This study consists partly of a repetition of certain
projects reported in Milton Rokeach’s "The Open and Closed
Mind" (1960) and partly of an attempt to enlarge upon his body
of research.
Problems.
First: Will Rokeach's findings regarding differential
behavior of subjects with extremely high and extremely low
scores on his dogmatism scale in subsequent perceptual tasks
be supported in a repetition of his experiments?
Second: Can dogmatism, as measured by Rokeach's "D"-
scale, be regarded as representing a continuum? Rokeach typically
compared the behavior of groups of subjects with extremely
high and low D-scores on certain subsequent tasks; when he
also employed a third segment, consisting of individuals with
intermediate D-scores in a questionnaire task, this latter segment
behaved quite erratically. At times it acted like the
dogmatic "extreme", at other times like the non-dogmatic
"extreme" and several, times it went beyond the dogmatic extreme
in its behavior. Rokeach offered two alternative explanations
for the anomalous behavior of the Middle segment: chance
effects inherent in the composition of this group and the possibility
that the "D"-scale may not differentiate successfully
between high- and middle-dogmatic subjects. He did not entertain
a third possibility: that dogmatism may not represent a
continuum. In other words, subjects with extremely high and
low D-scores may show many characteristic differences in their
behavior but this does not justify making any assumption as to
the probable behavior of subjects with other than extreme D-scores.
Such discontinuity is always possible when research
has been restricted to behavioral aspects of only extreme segments
of a total group. It was felt that a repetition of the
relevant experiment may help to decide which of the three
alternative explanations should be accepted.
Third: This study was also designed to enlarge on
Rokeach's body of findings on dogmatism. We expected that dogmatic
subjects would find it harder than non-dogmatic subjects
to accept suggested concepts on the Rorschach ink blots, and
this possibility was to be investigated.
To avoid the above mentioned methodological difficulties
involved in a two extreme group design, a three-segment design
was adopted throughout this study.
Procedure.
Rokeach's "D"-scale, Form E, and a questionnaire on
attitudes towards parents and others who influenced subjects'
development, were administered to students in six classes of
the University of British Columbia summer session. Of the total
male group of 187 students, 17 with extremely high, 17 with
extremely low and 17 with middle D-scores were selected for
individual testing. The tests included the author's "Suggested
Concept Rorschach Test", and three perceptual tasks previously
used by Rokeach; two types of Kohs block tasks and the Jackson
(1956) adaptation of the Witkin Embedded Figure Test.
Results and Conclusions.
1) No relationship was demonstrated between subjects'
D-scores and their willingness to accept suggested Rorschach
concepts.
2) Rokeach's findings regarding differential behavior
of extremely high and low dogmatic subjects on certain Kohs
block tasks were supported, generally at reduced levels of
statistical confidence.
3) Contrary to Rokeach's findings, the Witkin test
differentiated significantly between the low D segment on the
one hand and the middle and high D segments on the other.
4) Contrary to Rokeach's findings, no difference was
demonstrated between any of our segments in regard to feelings
expressed towards parents or breadth of influence reported, on
the questionnaire.
5) The evidence of the present study supports the
belief that dogmatism does not represent a continuum. Rather,
it has a two-polar structure. Subjects with low D-scores
define one pole, while persons with middle and high D-scores
define the other pole. / Arts, Faculty of / Psychology, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/42395 |
| Date | January 1961 |
| Creators | Huberman, John |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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