Dispositional differences in cognitive motivation: The life and times of individuals varying in need for cognition.

Abstract

Need for cognition in contemporary literature refers to an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive endeavors. Individual differences in need for cognition have been the focus of investigation in over 100 empirical studies. This literature is reviewed, covering the theory and history of this variable, measures of interindividual variations in it, and empirical relationships between it and personality variables, as well as individuals' tendencies to seek andengage in effortful cognitive activity and enjoy cognitively effortful circumstances. The article cotacludes with discussions of an elaborated theory of the variable, including antecedent conditions; interindividual variations in it related to the manner information is acquired or processed to guide perceptions, judgments, and behavior; and the relationship between it and the 5-factor model of personality structure. Speaker A: "If v,e don't accomplish reform, health care costs will soar, ballooning our deficits. But it doesn't seem like any of these reform plans cut costs convincingly. As soon as any plan seems to cut costs, some lobby group clobbers it with scare TV ads. We seem incapable as a society of coherently discussing the substance of our economy. The actual numbers are so big, so complex... ?' Speaker B: "Get real!" Speaker A: "I am! I'm talking about reality! I'm talking about substance!" Speaker B: "Substance isn't real! Polls are real! Election results are real! Who's up. Who's down. That's what's real! Substance is incomprehensible! The purpose of substance is to provide statistical factoids to politicians to toss at one another in partisan battles. Whichever one sounds best wins. And that's what's real!" (Stamaty, 1994, p. 17) Psychology, with its emphasis on information processing, is replete with theories based on the notion that people, if not commonly enjoying, are at least commonly engaging in active information search and effortful problem solving as they steer their course through their environment (e.g., Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Whitley & Frieze, 1985). Nearly equally prevalent are psychological theories based on the notion that information acquisition, problem solving, and judgments result much of the time from automatic or preattentive processes or from only cursory attention to the substantive details of the informative environment (e.g.

Children’s developing notions of (im)partiality

“…There may also be other individual differences, perhaps due to differing desires to evaluate the fairness or accuracy of others. Previous research has found that children of lower socioeconomic status are less likely than children of higher socioeconomic status to rationalize inequities in income across occupations (Emler & Dickinson, 1985), and adults vary in how much they enjoy solving problems and engaging in cognitive endeavors (Cacioppo, Petty, Feinstein, & Jarvis, 1996). Perhaps children who attend more to inequities or like to engage more in cognitive endeavors in general are better at detecting partiality.…”

Recipient design in tacit communication

“…This provided an opportunity for participants to indicate that they did not believe the receiver manipulation. Participants completed three personality scales, the Dutch versions of the EQ (Baron- Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004), the SQ-R (Wheelwright et al, 2006), and the NCS (Cacioppo et al, 1996).…”

“…Accordingly, individuals with high empathizing scores (here measured by the Empathizing Quotient (EQ), (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004) may be more likely to adapt communicative message, since they can better predict the response of others, while those with high systemizing abilities (SQ-R) may take a more logical problem-solving approach to communicative efforts due to their increased tendency to search for rules and definitive answers. Individuals high in Need for Cognition (NCS) are flexible in choosing learning strategies, are highly motivated, and have good control over attentional resources, while those low in need for cognition have the tendency to rely on others to find meaning in events and stimuli (Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984;Evans, Kirby, & Fabrigar, 2003).Similarly, individuals high in Need for Cognition (Cacioppo, Petty, Feinstein, Blain, & Jarvis, 1996) are less influenced by surface information (Ruiter, Verplanken, De Kremer, & Kok, 2004) and could be less likely to adapt their behavior to the observable characteristics of a communicative partner.…”

The Need for Orientation Towards News Media: Revising and Validating a Classic Concept

“…In other words, need for cognition is a motivational measure of a person's craving for cognitive activity. Considering that individuals high in need for cognition are thought to be more likely to expend effort on information acquisition (Cacioppo et al, 1996), it can be assumed that high need for cognition people also exhibit a stronger NFO towards the news media. It follows the hypothesis that need for cognition has a positive influence on the NFO towards news media.…”