Overview

The academic study of cognitive style — how individuals characteristically perceive, process, and organize information — has a history stretching back to the 1940s. This page covers the major theoretical traditions, key researchers, and the evolution of the field.

Note: cognitive style and thinking styles are related but distinct terms. Cognitive style tends to refer to stable, relatively fixed individual characteristics in how information is processed. Thinking styles (Sternberg's term) emphasizes preferences in the use of cognitive abilities — more malleable and context-dependent.

The Origins: Witkin and Field Dependence/Independence (1940s–1970s)

The modern study of cognitive style began with Herman Witkin at Brooklyn College in the late 1940s.

Witkin's original research was perceptual: he studied how individuals locate the vertical (upright) position in a tilted visual field. He discovered that people fell into two broad groups:

Field-dependent (FD) individuals:

• Perception is dominated by the surrounding visual field
• Have difficulty separating a figure from its background
• More socially oriented, interpersonally sensitive
• Prefer global, holistic processing

Field-independent (FI) individuals:

• Can separate figure from background, even when the field is misleading
• More analytically oriented
• More autonomous in social situations
• Prefer detailed, analytic processing

Witkin measured this using the Rod and Frame Test (is the rod vertical when the frame is tilted?) and the Embedded Figures Test (find a simple shape hidden in a complex pattern).

Key publications:

• Witkin, H. A. et al. (1954). Personality Through Perception. Harper.