COGNITIVE LEVEL AS A FUNCTION OF DEFENSIVE ISOLATION

Evaluated the possibility that a failure to coordinate perspectives on the role-taking task (RTT) occurs when the TAT figures represent defensively isolated aspects of the self-structure. The Ss were given the RTT under 2 conditions: (1) Ss were assigned defensively isolated attributes, asked to tell a story built around TAT figures endowed with those attributes, and then required to take the perspectives of these figures in their role taking; (2) in the other, the assigned attributes were not defensively isolated. Ss showed more difficulty in coordinating perspectives under the defensive isolation condition than under the nonisolated condition. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.