Browsing by Author "Rehn, Leila"

Objectives: Thinking dispositions are relatively permanent individual tendencies and em-phases in the way a person views information, forms opinions and processes information. In cognitive psychology, thinking is usually divided into two main types: analytical and intuitive. In this work, the three most commonly used analytical thinking dispositions were studied: reflectivity, need for cognition and actively open-minded thinking. Based on previous research, it is unclear whether these thinking dispositions are parallel or partially overlapping concepts and if there is a common factor behind these thinking dispositions. The aim of this study was to analyze the distribution of analytical thinking into different dimensions and the relationships between these dimensions. To the best of knowledge, this study is the first in which these three thinking dispositions have been studied at the same time with the same data so that the distribution of the whole into factors has been analyzed. Methods: The respondents (N = 2641) to the analyzed survey had been searched through Internet discussion channels, mailing lists, and other contacts. The most commonly used assessment method for each thinking disposition was used: the CRT scale (three verbal calculations) for assessing reflectivity, the NFC scale (12 questions) for assessing need for cognition and the AOT scale (41 questions) for assessing actively open-minded thinking. The division of analytical thinking into dimensions was studied by combining the results given by the three scales and analyzing the combined data using factor analysis. Results: The results supported a model where the disposition reflectivity consisted of one dimension, the disposition need for cognition consisted of two sub-dimensions (reflection and logic) and the disposition actively open-minded thinking consisted of four sub-dimensions (categorical thinking, dogmatism, tolerance and influence of circumstances). No common factor to all three thinking dispositions was found. The results did not support the use of different combinations of the three used scales as measures of analytical thinking as has been done in some of the previous studies. Conclusions: The results suggest that the thinking dispositions reflectivity, need for cognition and actively open-minded thinking are clearly separate from each other and that they divide clearly to sub-dimension.