Conceptual/Integrative Complexity and Attitudes Toward Capital Punishment

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Abstract
This study examined two issues relevant to the complexity theory of information processing: (1) the relation between conceptual complexity and its theoretical offshoot, integrative complexity and (2) the relation between the structure (conceptual/integrative complexity) and the content (evaluation) of an attitude (namely, capital punishment). Participants were 36 male and 36female university students, from first-year to graduate studies, who completed several measures that assessed: (1) conceptual complexity (the Paragraph Completion Test), (2) integrative complexity (an essay on capital punishment), and (3) attitudes toward capital punishment (a Likert-type questionnaire). Results indicated that the two measures of complexity were comparable, though not equivalent, assessments of the cognitive structures in information processing. Although there was no relation between conceptual complexity and attitudes toward capital punishment, the predicted curvilinear relation was found between integrative complexity and attitudes-extreme attitudes (both pro and con) characterized cognitive simplicity and moderate attitudes characterized increasing complexity.

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