Need to Evaluate

Abstract

The need to evaluate (NTE) is a personality characteristic reflecting a propensity to engage in evaluative thought, form opinions, and maintain attitudes. Research has shown NTE to predict various aspects of evaluative behavior, such as the reliance on evaluative words when describing objects, the speed of expressing attitudes, and the use of online (rather than memory‐based) processing to update opinions. There is some evidence that these characteristics of NTE are relevant for research on media effects: Low NTE individuals appear to be more susceptible to experimental framing effects, while survey‐based cultivation patterns are more pronounced among people with high NTE. Media scholars have also put forward theoretical reasons why NTE may serve as a motive of media use. However, the evidence for such a pattern is only very limited and, if anything, the relationship between NTE and media use is likely to only be indirect.