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Integrative Complexity

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Synonyms

Cognitive complexity; Cognitive structure; Cognitive style; Conceptual complexity; Conceptual systems; Flexibility; Interactive complexity; Metacognition; Meta-complexity; Wisdom

Definition

Integrative complexity (IC) refers to the structure of information processing, independently of its content. It entails two aspects: differentiation and integration, where differentiation refers to the extent of perceiving a variety of dimensions and perspectives when considering an issue, whereas integration is a capacity to create conceptual connections among these different dimensions and perspectives.

Introduction

IC is unique among cognitive complexity formulations in that it does not only consider the amount of different information, perspectives, or dimensions noticed and processed regarding one issue (differentiation) but also incorporates perceiving the connections among these divergent dimensions (integration). These recognized connections may be interactions, trade-offs,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY, USA

    Vera Békés

  2. School of Psychology, Laval University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Vera Békés

  3. Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Peter Suedfeld

Authors
  1. Vera Békés
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  2. Peter Suedfeld
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vera Békés .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, USA

    Chris Ditzfeld

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Békés, V., Suedfeld, P. (2020). Integrative Complexity. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24612-3_1942

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