COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY MEASURES AND THE RELATIONSHIP OF COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY TO COMMUNICATION

Daniel James O'Keefe*, HOWARD E. SYPHER

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

144 Scopus citations

Abstract

This review assesses the adequacy of several commonly employed cognitive complexity measures on the basis of five criteria: high test‐retest reliability with adults, association with chronological age across childhood and adolescence, independence from intelligence and verbal abilities, association with other indices of developed social cognition, and association with measures of developed communicative functioning. Extant research indicates that only one complexity measure—Crockett's Role Category Questionnaire—is satisfactory on all these criteria, whereas Bieri's widely used measure is deficient on most. However, research to date concerning the relationship of cognitive complexity (as assessed by Crockett's measure) to communication has failed to illuminate the specific role played by complexity as opposed to other social‐cognitive factors with which it is associated.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)72-92
Number of pages21
JournalHuman Communication Research
Volume8
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 1981

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology
  • Anthropology
  • Linguistics and Language

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