Field-dependence/independence: cognitive style or perceptual ability?––validating against thinking styles and academic achievement

In individual differences psychology, one of the long-standing debated issues has been focusing on the nature of the field-dependence/independence construct as defined in Witkin’s theory of psychological differentiation––the pioneer work in the study of intellectual styles. The present study examines the nature of the field-dependence/independence construct against academic achievement as well as against the thinking style construct as defined in Sternberg’s theory of mental self-government. Participants were 200 (154 female and 46 male) students enrolled in a large comprehensive university in Shanghai, the People’s Republic of China. Participants responded to the Group Embedded Figures Test and the Thinking Styles Inventory. Students’ academic achievements were also examined in relation to their field-dependence/independence (FDI) and thinking style scores. Major findings are (1) the FDI and the thinking style constructs were unrelated; and (2) whereas particular thinking styles were related to the students’ overall achievement in mathematics courses and courses in the Chinese language, the FDI scores were related only to students’ achievement in geometry. It was concluded that the field-dependence/independence construct represents perceptual ability, but not a broad cognitive style.