Human attributes that constitute a good leader in terms of leadership qualities and thinking styles are somewhat limited. The latter situation makes it difficult to employ the right person with the right leadership qualities in the continuously changing world of work (Lussier & Achua, 2000). The researcher investigated the relationship between cognitive styles and leadership styles of individuals who are employed in the automotive industry and in a supervisory position. A quantitative research methodology was employed for the study of (n= 115) using the Cognitive-Style Indicator (COSI) developed by Cools and van den Broeck (2007) and the Leadership-style questionnaire developed by Clark (2007). Leadership styles have been researched throughout the world, but a dearth of research specifically pertaining to cognitive styles was rather limiting in the context of the research that was undertaken. On the one hand, leadership focuses on three main dimensions, namely: Authoritarian, Participative and Delegative Leadership Styles. According to Clark (2007), the above three dimensions are the core styles that are used within the workplace. On the other hand, a three-dimensional cognitive style model, as proposed by Cools and Van den Broeck (2007) incorporates three dimensions with specific characteristics pertaining to each style. These three dimensions were labelled as: Knowing (K), Planning (P), and Creating (C) styles, which were utilised to find a significant relationship between the various leadership styles. Significant relationships were found between the Cognitive-Planning style and the Participative Leadership style, the Delegative Leadership style and the Knowing-Cognitive style, the Creative-Cognitive style and the Delegative Leadership style, and the Knowing-and-Planning Cognitive style. Similarities were also found between the Coloured and African groups, as the Delegative style is relevant to both the Coloured and African groups, while the participative style is more prominent in the White racial group. No significant correlations were produced for the Asian group, however. Organisations are rapidly changing and adapting to various types of change; and it is essential for all employees – and not only those within a leadership position – but it is imperative that leaders should not only understand and know their cognitive and leadership style, but also of those individuals who are reporting to them.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of four learning styles (accommodator, assimilator, converger, and diverger) and two different presentation methods (traditional and computer-based) on knowledge acquisition in a university classroom.

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Individual differences in perceptual and cognitive abilities affect school achievement. More specifically, students who cannot selectively attend to modality information processing will not become high achievers. Efforts to improve academic achievement have failed partly because all students have been expected to use the same approach for learning, and little has been done to match learning programs to the perceptual modality preferences of individuals. The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether the visual, auditory, tactual and kinesthetic scores (based on the LSI) of students in grades six, seven, and eight from four middle schools were significantly related to academic achievement in Mathematical Concepts and Reading Comprehension, based on the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) scores. The secondary purpose was to determine whether there were relationships among grade, gender, schools and perceptual modality preferences. Students in grades six, seven and eight in four middle schools were selected by section class at all three grade levels. Although the sampling method is by group instead of by individual, there was no reason to believe that such an approach to population sampling would significantly affect the results of this study, as all the class groups were already fully heterogenized. The Learning Style Inventory (LSI) (Dunn, Dunn & Price, 1987) was administered to them to identify their visual, auditory, tactual and kinesthetic modality preferences. These data were analyzed for their relationship to modality matched achievement scores for each student. Multivariate Analysis of Variance was utilized to determine the relationships between perceptual modality strengths by gender, grade, school, and academic achievement. In general, achievement and learning modality were not related. Although this finding differs from earlier research findings using the LSI model, it does not necessarily contradict them, basically because this study was more correlational than experimental, whereas the previous studies in this area were fully experimental and almost always achieved significance with the administration of intervening treatments. Visualization was moderately related to reading comprehension and reference source utilization. There were no relationships among gender. / Ed. D.

Herman Witkin's research in differentiation theory proposed a conceptual framework describing the cognitive style known as field-dependence-independence. The operational measures of this construct are restructuring skills and interpersonal competencies, and were originally conceived to be fixed in an individual. A recent reconceptualization, however, suggested that there may be some malleability in learning strategies that flow from cognitive style. Learners predisposed to field dependence might gain access to restructuring skills brought to problem-solving Situations by field independents. Thus this study undertook to examine the effects and practicability of restructuring training as a means of addressing individual learner differences. Community college students were identified on the field-dependence-independence continuum using the Hidden Figures Test. Students in the experimental group received training in use of restructuring strategies. All participants were given subsequent tasks requiring the employ of restructuring strategies. These posttest tasks included a visual disembedding task, a verbal disambiguating task, and a task of visual perspectivism. Training effect was observed in field dependents for all three test tasks. / Ed. D.

This study investigated the use of varying formats for presenting complex visual information in the form of fictitious maps. There were three treatment formats, two which sequenced the map information by conceptual category (i.e., roads, geographic features, boundaries), and a third which used a normal intact map format. The two sequenced presentations differed in that the first was additive; that is, each visual in the sequence built upon the preceding one by adding a category of information until the complete map was displayed. The second simply displayed one conceptual category per visual. The cognitive style field dependence-independence was also examined as potentially related to map-learning ability based on the greater cognitive restructuring ability of the field independent orientation. lt was predicted that the achievement of field-dependent students would be higher with the sequenced map treatments, and the achievement of the field-independent students would be higher with the intact map treatment. The research questions were: 1. Does dividing map information into either an Additive sequence or a Part-by-Part sequence affect performance on a map-learning task? 2. Do students classified as held dependent, moderately field - independent, or held independent differ in their performance on a map-learning task? 3. Is there an interaction across visual design format with cognitive style? The sample for this study was composed of 92 four-year college students. Level of held dependence was measured by the GEFT. The analysis of the 3 X 3 research design was by a two-way analysis of variance with posttest scores (which measured immediate recall of map information) as the dependent variable. Map presentation format and cognitive style were independent variables. Results indicated there was no difference in achievement among the three map presentation formats, but that cognitive style was significantly related to posttest scores; that is, a higher level of held independence was associated with more effective map-learning performance. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a supplantation technique (zoom) on field dependent and field independent learners in the teaching of a picture detail recognition task through television. Specific research questions included: will field dependent or independent cognitive style affect the student's ability to recognize picture details presented in a television format; will the zoom television technique affect the learning of a picture detail recognition task for students classified as field dependent or field independent; is there an interaction effect between cognitive style and television presentation mode; will recall increase across four learning trials, can the zoom technique be modeled successfully in other picture detail recognition tasks by field independent and field dependent subjects; and is there an interaction effect between the learning trials and the television presentation mode? Students were shown two videotape treatments: one under the zoom condition which acted as a supplantation device and one under a no-zoom treatment which withheld supplantation. A posttest only 2x2x4 repeated measures design was utilized. The independent variables were cognitive style, treatment condition, and learning trials. The dependent measures were four posttests measuring picture detail recognition. Results indicate that the zoom treatment did not produce significantly higher picture detail recognition scores for either field independent or field dependent learners. Cognitive style had no significant effect on students' picture detail recognition ability in a learning task presented by television. Also, there was no significant interaction between the treatment and cognitive style. There was a significant difference in mean student performance across the four picture detail recognition tasks, as well as a significant interaction between the treatment condition and the learning trials. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

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.