Cognitive differentiation in women and pioneer-traditional vocational choices

In order to test the hypothesis that women who went into male dominated fields (pioneers) were more cognitively complex in social relationships than women who went into female dominated fields (traditionals), 83 college seniors were classified and tested using a grid for cognitive complexity in their roles. As predicted, the pioneers were more differentiated (p < .05) in their perception of various social roles and supported the research in cognitive complexity in vocational behavior.