Dogmatism and Perceptual Synthesis

Abstract

To study the effects of (1) dogmatism, (2) perceptual analysis, and (3) their interaction on a perceptual synthesis task 110 male Ss were administered the Dogmatism test. The 30 Ss ranking the highest (closed-minded) and the 30 Ss ranking the lowest (open-minded) were then given the Embedded Figures Test (EFT) to assess analytic ability. 4 groups of 8 Ss each were drawn from high and low scores: open-minded-field-independent, open-minded-field-dependent, closed-minded-field-independent, and closed-minded-field-dependent. All groups were administered an adaptation of the Kohs block design task as a measure of perceptual synthesis. No significant relationship was found between dogmatism and perceptual synthesis, but there was a significant relationship between perceptual analysis and perceptual synthesis. It was concluded that analytic ability, as determined by the EFT, was highly related to perceptual synthesis performance, while dogmatism, a cognitive variable, was not.