Field Dependence-Independence and Social Traditionalism

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Abstract
Three independent variables—ethnicity, sex, and urbanism—were used to investigate differences in the cognitive style, field dependence‐independence, among six ethnic subcultures of Trinidad. It was assumed that differences in field dependence‐independence reflected differences in adherence to values of social traditionalism among the six subcultures. The major hypothesis of the study was that a field‐dependent cognitive style would be functional for the maintenance of social traditionalism, whereas a field‐independent cognitive style would facilitate modernization. It was found that ethnicity, sex and urbanism were significant predictors of field dependence‐independence, but because of a significant interaction effect, the results were not uniform. Ethnicity was the strongest predictor of cognitive style, for example, but whether it did, in fact, significantly predict field dependence‐independence depended on the sex and the urbanism of the subjects. Consequently, the hypothesized rank order of ethnic groups by field dependence‐independence held only for urban males.

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