KOGNITIVNI STILOVI KOD STUDENATA RAZLIČITIH STUDIJSKIH ORIJENTACIJA

Cognitive style refers to a special, relatively consistent and stable manner in which one perceives the environment, interacts with it, masters learning, creates concepts, thinks and eventually makes decisions. In the current paper we use the model by Keen (1973) and Botkin (1974), according to which there are two main styles: systematic (deep approach) and intuitive style (surface approach). The study aims to examine whether and to what extent individual’s cognitive styles affect the decision making when it comes to a career choice, i.e. a field of study. Participants in the research were 153 students, from three fields of study: engineering, humanities, business and management. The Cognitive Styles Inventory by Martin L. P. (1998) was used as an instrument in the present study. The results show that the humanities students obtained statistically significantly higher score on the scale of intuitive style compared to the management and engineering students (F = 5,472, p < 0,005). Also the results indicate that there is a statistically significant but low correlation between intuitive cognitive style and academic success, operationalized as grade point avarage(r = 0,184*). No significant gender differences were found.