MMPI personality type and cognitive flexibility as determined by the Weigl color-form sorting test in psychiatric patients

The relationship of cognitive flexibility with MMPI personality type, age, education, and IQ was investigated for a sample of 41 psychiatric inpatients. Cognitive flexibility was measured by the Weigl Color‐Form Sorting Test. An index for measuring divergent thinking behavior was obtained from determining the similarity of their admission MMPI profiles to a MMPI prototype profile for divergent (psychotic) ideation using the formula: Divergent thinking = PA + PT + SC — L — K. Results showed that in this sample, cognitive flexibility was related significantly and inversely to the level of divergent thinking (p = .02), but was unrelated to IQ test scores. Supplemental analyses indicated that the level of divergent thinking may mask the established relationships of cognitive flexibility with age and education.