theory of mental self-government
a model of cognitive styles that proposes several dimensions to describe the preferred ways in which individuals think or express their cognitive abilities. The dimensions include (a) governmental—preferences for the legislative, executive, and judicial functions of cognition (i.e., in planning, implementing, and evaluating); (b) problem solving—styles labeled monarchic (a tendency to pursue one goal at a time), hierarchic (multiple goals with different priorities), oligarchic (multiple equally important goals), and anarchic (unstructured, random problem solving); (c) global versus local thinking—preferring to think about large, abstract issues on the one hand or concrete details on the other; (d) internal versus external thinking—related to introversion–extraversion, social skills, and cooperativeness; and (e) conservative or progressive—rule-based leanings versus those that are creative and change oriented.
[proposed in 1988 by U.S. psychologist Robert J. Sternberg (1949– )]