Conceptual Systems Theory and Control of Individual Differences in Psychological Experimentation

Abstract

Conceptual Systems Theory is described in some detail and discussed in terms of its relevance in experimental settings. Because extensive research has shown that persons representing the various levels of conceptual system functioning routinely perform differentially and predictably under the influence of authority and stress, the author concludes that it behooves E in many types of experiments to identify his experimental sample by “system type” so as not to attribute systematic variance to error variance.