Define cognitive simplicity and cognitive complexity. Compare the characteristics of people with different cognitive styles

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

ANS: Cognitive simplicity is a cognitive style or way of construing the environment characterized by a relative inability to perceive differences among people. Cognitive complexity is defined as the ability to discriminate in the process of applying personal constructs to other people.
Research has found personality differences in terms of cognitive style. Some of them are as follows:
a. People high in cognitive complexity are able to see variety among people and can easily place a person in many categories, whereas people high in cognitive simplicity are likely to place others in only one or two categories, unable to see much variety.
b. People high in cognitive complexity are better able to make predictions about other people's behavior. They more readily recognize differences between themselves and others, display more empathy toward others, and deal better with inconsistent information in construing others than do people high in cognitive simplicity.
c. People with a more complex cognitive style will be more successful at this task than will people with a simpler cognitive style.
d. People who score high in cognitive complexity are more likely to have a multicultural background than people scoring high in cognitive simplicity.