The contribution of cognitive style, cognitive abilities and expertise to the solving of complex problems

The contribution of cognitive style, cognitive abilities and expertise to the solving of complex problems Aline Sevenants (aline.sevenants@psy.kuleuven.be) Niki Verschueren (niki.verschueren@ppw.kuleuven.be) Walter Schaeken (walter.schaeken@psy.kuleuven.be) University of Leuven, Laboratory of Experimental Psychology 102 Tiensestraat, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium Abstract The influence of Need for Cognition, cognitive abilities and expertise on complex problem-solving was examined. A ‘Need for Cognition’ questionnaire, a cognitive abilities test and five complex problems were presented to a group of experts (Experiment 1) and to a group of novices (Experiment 2). Generally, experts performed better on the complex problems than did novices. Experts low in cognitive ability solved complex problems better than those high in cognitive ability; in addition, experts high on NfC solved complex problems better than those low on NfC. Furthermore, experts low on cognitive ability and low on NfC did best. Within the group of novices, no effect of cognitive ability and NfC on the complex problems was observed. Petty (1982) showed that individuals with a high NfC consider a larger number of possibilities, generate a higher number of task relevant thoughts and try out more alternative hypotheses during the problem-solving process than individuals with a low NfC. To date, the influence of NfC on the solving of complex problems has only been studied by Nair and Ramnarayan (2000). They found that individuals with a high NfC (1) were much more likely to solve the problems, (2) considered more informative elements of the problem, and (3) found the problems easier, compared to individuals with a low NfC. Cognitive abilities Introduction Problems can be situated on a continuum ranging from well-structured to ill-structured, according to whether the initial states and goal states are well-defined or loosely- defined in the problem statement Problem-solving has been an important research area since several decades, but rather little research has been conducted on the solving of complex problems, the problems we will focus on. Amongst others, three major variables influence the capacity to solve this kind of problems: cognitive style, cognitive abilities and expertise. Cognitive style Cognitive style is described as the individual variation in modes of perceiving, remembering and thinking, or as distinctive ways of apprehending, storing, transforming, and utilizing information (Capitiano & Mason, 2000; Kogan, 1971). One of the most important requirements for an individual to solve complex problems is his motivation to understand and actively structure the relevant variables constituting the problem in meaningful, integrated ways. This kind of intrinsic motivation can be construed as the personality trait ‘Need for Cognition’ (NfC). Cohen, Stotland and Wolfe (1955) defined NfC as “a need to structure relevant situations in meaningful, integrated ways” (p. 291) and Cacioppo and Petty (1982) as “the tendency for an individual to engage in and enjoy thinking” (p. 116). Both the concept NfC as well as its influence on information processing has been studied extensively. Over the years, there has been an accumulation of research results indicating a significant relationship between NfC and various cognitive performance measures. Cohen (1957) reported that individuals with a high NfC are more likely to organize, elaborate on and evaluate the information they are presented. Furthermore, Cacioppo and The capacity to solve complex problems does not only depend on the individual’s NfC, but is also influenced by the cognitive abilities one has at his disposal. Whereas cognitive style bears on the individual differences in the way people process information, cognitive abilities that are related to the diffuse concept ‘intelligence’, refer to the level of skill by which information is processed (Kogan, Gottfredson (1997, p. 13) asked 52 professors, all experts in the field of intelligence, to state their meaning of the concept. Their response was the following: “Intelligence is a very general mental capacity that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas and learn quickly from experience”. In his influential triarchic theory of intelligence, Sternberg (1985) and Cianciolo and Sternberg (2004) stressed experience and adaptation to various environmental contexts as highly important. Despite the lack of consensus in the literature on the questions what intelligence exactly involves and whether there are one or more types of intelligence, it is clear that problem-solving and the ability to learn, make up two crucial components of cognitive ability. Expertise Regarding complex problems, consistently superior performing problem solvers are referred to as experts (Ericsson & Lehmann, 1996). It is widely accepted that experts not only have more knowledge at their disposal, but that this knowledge is also better organised. Before they actually apply solving strategies to the stated problem, experts go through an elaborate qualitative analysis of the problem. Novices on the other hand analyze a problem in terms of superficial features, resulting in a