Cognitive Style in Adults: The Effects of Different Task Instructions.

The present study attempted to modify the latencies and errors of adult women on the Matching Familiar Figures test (MFF) by systematically altering task instructions. The results indicated that latencies of impulsive subjects could be altered with "reflective" instructions, while the latencies of reflective subjects were resistent to change; instructions did not significantly alter errors of either reflective or impulsive subjects. Test-retest correlations as well as the relative resistance of errors to altered instructions was interpreted as supportive of the generality and stability of the reflection-impulsivity dimension of cognitive style with adults. (Author)