William Jefferson Clintoncognitive manager model (Suedfeld 1992a) proposes that the psy-
chological resources that a good decision maker will devote to solv-
ing a particular problem are commensurate with the importance of
the problem. Vigilance, information search and processing, reexam-
ination of alternatives, and the other components of ideal decision
making exact a cost; when the potential benefit is worth the cost,
these processes will be utilized.
It is also important to bear in mind that problems do not come
singly, nor are they solved by perfect machines. It is the importance
of a problem in relation to others and the resource repertoire of the
problem solver at that time that determine resource allocation. The
resource repertoire, in turn, varies with time, personality, health, the
situation, and so on. Thus, for example, leaders under severe pro-
longed stress will have fewer cognitive resources to allocate to the
solution of even important problems. Our research focuses on how,
within that limited pool, the available resources are allocated.
The good cognitive manager will use shortcuts to solve less
important problems and will reserve high levels of cognitive effort
for more important ones. Furthermore, once all of the criteria of cog-
nitive preparation have been met, the decision itself may be made in
a simple or a complex fashion—for example, either as a final arid
unchangeable answer to the problem or as a proposition open to fur-
ther adjustment—depending on the situation. In other words, we
can expect flexibility in response to resource availability, on the one
hand, and to the challenge being confronted, on the other. We use
integrative complexity scoring to measure these characteristics.
It is important to remember that integrative complexity scoring
assesses the structure, not the content, of thought. Any specific
policy or view of the source can be chosen, explained, defended, or
criticized at any level of complexity. So, for example, there is no
reason to expect general complexity differences between pro- and
antiabortion policies, pro- and anti-immigration policies, liberal
and conservative policies, and so on. The content-structure distinc-
tion may be particularly important in the case of President Clin-
ton. Watching him deal with political issues, many journalists and
political scientists—using content variables—have described him
as flexible, information oriented, and responsive to others, in other
words, what we would term high complexity. Based on such evalua-