BRIDGING COGNITION AND PERSONALITY IN EDUCATION - THE ROLE OF STYLE IN PERFORMANCE AND DEVELOPMENT

In an attempt to illuminate the interrelatedness of noncognitive and c ognitive domains-or, more pointedly, of affection, conation, and cogni tion-emphasis is placed on variables that not only operate across thes e domains but are also potentially integrative. Prominent among such v ariables are personal styles, particularly cognitive styles. The prope rties and problems of cognitive styles are examined, with special emph asis on field independence versus field sensitivity and on two stylist ic dimensions of attentional scanning. The Pole of cognitive styles as both competence variables and performance variables is addressed, alo ng with the difficulty of disentangling style from ability because of reciprocal determinism in their development. The educational implicati ons of cognitive styles are explored, especially as they bear on the p roblem of the match between student characteristics and educational ex periences and on the value-laden nature of style-based pedagogical dec isions.