Cognitive style and personality in 12-year-old children

Three hundred and eighty 12-year-old children were asked to rate the pupils in their class on seven personality characteristics (Humorous, Shy, Outgoing, Patient, Quiet, Lively, and Serious; part of the sample also rated two additional characteristics, Helpful and Sensible). They were also given the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) (Riding, 1991a) which measures an individual's position on two fundamental cognitive style dimensions; Verbal-Imagery and Wholist-Analytic. A factor analysis indicated that the seven personality characteristics could be viewed as three variables; and these were labelled as Active, Modest and Responsible. Personality characteristic ratings varied significantly as a function of Verbal-Imagery Cognitive Style. Verbalisers were more Active than Imagers, the intermediate position of Bimodal were most Modest and the Imagers were more Responsible than the Verbalisers. There was also a significant gender difference with the girls being more Modest and Responsible and the boys more Active. For the subsample, the only significant effect that was observed related to gender with the girls being rated as more Helpful and more Sensible than the boys.