Cognitive styles are regarded as fairly stable characteristics of a person's cognitive structure. This research aimed at describing and comparing the cognitive styles of Psychology college students who have been or not scientific initiation scholars and verifying whether the predominant styles vary according to the year the students are taking. The data was collected through a scale developed aiming at the description of cognitive styles and the sample consisted of 447 college students from Psychology school. Among the students with and without experience in scientific initiation programs it is observed that the scientific initiation scholars are more Divergent and less Field Dependents. The analysis of the different classes suggests that from its beginning to the end it occurs a decrease of Convergent and Dependence Field styles. This study provides support to the conclusion that cognitive styles are not stable but liable to change over the college years.
cognitive style; college students; scientific initiation
