Does inconsistency always lead to negative affect? The influence of need for closure on affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency

We present an experiment showing that need for closure (NFC)—defined as the epistemic desire for certainty—can moderate individuals' affective reactions to cognitive inconsistency. Informed by Kruglanski and colleagues' new theory, that cognitive inconsistency elicits negative affect particularly under certain circumstances, we find that NFC (i.e. the desire for certain, stable and unambiguous knowledge) influences the strength of consistency effects and resulting negative affect. More specifically, we find that individuals who are high on NFC experience more negative affect upon encountering an inconsistent (vs. consistent) cognition. However, when individuals are low on NFC, inconsistency is irrelevant, and their affect depends on whether the ultimate outcome of the cognition is positive or negative. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this research.     

Competing roles for the subfactors of need for closure in committing the fundamental attribution error

Webster’s (1993) finding that the need for closure (NFC) trait predicts the fundamental attribution error (FAE) is well-cited but has mixed support. After detailing failed replications and contradictory findings, this article reports an attempt to verify the positive NFC–FAE relation using the questioner–contestant paradigm. Rarely investigated but potentially vital to the field, this research also considered the two orthogonal subfactors of NFC, decisiveness and need for structure (Neuberg, Judice, & West, 1997). Results showed that need for structure predicted, overall NFC partially predicted, but decisiveness attenuated the FAE. Thus, Webster’s finding was both replicated and reversed by different aspects of NFC. Decisiveness adds to a short list of trait moderators of the FAE. Implications are discussed for how to measure NFC.     

Besoin de cognition,besoin d’évaluer,besoin de clôture : proposition d’échelles en langue française et approche socio-normative des besoins dits fondamentaux

Introduction and objectivesAfter leading a validation of questionnaires about three fundamental needs in French language (need for cognition, closing and evaluation), we tested in two studies that fundamental needs could be subjected to social constraints and could be considered differently than exclusively like stable personality characteristics and motivational drivers of action.MethodUsing the paradigm of judges (study 1) and the paradigm of identification (study 2), the results argue for a normative approach, at least as regards the need for cognition and assess.ResultsThe results of the first study show that individuals consider more favorably targets with strong need rather than low need and especially in social contexts with high social utility (that is to say, the professional context in comparison with the friendly context). The results of the second study show that when the questionnaires about needs “as would a person having been previously well or poorly assessed” participants get higher scores high on the need for cognition questionnaire in the first case than in the second. The results regarding the need for closure are more mixed.ConclusionThe results are discussed in a socio-normative perspective.     

Motivation towards closure and cognitive processes: An individual differences approach

Two studies (N = 212) examined the relationships between elementary cognitive processes and individual differences in the need for cognitive closure. The results indicated that the need for closure is linked with certain cognitive deficits, specifically a restricted pool of cognitive resources allocated to a current activity. It was also found that these cognitive limitations tend to be compensated for by a particularly efficient process of information-selection from the environment. However, the selection process is costly, thus in a situation of drainage of cognitive resources its effectiveness also drops and the selection advantage of high (vs. low) need for closure individuals is eliminated.     

“Escape from Freedom”: Authoritarianism-related traits,political ideology,personality, and belief in free will/determinism

Philosophers have long speculated that authoritarianism and belief in determinism are functionally related. To evaluate this hypothesis, we assessed whether authoritarianism and allied personality and political variables predict varieties of belief in determinism in three community samples (N₁ = 566 to 20,010; N₂ = 500; N₃ = 419). Authoritarianism and allied variables manifested moderate to large positive correlations with both fatalistic and genetic determinism beliefs. Controlling for political conservatism did not meaningfully attenuate these relations. Further, openness was negatively related to fatalistic determinism beliefs and agreeableness was negatively related to genetic determinism beliefs. Taken together, our findings clarify the nature of relations between authoritarianism and general personality, on the one hand, and free will/determinism beliefs, on the other, and suggest intriguing intersections between worldviews and personality traits.     

The network of conscientiousness

According to the network perspective, the coalescence of several personality characteristics into major personality dimensions results from a pattern of complex interactions that can be modeled as a network. We focused on one personality dimension, conscientiousness, and on its main facets. We administered a large battery of questionnaires to two samples (N = 210 and N = 230) and analyzed them by means of network analysis. The results showed that some elements of the network, such as general self-control and orientation toward the future, characterized all facets. These “shared” elements could be responsible for the facets to clump into one major dimension. Other elements of the network uniquely characterized different facets. These “unique” elements could underlie the main differences among conscientiousness facets.     

Shaping reality vs. hiding from reality: Reconsidering the effects of trait need for closure on information search

For tentative and final decisions on real and artificial issues, three studies revealed a positive relation between trait need for closure and selective approach to supportive (vs. unsupportive) information. Specifically, individuals with high (vs. low) trait need for closure selected more decision-supportive information and less decision-challenging information for viewing. Furthermore, Study 1 showed that the effect of trait need for closure functioned independently of authoritarianism and dogmatism, and Study 3 showed that the effect of trait need for closure on selective approach to decision-supportive information was mediated by a current concern to get closure on the experimental issue. These findings provide a new understanding of how trait need for closure shapes post-decisional information search and decision making.     

The intergenerational transmission of need for closure underlies the transmission of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice

Previous research has identified need for closure (NFC) as an important motivational-cognitive basis of authoritarianism and prejudice. However, to date, the role of NFC in the intergenerational similarity in authoritarianism and prejudice has remained unclear. In a sample of 169 parent–child dyads, we investigated the similarity between parents and children in NFC and tested whether this intergenerational similarity may account for the intergenerational similarity in authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice. Our results revealed that parental levels of NFC were indeed concordant with the levels of NFC in their children. Even more importantly, parental NFC was indirectly related to child authoritarianism and prejudice in two ways. The first pathway proceeded through the direct relationships between parental and children’s levels of authoritarianism and prejudice. The second pathway, however, bypassed parental levels of authoritarianism and prejudice and proceeded through the intergenerational similarity in NFC. Our findings thus indicate that a significant portion of children’s levels of authoritarianism and anti-immigrant prejudice can be explained by parent–child similarity in motivated cognition. Implications for developmental theories of prejudice acquisition are discussed.     

Personal choice: A blessing or a burden,or both? A cross‐cultural investigation on need for closure effects in two Western and two East‐Asian societies

The present study investigates the role of dispositional need for closure (NFC) in how individuals within a particular culture perceive and appreciate choice. Data sets from the US (283 adults), Europe (263 adults and 427 students), China (218 adults and 309 students) and Singapore (258 students) were collected. The results showed that in Western cultures, people perceived choice in a linear way as either a burden or a blessing, whereas in Chinese culture, such opposition between perspectives did not appear, and individuals generally saw choice as both burden and blessing simultaneously. In Western cultures, high dispositional NFC was strongly associated with viewing choice‐as‐a‐burden, whereas Chinese respondents with a high NFC perceived choice as a blessing and a burden simultaneously. The Singaporean results were similar to the Western pattern. These findings are discussed in terms of the NFC literature and cultural differences in dialectic versus differentiation thinking styles.