The general purpose of this study is to examine the effects of socialization background and cognitive style on individuals' patterns of behavior. The more specific purpose is to integrate the individual differences factor using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator with Meadian Theory of Socialization in order to explore the ways in which a group of incarcerated individuals with prior felony and misdemeanor convictions and a group of college students are different regarding their different socialization background and cognitive styles. Data for this study were collected from a university and a county jail in Texas. During the process of data collection, two questionnaires consisting of 117 items were used to measure individual characteristics and elements of socialization background. This study is organized into four different chapters. Chapter I involves a detailed review of related literature, the purpose of the study, stated hypotheses, significance of the study, and limitations. Chapter II discusses methodological procedures and Chapter III presents the findings of the study. The last chapter includes a detailed conclusion and practical implications of the study. The findings in this study indicated that the group of incarcerated individuals and the group of college students are significantly different in terms of their different individual characteristics and socialization backgrounds. However, it was found that socialization background has the most significant effects on patterns of behavior among the two groups under study. It was concluded that while accepting the crucial importance of socialization factors, specific psychological characteristics of people also need to be integrated into sociological studies concerning human behavior for the better understanding of different groups and individuals in society.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between task-related attributes and the elicited cognitive processes of a human decision maker. Previous findings on the feasibility of using cognitive style as a guideline for information systems research and design were inconclusive. It is vital to design a system that meets users decision behavior, but the inherent hazards of information systems design based exclusively on user cognitive styles is suspect. This study provides a basis for understanding the potential variation of cognitive processes across different task environments.

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The purposes of this study were (1) to determine the difference between the cognitive style of low and high achieving students in an algebra course in a traditional high school and the cognitive style of low and high achieving students in an algebra course in a high school for dropouts, and (2) to determine the difference between the cognitive styles of low and high achieving males and females in an algebra class in a traditional high school and in a high school for dropouts. It was hypothesized that (1) low achieving mathematics students are more field-dependent than high achieving mathematics students in both the traditional high school and in the high school for dropouts, (2) female students are more field-dependent than male students in the mathematics classes of both schools, and (3) there will be a significant interaction on the achievement variable and the sex variable with respect to field-dependence in both schools.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The purpose of this study was to determine if there was a relationship between training in learning style adaptation and successful completion of community college courses. The rationale for conducting this study was based on the need for students to learn how to adapt their learning style in order to more effectively learn in any situation. It is also important that community colleges implement strategies that assist in student retention. The learning styles of entry-level community college students were measured using Kolb's Learning Style Inventory Version 3. Students enrolled in entry-level college courses at a small North Texas community college were studied. The Chi-square Test of Independence with a 2 x 2 design was employed. Findings indicated that there was no statistically significant difference in the relationship between students receiving training in learning styles adaptation and successful completion of entry-level college courses, and that students who attended a learning styles training session and those who did not attend a learning styles training session had an equal chance of succeeding in entry-level community college courses. Findings also indicated that students with Accommodating and Assimilating learning styles are less likely to successfully complete an entry-level college course than are students with Diverging or Converging learning styles, yet students with Diverging and Converging learning styles might withdraw from a course rather than risk being unsuccessful. Finally, findings indicated that students who are dissatisfied with the college course and with the instructor of the college course withdraw from college courses.

In this study, a comparison was made between the various levels of group cognitive complexity and its relationship to task performance and task satisfaction. The goal of this research is to answer the general question, "Should decision-making groups consist of individuals who are similar in the way they differentiate and/or integrate various stimuli in order to increase performance and satisfaction?" The preceding research problem was analyzed in a laboratory setting using a 2 X 2 factorial design blocked on the variable, cognitive complexity. The Repertory Grid was used to measure the cognitive complexity of 228 student subjects. These subjects were stratified into groups of three based on their cognitive complexity score on the Repertory Grid (Kelly, 1955). Each group was treated randomly with one of two levels of task complexity (complex or not complex). Moreover, the groups received an imposedgroup structure that incorporated centralized or decentralized decision-making. Results indicated that groups consisting of cognitively complex members outperformed groups consisting of noncomplex members. No support was obtained for the two-way interaction between group cognitive complexity and either task complexity or group structure. Support was obtained for the interaction between task complexity and group structure on both task satisfaction measures. The highest satisfaction levels occurred with a complex task in a decentralized structure. In addition, the three-way interaction effect on the task satisfaction scale between group structure, task complexity, and group cognitive complexity was significant. The means, however, were not in the predicted direction. For cognitively simple groups, a complex task with a decentralized structure lead to the highest task satisfaction level; whereas, a less complex task with a decentralized group structure lead to the lowest task satisfaction score for noncomplex members. There were no significant differences for cognitively complex groups when analyzing the three-way interaction between group cognitive complexity, task complexity, and group structure.

Information systems research tends to ignore individual differences in users. This laboratory experiment sought to illuminate contributions of decision-makers' cognitive processes to decision outcome as reflected in four hypothesis sets: the impact of imagery preference and presentation format upon (HI) recall accuracy and upon hemispheric activation during (H2) encoding and (H3) recall, and (H4) to examine the relationship between hemispheric activation differences and accuracy differences. Point-value (specific values) and intraset-pattern (relationships between values) recall were considered. Thirty MBA students, grouped by imagery preference (cognitive style) as favoring verbal (textual) or visual (graphical) information presentation, performed computer-based recall tasks using tabular and graphical formats in a repeated measures design. Hemispheric activation (cognitive process) was assessed using ratios of EEG activity in six frequency bands captured from six pairs of homologous electrode sites during encoding and recall.

The purpose of this study is to identify what detail design tools are more productive for the different types of professional software developers. By establishing a match between the detail design tool and the cognitive style of the professional programmer, the end product (Information Systems) should be of a higher quality. Two laboratory experiments were conducted. The first experiment was with professional Software Developers; the second one was with students. The dependant variables considered in this study were the number of semantic errors and the time required to complete a design task for conditional logic. The independent variables were the cognitive style of the subject, the complexity of the task, and the detail design tools. Decision trees, flowcharts and pseudocode were used as detailed design tools. Field dependence was the only dimension of cognitive style that was tested.