Cognitive Style Analysis

Riding developed a two-dimensional cognitive style instrument, his Cognitive Style Analysis (CSA), is a compiled computer-presented test that measures individuals’ position on two orthogonal dimensions - Wholist-Analytic (W-A) and Verbal-Imagery (V-I).

The W-A dimension reflects how individuals organise and structure information. Individuals described as:
 * Analytics will deconstruct information into its component parts, whereas individuals described as
 * Wholists will retain a global or overall view of information.

The V-I dimension describes individuals’ mode of information representation in memory during thinking: –
 * Verbalisers represent information words or verbal associations, and
 * Imagers represent information in mental pictures.

The CSA test is broken down into three sub-tests, all of which are based on a comparison between response times to different types of stimulus items.

Criticisms
Some scholars argue that this instrument, being at least in part reliant on the ability of the respondent to answer at speed, really measures a mix of cognitive style and cognitive ability. This is said to contribute to the unreliability of this instrument.

-

References & Bibliography


Papers

 * Riding, R.; Cheema, I. (1991). Cognitive styles: An overview and integration. Educational Psychology, [S.l.], v. 11, n. 3 & 4, p. 193-215, 1991.

Papers

 * Google Scholar