The Relationship of Analytical—Relational and Intuitive—Experiential Information Processing Styles with Adolescent Scholastic and Coping Ability

Abstract

According to cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST), individuals process information through two conceptual systems, an experiential system and a rational system, each operating by its own rules of inference. The study aimed to investigate adolescent scholastic and coping ability using the recently developed self-report measure of individual differences in intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational thinking, based on the cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST; Epstein, Pacini, Denes-Raj & Heier, 1996). The sample involved 134 adolescent boys from an independent boys' school in Sydney, Australia. As a within-group correlational study, the data were analysed using factor analysis, correlational analysis, multiple regressions and canonical correlation analysis. The analysis was carried out using the SPSS system (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). The results suggest that while factor analysis had established the independence of the analytical-rational and intuitive-experiential functions among an Australian male adolescent sample, only the analytical-rational function was found to be significantly correlated with both adolescent scholastic and coping ability. No substantial correlations were found between these two measures and the intuitive-experiential function. The findings support the notion that students with high intelligence and effective coping favoured using the rational function. These findings may in part reflect, as suggested by Epstein, Pacini et al., (1996) the developmental aspects of the two modes of information processing among younger participants. Implications for effective student learning and coping are discussed.