Categorías y variables de la investigación

Kirton, a cognitive psychologist, developed a cognitive schema between the years he first introduced A-I theory in 1976 and the publication of his seminal work in 2003.

Cognitive psychology is concerned with the study of thinking processes. It is metaphorical and representational in that it attempts to define how the human organism perceives external stimuli, processes it, and activates a response. Kirton (2003) conceptualized cognitive functioning as composed of three independent but closely connected parts: cognitive affect, cognitive effect, and cognitive resource.

Cognitive affect is the gate-keeper for sorting through all external stimuli and, based on motive, determines what information will be accepted and processed and what the thinker needs and wants. Motive is determined by subjective needs, values, attitudes, and beliefs. Cognitive affect is the means by which the human organism apprehends opportunity in the external environment. Motive and opportunity are two important variables that influence human behavior. Motive is contained within the human subjective experience, while

opportunity is external to the person and represents the environment in which the human exists.

Cognitive effect is the function through which behavior is manifest and is composed of cognitive level (how good-capacity) and cognitive style (in what way-preferred manner). An individual who is required to work outside his preferred cognitive style can do so for short periods of time at a cost, increasing with amount over time, through coping behavior. However, over long periods of time (with decreasing gain and motive) the individual who is working outside his preferred style will seek to leave the environment (Kirton and de Ciantis 1994). This has been demonstrated by research in climate theory where, through the process of “attraction, selection, and attrition,” groups of people in organizations evolve to become isomorphic (see e.g., DiMaggio and Powel 1983; Kirton and McCarthy 1988; Schneider 1987 and Schneider et al. 1995). In A-I theory, this means high innovators will dislike highly adaptive environments, and high adaptors will be uncomfortable in highly innovative

environments. Those with modest adaption or innovation scores will be wary of either extreme. See Figure I-1 in Chapter I for further descriptive information of adaptors and innovators.

Cognitive resource is the third aspect of the human brain. It is the repository for all learning, skills development, and knowledge accumulated by the person in his history. Cognitive resource stores coping techniques, which the individual develops through life.

An important aspect of A-I theory is Kirton’s (1994) assertion that cognitive style and cognitive level are independent—not correlated. Kirton (1976) hypothesized the

orthogonality of style and level in his initial work, but offered no proof. Since then, this has been corroborated by independent research (see e.g., Kirton 1978b; Torrance and Horng

1980; and Kirton and de Ciantis 1986). There are high-level adaptors who have made great contributions; e.g., Edison exhibited all the characteristics of a high adaptor and was a brilliant (high-level) inventor who was quoted as saying, “My principal business consists of giving commercial value to the brilliant, but misdirected, ideas of others” (Jablokow 2007). Similarly, there are high innovators who have made their own contributions; e.g., Nikola Tesla was considered eccentric and was less methodical or concerned with detail. However, his ideas were often ahead of his time, and some have proved to have high commercial value, such as the hydropower generator and guided missiles (Jablokow 2007).

Kirton (2003), consistent with earlier British philosophers Locke, Berkeley, and Hume, accepts the tabula rasa theory; i.e., that all people begin life with a blank mental slate. Thus, everyone begins life on the same footing relative to stored knowledge. This is

consistent with Berger and Luckmann (1967) and Searle (1995), who contend that all learning is a social construct. Also, mankind, unlike all other animals in creation, does not possess instinct4—rather, he must learn all necessary survival information (Jones 1999 and Kirton 2003). The fact that each human has a unique life journey, which ensures that he views the world differently from anyone else, is important in A-I theory. This contributes to the diversity which is manifest in Problem B. Consequently, problem- solving style

preference is of keen importance to human understanding.

Problem-solving style is, indeed, an aspect of personality that appears to be deeply ingrained within the psyche or personality development of individuals. Adaptors and innovators may have comparable cognitive capacity but quite different cognitive style preferences, and vice versa.

4 _{Instinct, in this usage, is strictly defined. Lower animals have differing degrees of pre-programmed}

determinism to do certain things at certain times, [perhaps] always triggered by specific stimuli, e.g., a specific climate or age change.

Some research has shown that there are biological differences between individuals which explain different behaviors that Kirton has termed more adaptive versus more

innovative in problem-solving styles (van der Molen 1994). Citing work done by Cloninger (1986 and 1987), van der Molen reported how naturally occurring monoamine

neuromodulators dopamine and norepinephrine have been measured in individuals in ways which support the argument that cognitive style is an inherited trait. This provides

independent support for the argument that cognitive style is enduring through life and is consistent with test-retest experiments which have shown little variation over time. These findings led Italian KAI researcher Prato Previde (1984) to suggest that the concept (cognitive style) may be more deeply embedded in the psyche than culture (Kirton 1994).