-point-scale: “Like”, “Neutral”, and “Dislike” . Data concerning p's sentiments toward o and q were thus collected. Ss were given, a week later, the “relation-perception test” which had been prepared for each particular S, and where Ss were requested to guess o (liked person) 's sentiment toward q (liked or disliked persons) on a five-point-scale. Individual score for tendency to balanced state was determined from each S's responses to the test. In fictitious situations, o and q were hypothetical, instead of real, persons. Ss were asked to assess o's most probable sentiment toward q in general.Ss were broken up into three groups according to their scores in cognitive complexity test (ERCQ) after Crockett (1965).The results obtained were as follows: (1) In fictitious situations, Ss low in complexity were more prone to rely on the balance schema than those intermediate; (2) in real situations, on the contrary, Ss high in complexity were more prone to rely on the schema than those intermediate or low; and (3) it was suggested that the relationships between cognitive complexity and tendency to balanced state were curvilinear.From these results, some implications of the balance schema were discussed.