Effects of cognitive style and gender differences on heuristic problem-solving ability in young adults

Abstract

Humans use heuristic problem-solving ability when they want to solve complex problems very quickly. The present study investigated the effects of cognitive style and gender difference on heuristic problem-solving ability of young adults. Participants (N = 96) were 300-level (undergraduate) students of University of Nigeria, Nsukka, who were attending cognitive psychology (PSY 102) class. There were 52 (54.17%) male and 44 (45.83%) female students. Their ages ranged between 19 – 26 years (Mage = 20.56; SD = 4.72). More than half of them (n = 51, 53.13%) utilized the field dependent cognitive style while 45 (46.88%) had the field independent cognitive style. Participants worked individually on the Tower of Hanoi problem. F-statistics showed that participants using the field independent cognitive style moved more disks than participants possessing the field dependent cognitive style. Male participants performed better on the task than female participants. A significant interaction effect of cognitive style and gender was found, indicating that neither cognitive style nor gender had a simple independent effect on heuristic problem-solving ability. Implications of the findings for education and learning were highlighted.