Need for cognition

The need for cognition, in psychology, is a personality variable reflecting the extent to which people engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities.^[1][2]

An individual’s innate need-for-cognition, a concept defined as “a need to structure relevant situations in meaningful, integrated ways” and “a need to understand and make reasonable the experiential world” by Cohen, Stotland and Wolfe (1955, p.291).

Some individuals have a high need for cognition, where they enjoy the effortful engagement of arguments, the evaluation of ideas, and the analysis of problems and their solutions. These individuals by their very nature are more likely to engage in high elaboration. Other individuals will, by their very nature, not be motivated to engage in effortful, thoughtful evaluation and analysis of ideas. These individuals will be more likely to process the information heuristically, that is, with low elaboration. (Dole and Sinatra, 1998, p.117)

History

Cohen, Stotland and Wolfe (1955), in their work on individual differences in cognitive motivation, identified a "need for cognition",^[3] which they defined as “the individual’s need to organize his experience meaningfully”, the “need to structure relevant situations in meaningful, integrated ways”, and “need to understand and make reasonable the experiential world” (p.291). They agued that, if this "need" were frustrated, it would generate “feelings of tension and deprivation” that would instigate “active efforts to structure the situation and increase understanding” (p.291).

They also noted that “for any given individual different situations will be differentially important for the arousal and satisfaction of the need” (p.291).

They argued that “stronger needs lead people to see a situation as ambiguous, even if it is relatively structured, indicating that higher standards for cognitive clarity are associated with greater need for cognition” (p.292), observing that “an individual is characterized by a given strength of this need peculiar to himself” (p.291); they also noted that “for any given individual different situations will be differentially important for the arousal and satisfaction of the need” (p.291). Although they actively distinguished their concept from Frenkel-Brunswik’s “intolerance of ambiguity” (p.293),^[4] it is now quite evident, in the light of modern scholarship, that their “need for cognition” concept,

…emphasized ambiguity intolerance and tension reduction and, as such, appears closer to contemporary scales that measure tolerance of ambiguity, need for structure, or need for cognitive closure. Indeed, an early study, supporting Cohen's conceptualization of need for cognition was based on the notion that individuals high in need for cognition would avoid ambiguity and achieve an integrated and meaningful world by using heuristics and by relying on the advice of experts rather than by carefully scrutinizing incoming information. (Cacioppo, et al., 1996, p.198)

Following on from the work of Cohen and his colleagues, and moving away from their “drive-reduction principles” (the “reduction of an unpleasant state of arousal produced by complex or ambiguous stimuli”) to those “based on the self-rewarding potential of cognitive activity” (Thompson, Chaiken and Hazlewood, 1993, p.988), Cacioppo and Petty (1982) created their own scale to measure the need for cognition.

Stressing (p.118) that they were using the word need in the statistical sense of a “likelihood or tendency”, rather than in the rudimentary biological sense of “tissue deprivation”, they defined the need for cognition as an individual’s tendency to “engage in and enjoy thinking” (p.116) and the tendency to “organize, abstract, and evaluate information” (p.124) — or, variously, as a stable, but individually different “tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive endeavors”, or an “intrinsic motivation to engage in effortful cognitive endeavors… and exercise their mental faculties” (Cacioppo, Petty, Feinstein and Jarvis, p.197), or an “intrinsic motivation for effortful thought” (Thompson, Chaiken and Hazlewood, 1993, p.997).

Cacioppo and Petty’s (1982) need for cognition scale was slightly amended by Cacioppo, Petty and Kao (1984); and, in most of the cases reported in the subsequent literature it is this amended scale that is administered.

Features

People high in the need for cognition are more likely to form their attitudes by paying close attention to relevant arguments (i.e., via the central route to persuasion), whereas people low in the need for cognition are more likely to rely on peripheral cues, such as how attractive or credible a speaker is.

Psychological research on the need for cognition has been conducted using self-report tests, where research participants answered a series of statements such as "I prefer my life to be filled with puzzles that I must solve" and were scored on how much they felt the statements represented them. The results have suggested that people who are high in the need for cognition scale score slightly higher in verbal intelligence tests but no higher in abstract reasoning tests. There have not been any found gender differences in the need for cognition.

Research has concluded that individuals high in NFC are less likely to attribute higher social desirability to more attractive individuals or to males.^[5] Individuals high in NFC report higher life satisfaction.^[6]

The need for cognition is unrelated to social dominance orientation.^[7]

Footnotes

1. ^ The need for cognition. Cacioppo, John T.; Petty, Richard E. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1982 Jan Vol 42(1) 116-131 (doi:10.1037/0022-3514.42.1.116)
2. ^ Central and peripheral routes to persuasion: An individual difference perspective. Cacioppo, John T.; Petty, Richard E.; Kao, Chuan Feng; Rodriguez, Regina. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1986 Nov Vol 51(5) 1032-1043 (doi:10.1037/0022-3514.51.5.1032)
3. ^ They acknowledge that “the existence of such a need has already been suggested by several theorists”, and cite the following works (pp.291/294): (a) Murphy, G. Personality. New York: Harper, 1947; (b) Maslow A.H. A theory of human motivation Psychol. Rev., 1943, 50, 370-396; (c) Katz, D., & Sarnoff, I. Motivational bases of attitude change. J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 1954, 49, 115-124; and (d) Harlow, H.F., Harlow, M.K. & Meyer, D. Learning motivated by a manipulation drive. J. exp. Psychol., 1950, 40, 228-234. N.B., Cohen (1957, pp.79) also cites “Asch, S.E. Social Psychology. New York, Prentice-Hall, 1952” as belonging to that group.
4. ^ Cohen, Stotland and Wolfe (p.293):
   

   The question may be raised of the relationship of need cognition as it is presented here to the notion of “intolerance of ambiguity” as discussed by Frenkel-Brunswik [i.e., Frenkel-Brunswik, E. Intolerance of ambiguity as an emotional and perceptual personality variable. J. Pers. 1949, 18, 108-143]. It seems to us that Frenkel-Brunswik's meaning is different from ours in that she speaks of the quality or content of the structuring while our meaning centers upon the degree to which people need to experience an integrated and meaningful world.

5. ^ Moderating effects of need for cognition on attractiveness stereotyping
6. ^ The need for cognition and life satisfaction among college students
7. ^ Need for Cognition, Need to Evaluate, and Change in Vote Choice

References

• Cacioppo, J.T. & Petty, R.E., "The Need for Cognition", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol.42, No.1, (January 1982), pp.116-131.
• Cacioppo, J.T., Petty, R.E., Feinstein, J.A. & Jarvis, W.B.G., "Dispositional Differences in Cognitive Motivation: The Life and Times of Individuals Varying in Need for Cognition", Psychological Bulletin, Vol.119, No.2, (March 1996), pp.197-253.
• Cacioppo, J.T., Petty, R.E. & Kao, C.F., "The Efficient Assessment of Need for Cognition", Journal of Personality Assessment, Vol.48 No.3, (June 1984), pp.306-307.
• Cohen, A.R., "Need for Cognition and Order of Communication as Determinants of Opinion Change", pp.79-97 in Hovland, C.I. (ed.), The Order of Presentation in Persuasion, Yale University Press, (New Haven), 1957.
• Cohen, A.R., Stotland, E., & Wolfe, D.M., "An Experimental Investigation of Need for Cognition", Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, Vol.51, No.2, (September 1955), pp.291-294.
• Dole, J.A. & Sinatra, G.M., "Reconceptualizing Change in the Cognitive Construction of Knowledge", Educational Psychologist, Vol.33, Nos.2-3, (Spring and Summer 1998), pp.109-128.
• Evans, C.J., Kirby, J.R. & Fabrigar, L.R., "Approaches to Learning, Need for Cognition, and Strategic Flexibility Among University Students", British Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol.73, No.4, (December 2003), pp.507-528.
• Henning, B. & Vorderer, P., "Psychological Escapism: Predicting the Amount of Television Viewing by Need for Cognition", Journal of Communication, Vol.51, No.1, (March 2001), pp.100-120.
• Loewenstein, G., "The Psychology of Curiosity: A Review and Reinterpretation", Psychological Bulletin, Vol.116, No.1, (July 1994), pp.75-98.
• Nair, K.U. & Ramnarayan, S., "Individual Differences in Need for Cognition and Complex Problem Solving", Journal of Research in Personality, Vol.34, No.3, (September 2000), pp.305-328.
• Nussbaum, E.M. & Bendixen, L.D., "Approaching and Avoiding Arguments: The Role of Epistemological Beliefs, Need for Cognition, and Extraverted Personality Traits", Contemporary Educational Psychology, Vol.28, No.4, (October 2003), pp.573-595.
• Olson, K.R., Camp, C.J. & Fuller, D., "Curiosity and Need for Cognition", Psychological Reports, Vol.54, No.1, (February 1984), pp.71-74.
• Sadowski, C.J. & Cogburn, H.E., "Need for Cognition in the Big-Five Factor Structure", The Journal of Psychology, Vol.131, No.3, (May 1997), pp.307-312.
• Sorrentino, R.M., Bobocel, D.R., Gitta, M.Z., Olson, J.M. & Hewitt, E.C., "Uncertainty Orientation and Persuasion: Individual Differences in the Effects of Personal Relevance on Social Judgments", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol.55, No.3, (September 1988), pp.357-371.
• Thompson, E.P., Chaiken, S. & Hazlewood, J.D., "Need for Cognition and Desire for Control as Moderators of Extrinsic Reward Effects: A Person X Situation Approach to the Study of Intrinsic Motivation", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol.64, No.6, (June 1993), pp.987-999.
• Watt, J.D. & Blanchard, M.J., "Boredom Proneness and the Need for Cognition", Journal of Research in Personality, Vol.28, No.1, (March 1994), pp. 44-51.
• West, S.S., "Class Origin of Scientists", Sociometry, Vol.24, No.3, (September 1961), pp.251-269.

External links

• Need for Cognition Scale