An Experiential Thinking Style: Its Facets and Relations With Objective and Subjective Criterion Measures

• Published in: Journal of personality Vol. 79; no. 5; pp. 1043 - 1080
• Main Authors: Norris, Paul, Epstein, Seymour
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.10.2011; Wiley-Blackwell; Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Cognition; Cognition. Intelligence; Cognitive psychology; Criteria; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Male; Metacognition; Personality; Personality Inventory - standards; Personality psychology; Personality. Affectivity; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Self Report; Sex Distribution; Sex Factors; Students; Thinking; United States; Universities; Young Adult; United States; Human; Test validation; Criterion; Evaluation scale; Psychometrics; Cognition; Personality; Objectivity subjectivity; Cognitive style; Intuition; Creativity; Humor
• ISSN: 0022-3506; 1467-6494
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2011.00718.x

ABSTRACT In Study 1, an experiential factor divided into the following 3 factors when 3 or more factors were extracted: intuition, emotionality, and imagination; whereas a rational factor retained its coherence. In Study 2, an experiential but not a rational thinking style was positively associated with performance measures of creativity, humor, aesthetic judgment, and intuition and with self‐report measures of empathy and social popularity. A rational thinking style was associated with several measures of adjustment. Both thinking styles were positively related to personal growth. Support was provided from several sources for the discriminant validity of the experiential facets. In a third study, the independence of the 2 thinking styles and of gender differences in self‐reported data were verified by observations by others of participants' thinking styles. The importance of identifying facets of an experiential thinking style and of discovering previously unrecognized favorable attributes of this thinking style was discussed.