Least Preferred Co-Worker Score as a Measure of Cognitive Complexity

Abstract

To test the assertion by Foa, Mitchell, and Fiedler (1971) and by Mitchell (1970) that Fiedler's Least Preferred Co-worker scale measures cognitive complexity, questionnaires from 357 subjects were subjected to the complexity analysis of Foa, et al. (1971). The perceptions of high scorers were not more complex than those of low scorers. Self-ratings of effectiveness of performance of 88 leaders of small groups were correlated with the ratings of their 269 subordinates. Self-assessments of high scoring leaders were not more accurate than those of low scoring leaders. Results seem to question cognitive complexity as an interpretation of scores on the Least Preferred Co-worker scale. In a second analysis, the variance score of the questionnaire, another measure of cognitive complexity (Evans & Dermer, 1974), showed subjects with high variance held more complex perceptions of their least preferred co-workers and made more accurate assessments of their own performance than did subjects with low variance.