THE PERCEPTION OF SIMULATED NATIONS: A MULTIDIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS OF SOCIAL PERCEPTION AS AFFECTED BY SITUATIONAL STRESS AND CHARACTERISTIC LEVELS OF COGNITIVE COMPLEXITY IN PERCEIVERS
Authors: Driver Michael J. 
Published: August 2014

The purposes of the study were to uncover the general structure of the concept used to perceive social groups acting as simulated nations, to determine whether the complexity and content of this perceptual concept would shift under varying situational stresses and to discover whether differences in the complexity of this specific concept could be traced to a measure of generalized cognitive complexity.

A model was presented in which complexity in a concept was defined in terms of three qualities: (1) amount of differentiation, (2) degree of representative integration and (3) preponderance of internal dynamic properties of stimuli over more primitive external characteristics.

The theory advanced was that complexity would relate to stress in a curvilinear fashion. Moderate stress should induce greater complexity in social perception than either too mild or too intense stress. In addition it was expected that at most stress levels differences in complexity can be related to differences in the characteristic levels of cognitive complexity in perceivers.

In order to examine these points, the complexity of the social group concept as it functioned in the Internation Simulation was studied. The simulation allowed seven, three‐man nations to operate in a complex decision making environment for four days. In 10 different runs of the simulation, one half of the nations were manned by persons of high generalized complexity, while half were staffed with more generally simple persons. Generalized complexity was measured with the Situational Interpretation Test. Four runs involved the intense stress of war, four peace runs were of moderate stress and two peace runs were classed as mild stress.

The content and structure of the social group concepts employed in the INS were measured by multidimensional scaling. Via multidimensional methods the social group concepts of the average person in each run were computed. In addition the multidimensional concepts of unique, non‐average persons were calculated in one war and one peace run. On the whole the results confirmed the model in highly provocative and suggestive ways. Multidimensional representations of both average and unique concepts were highly meaningful and related to events in the simulation. In particular three regular dimensions of social group perception emerged in average concepts: alliance, power, and activity. The significance of these dimensions for perceptual and semantic theory was noted.

The structure of both average and unique concepts varied in a curvilinear way with stress. Interesting differences in content and structure of concepts were found between mild, moderate, and intense stress conditions. Particularly interesting were the features of concept structures which were found on the eve of war. Also of interest were the implications of both the complexity and content of concepts for an understanding of interests and decisions in the INS.

Differences in content and structure at the same stress level were found related to the measure of generalized complexity. A major factor of individual difference in perception related to SIT scores in all runs. In the two runs where unique concepts were available, more generally complex persons were found to be more complex than simpler people in the number, organization, and nature of group characteristics with which they were concerned. Intriguing differences in the focus and accuracy of perceptions also emerged.

In general the study found that by multidimensional scaling meaningful dimensions in the concept employed to perceive simulated nations could be discovered. It was also found that both content and structure in this social concept varied in provocative ways as a function of situational stress and characteristic levels of generalized complexity in perceivers.