A longitudinal study on the stability of the need for cognition

Abstract

It is unclear whether the Need for cognition (NFC) is a stable trait. The current study tests whether individual-level changes in NFC occur over time and whether, in line with cognitive development and decline across the lifespan, these changes in NFC differ between age groups (i.e., ≤24, 25–49 and ≥50). MethodsA total of 5746 respondents participated in a five-wave online personality questionnaire, including an 18-item NFC-scale. A series of growth curve models (GCMs) were used to assess change in NFC over time and autoregressive correlations (rho) and the differences (∆) between NFC scores in 2008 and 2014 as indicators of stability. ResultsAssessment of internal scale structure revealed that a substantive NFC scale (i.e., one factor) provided the best fit. Ascending (∆ = 0.241) growth curves are reported for younger respondents. For middle aged respondents descending (∆ = −0.059) and for older respondents descending growth curves (∆ = −0.098) are reported. The rho for younger (rho = 0.119) and older respondents (rho = 0.106) were lower compared to those of middle aged respondents (rho = 0.189). ConclusionSmall individual-level changes in NFC occur over time. Younger respondents' NFC is more likely to increase and older respondents' NFC is more likely to decrease compared to middle aged respondents.