The relationship between cognitive style, theoretical orientation, and preferences for supervisory style among professional psychology interns

This study presents an empkical model that relates cognitive style and theoretical orientation to supervisory preferences. One-hundred and fourteen psychology interns from American Psychological Association (APA) accredited internship sites throughout the U.S. completed the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, Supervisory Styles Inventory, a demographic questionnaire, and a survey which asked about the relative importance of various life and training experiences on their professional development. The results of the hierarchical regression analyses revealed hat when cognitive style was statistically controlled for, theoretical orientation accounted for no additional variance in preferences for a task oriented supervisory style. When predicting interns' preferences for an interpersonally sensitive supervisory style, however, theoretical orientation accounted for additional variance beyond that explained by cognitive style. The survey findings indicate that interns regard all of the APA required components of their training as at least moderately important to their development as psychologists, and a variety of other professional and personal experiences were also rated as at least moderately important to thek professional development. Some significant gender and theoretical orientation differences were also found. The findings of this study suggest that individual differences among psychology interns do have a significant impact on thek preferences for supervision. and that a variety of training experiences other than practicum are regarded as important to their professional development.