Introduction
The cognitive styles lab will introduce you to the notion of field dependence-independence, and how it relates to social anxiety. Field dependence is the tendency of a person to use external cues or field referents for perception of the upright. Field independence is the tendency of a person to use internal cues or body referents for perception of the upright. Social anxiety is the feeling of uncontrolled fear when presented with an anxiety producing situation.
It may seem that social anxiety and field dependence or independence should not be related. However, studies have shown that social anxiety and field dependence-independence are closely related. Also, studies have shown that field dependence-independence are related to spacial restructuring. Perceptual constancy, speed of closure, and functional fixity are among several examples of cognitive dimensions that are related to field dependence and independence. We are going to focus on the relation between field dependence-independence and social behavior. Autonomy in personal relations and interpersonal competencies are among several social behaviors related to field dependence and field independence. There is a strong correlation between field dependence-independence and social anxiety, and are directly related. The more field dependent an individual is the more socially anxious that individual will be.
The Rod and Frame test is the most widely used measure of field dependence and independence. The test consists of a rod inside a frame, both are moveable and the subject must adjust the rod to a true vertical position as the position of the frame is changed. Degree of error, or the number of degrees away from 90, is the measure used to score the test. The subject is considered field dependent or independent depending on the score on the test. The higher the score the more field dependent the subject is, the lower the score the more field independent the subject.
The Social Avoidance and Distress scale is a series of 28 true-false questions designed to measure social anxiety. The test is scored that for each of the questions, if the subject answers the question correctly they receive one point. If the subject answers the question incorrectly they receive no points for that question. The points are totalled at the end of the administration and the total is the subject¹s score on the test. The higher the score the more socially anxious the individual, the lower the score on the test the less socially anxious the individual.
While participating in this lab you will discover whether you are field dependent or independent and how your score on the Rod and Frame test relates the your level of social anxiety. You will complete the Rod and Frame test to determine your type of field dependence and the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale to measure your level of social anxiety. A correlation will be run at the end of the week when all the data from all the sections has been compiled.
Method
In this lab, the subjects will be asked to complete the Social Avoidance and Distress Scale(SAD) and the Rod and Frame Test(RFT). The subjects will be given the SAD and must complete it. The test should not take more than ten minutes. All tests should then be given to the experimenter, after completion, and the experimenter will redistribute the tests for scoring. The scoring guide will be presented by the experimenter after the tests have been redistributed. The total for the test being scored should be entered on the total line at the bottom of the test sheet ("Flight Exam").
The experimenter will then accompany one subject at a time to a darkened room where the rod and frame apparatus is located. The subject will be asked to sit in the corner of the room. The experimenter will explain the test to the subject and begin. There are 10 trials, the frame and the rod will be randomly postioned ten different times by the experimenter. The subject should tell the experimenter when the rod, inside the frame, is at a "true" vertical position. The experimenter will record degrees of error after each trial. The scores will be added together and the total score is the subject's score for the test.
Each subjects' scores, on the RFT and the SAD, will be entered into a statistics program at the end of the week to run a correlation to find the relationship between field dependence and independence and social anxiety.
Project
In your lab write up be sure to include all parts of the lab report which includes: title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, figure captions, and references. In the write up, be sure to elaborate on each section and BE SURE TO USE YOU OWN WORDS except when quoting a source
Introduction:
Method
Results
Discussion
The cognitive styles lab demonstrates the notion of field dependence-independence and how it is related to social behaviors such as anxiety. It may not seem at first that field dependence and independence would be remotely related to social anxiety, yet there is evidence to suggest that there is a strong relationship between the two.