INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN COGNITIVE-PROCESSES OF PLANNING - A PERSONALITY VARIABLE

A case is presented for regarding individual differences in planful be havior as a personality trait. Cognitive planning is discussed as a un ique human ability, as one of the four processes comprising planning, arousal-attention, simultaneous, and successive coding of information. After discussing its roots in neuropsychology and cognitive psycholog y, we present some studies that link individual differences in plannin g tasks to locus of control, self-concept, and intrinsic motivation. A nother study also shows that the use of proper strategies in a problem -solving situation is associated with good planners. In the concluding remarks we suggest that planning is a dynamic rather than a static tr ait of characterizing the holistic nature of activities of every indiv idual. Improvement of planful behavior is discussed as a possibility d ependent on the social and personal history of an individual.