Lateral Cognitive Processing And Belief Updating

LATERAL COGNITIVE PROCESSING AND BELIEF UPDATING. byERIN HOLCOMBAugust 2010 Advisor:Dr. R. Douglas WhitmanMajor:Psychology (Clinical)Degree:Master of ArtsBias in mental representations and belief systems has been linked toasymmetries in information processing by the two hemispheres in research thatuses wide variety of methodologies and participant samples. Also, associations have been drawn between such biases in belief systems and sociopoliticalorientation leading to the hypothesis that links can be drawn from lateral processingthrough cognitive style to social and political orientation. This study sought toexamine individual differences in laterality – as assessed via a lateralized semanticpriming methodology – and manifestations of rigidity and flexibility in belief updatingwithin a sociopolitical context. Analyses revealed that a theoretical inference ofhemispheric communication based on accuracy data from the lexical decisionmaking task was significantly related to self-reported charectorlogical rigidity andsociopolitical orientation. Specifically, greater communication between thehemispheres was significantly correlated with a lower degree of characterologicalrigidity and sociopolitical liberalism. This study proposes a dual hemispheric model