Publication Date

5-1981

Advisor(s) - Committee Chair

Carley Dodd, Randall Capps, Larry Caillouet

Degree Program

Department of Communication

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

This study examined the relationship of cognitive complexity with urban-rural locality, communication apprehension, and world view. Emphasis was placed upon the population variable of urban-rural locality as it related to cognitive complexity; however, the variables of communication apprehension and world view were also examined in an attempt to discover an interrelationship among the variables. Using the Crockett Role Category Questionnaire, the short version of McCroskey's Personal Report of Communication Apprehension, a world view scale as developed by Dodd and Garmon, and selected demographic and group membership items, the researcher tested one hundred fifteen undergraduate college students. Data analyses included analyses of variance and correlation and regression analyses.

Results of the study indicated a significant sex difference in which females were shown to have a higher degree of cognitive complexity than males. A multiple regression found the variables of number of children in the family, sex, and other organization membership to be chief predictors of cognitive complexity. The group membership variables were discovered to have a strong correlation with one another, with the other organization membership variable exerting the strongest influence. An analysis of variance, however, revealed the major finding of the study, a significant three-way interaction of the variables of population, world view, and communication apprehension with cognitive complexity.

Disciplines

Communication | Social and Behavioral Sciences

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