Cognitive complexity describes

cognition Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

along a simplicity-complexity axis. It is the subject of academic study in fields including

personal construct psychology Within personality psychology, personal construct theory (PCT) or personal construct psychology (PCP) is a theory of personality and cognition developed by the American psychologist George Kelly in the 1950s.For example: (first published 1955); ...

organisational theory Organizational theory refers to a series of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also seeks to explain how interrelated units of organiza ...

and

human–computer interaction Human–computer interaction (HCI) is the process through which people operate and engage with computer systems. Research in HCI covers the design and the use of computer technology, which focuses on the interfaces between people (users) and comp ...

History

The concept of cognitive complexity was first proposed by psychologist

James Bieri James Bieri (born 1927) is a psychologist and biographer who introduced in 1955 the concept of cognitive complexity, derived from his doctoral study with George A. Kelly. Subsequently, integrating ideas from information theory and psychophysics, ...

in 1955,Bieri, J. (1955). Cognitive complexity-simplicity and predictive behavior. ''The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 51''(2), 263–268. marking a significant step in understanding how individuals perceive and interact with their social environments. Bieri explored the intricate relationships between cognitive styles and social behavior, laying the groundwork for future research in psychology and communication. Bieri tested two main hypotheses in his study: * Positive relationship between cognitive complexity and predictive accuracy: He posited that individuals with higher levels of cognitive complexity are better at predicting the behavior of others. This implies that those who can consider multiple perspectives and nuances in a situation are more adept at anticipating how others will act or react, thus improving their social interactions and decision-making capabilities. * negative relationship between cognitive complexity and assimilative projection: Bieri suggested that individuals with greater cognitive complexity would be less likely to engage in assimilative projection. This cognitive process refers to the tendency to project one’s own qualities or feelings onto others, leading to overgeneralizations and misinterpretations. Essentially, a more cognitively complex person is capable of recognizing and respecting the individuality of others, which reduces the likelihood of such projection. Over the years, cognitive complexity has been linked to various positive outcomes, including enhanced empathy, better problem-solving skills, and improved emotional intelligence. In educational and organizational settings, understanding cognitive complexity has helped develop training programs aimed at fostering critical thinking and interpersonal skills, thereby contributing to more effective teamwork and collaboration.

In artificial intelligence

In an attempt to explain how humans perceive relevance, cognitive complexity is defined as an extension of the notion of

Kolmogorov complexity In algorithmic information theory (a subfield of computer science and mathematics), the Kolmogorov complexity of an object, such as a piece of text, is the length of a shortest computer program (in a predetermined programming language) that prod ...

. It amounts to the length of the shortest description ''available to the observer''. For example, individuating a particular

Inuk Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labr ...

woman among one hundred people is simpler in a village in Congo than it is in an Inuit village. Cognitive complexity is related to probability (see

Simplicity theory Simplicity theory is a cognitive theory that seeks to explain the attractiveness of situations or events to human minds. It is based on work done by scientists like behavioural scientist Nick Chater, computer scientist Paul Vitanyi, psychologist ...

): situations are cognitively improbable if they are simpler to describe than to generate. Human individuals attach two complexity values to events: * description complexity (see above definition) * generation complexity: the size of the minimum set of parameter values that the 'world' (as imagined by the observer) needs to generate the event. To 'generate' an event such as an encounter with an Inuk woman in Congo, one must add up the complexity of each event in the causal chain that brought her there. The significant gap between both complexities (hard to produce, easy to describe) makes the encounter improbable and thus narratable.

In computer science

, cognitive (or psychological) complexity distinguishes human factors (related to

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and human cognition) from, for example,

computational complexity In computer science, the computational complexity or simply complexity of an algorithm is the amount of resources required to run it. Particular focus is given to computation time (generally measured by the number of needed elementary operations ...

In psychology

Cognitive complexity is a

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

characteristic or psychological variable that indicates how complex or simple is the

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

and

perceptual Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous syste ...

skill of a person. A person who is measured high on

cognitive Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...

complexity tends to perceive nuances and subtle differences while a person with a lower measure, indicating a less complex cognitive

structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

for the task or activity, does not. It is used as part of one of the several variations of the viable non-empirical evaluation model

GOMS GOMS is a specialized human information processor model for human-computer interaction observation that describes a user's cognitive structure on four components. In the book ''The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction'', written in 1983 by St ...

(goals, operators, methods, and selection rules); in particular the GOMS/CCT methodology. Cognitive complexity can have various meanings: * the number of mental structures we use, how abstract they are, and how elaborately they interact to shape our perceptions. * "an individual-difference variable associated with a broad range of communication skills and related abilities ...

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

indexes the degree of differentiation, articulation, and integration within a cognitive system".

Related terms

Related to cognitive complexity is the term behavioral complexity, used by some researchers in

organizational studies Organization studies (also called organization science or organizational studies) is the academic field interested in a ''collective activity, and how it relates to organization, organizing, and management''. It is "the examination of how individ ...

organizational culture Organizational culture encompasses the shared norms, values, corporate language and behaviors - observed in schools, universities, not-for-profit groups, government agencies, and businesses - reflecting their core values and strategic direction. ...

and

management Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a Government agency, government bodies through business administration, Nonprofit studies, nonprofit management, or the political s ...

.See Robert Hooijberg, ''Behavioral complexity and managerial effectiveness: a new perspective on managerial leadership'', University of Michigan, 1992;

Daniel R. Denison Daniel "Dan" R. Denison is professor of organization and management at IMD Business School in Lausanne, Switzerland, and chairman and founding partner of Denison Consulting.

, Robert Hooijberg, Robert E. Quinn
Toward a theory of behavioral complexity in managerial leadership
University of Michigan, September 1993

References

External links

A tutorial on Simplicity Theory (Simplicity, Complexity, Unexpectedness, Cognition, Probability, Information)

COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY CLASSIFICATION OF FCATTEST ITEMS

Cognitive Complexity/Depth of Knowledge Rating

ANALYZING ORGANIZATIONS THROUGH COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cognitive Complexity Cognitive psychology Human communication Human–computer interaction Industrial and organizational psychology Personality