Cognitive Styles

This tool has been revised (2024) to align directly with 2023 research. Please use Cognitive Facets for learning technical materials.

The following tool is no longer being maintained.

OSU's Gender Mag and Cognitive Style Heuristics projects study gender differences in how people problem-solve while using software. The projects' core methods of finding gender-bias bugs in software is to apply personas that represent different sets of five cognitive facets.

Explore your five facets, then analyze which persona fits you best:

What are your cognitive styles?

Slide the range finders left or right to represent your facet values. Your score and explanation are at the bottom. Compare and discuss your score with your peers in this week's Discussion.

Important: do not think of the negative numbers of the scales as poor or less.
This tool is currently limited in how it can represent two sides of a sliding scale.

Hint: hover over each ? facet to see its definition.

1. Information Processing Style ?

When using technology, I...

2. Learning Style ?

When learning a new technology, I...

3. Computer Self-efficacy ?

My confidence level when learning new tech skills is...

4. Attitude Toward Risk ?

When a feature is unfamiliar to me, I...

5. Motivations ?

I will use a technology just because...

Your total score is: 0
What does the score mean?

Your cognitive styles tend toward these personas:


The Personas

The Abi, Pat, and Tim Personas are identical in several ways: they all have the same job, live in the same place, and all are equally comfortable with mathematics and with the technology they regularly use. Their differences are strictly derived from the gender research on five facets (noted in the sliders above).

Abi (Abigail or Abishek)

Abi's facet values are those frequently seen in women that are the most different from Tim's.

Pat (Patricia or Patrick)

Pat's facet values add coverage of a large fraction of people different from both Abi and Tim.

Tim (Timothy or Timara)

Tim's facet values are those most frequently seen in men.
Questions to ponder
  1. How might your cognitive styles affect how you learn a new skill?
  2. How did your cognitive styles affect how you approached the previous assignment?
  3. How are your facet values similar or different from another person who shared theirs?
  4. What is a situation when your facet values might change?

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