Peer Judgments of Teaching Competence as a Function of Field Independence and Dogmatism,

The theoretical relationships among field independence, dogmatism, and a peer judgment criterion of professional competence were examined. The subjects were master’s level interns in a training program. The data illustrate the reliability of the criterion and indicate that these interns differentiate between professional competence judgments and more interpersonal judgments when making peer choices. Neither dogmatism nor field independence alone predicts the criterion, but the interaction term for the two variables significantly predicts the criterion. It is the field dependent/highly dogmatic person who is chosen less often by his peers, while the field dependent/low dogmatic person is chosen more often.