Conceptual/Integrative Complexity and Attitudes Toward Capital Punishment

• NCJ Number: 110495
• Journal: Personality and Social Psychology Volume: 13 Issue: 4 Dated: (December 1987) Pages: 448-457
• Author(s): B deVries; L J Walker
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 10 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: An earlier version of this research was presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, August 1985.

Annotation

This study focused on the relation between conceptual and integrative complexity, and complexity (structure) and evaluation (content) in the attitudinal domain of capital punishment.

Abstract

It has been hypothesized that in any written or verbal material, individuals are providing manifestations of the structure of underlying thought. Three tests were administered to 36 male and 36 female university students in a single 1-hour period. The first year to graduate students, ranging in age from 17 to 45, were given a paragraph completion test, which measured conceptual complexity; an essay on capital punishment, which measured integrative complexity; and a Likert-type questionnaire, which determined attitudes toward capital punishment. Results indicate that the two measures of complexity were comparable, though not equivalent, assessments of the cognitive structures in information processing. Although there was no relation between conceptual complexity and attitudes toward capital punishment, the predicted curvilinear relation was found between integrative complexity and attitudes -- extreme attitudes (both pro and con) characterized cognitive simplicity and moderate attitudes characterized increasing complexity. 10 references. (Author abstract modified)