High Need For Closure Research Articles

The Relationship Between the Need for Closure and Support for Military Action Against Iraq: Moderating Effects of National Attachment

A variety of studies suggest that a high need for closure--that is, a desire for knowledge that is clear, stable, and unambiguous as opposed to confusing or uncertain--may be associated with greater hostility toward relevant outgroups. Using international attitudes as the context, the authors examine the hypothesis that the relationship between the need for closure and support for military action against Iraq may be moderated by identification with the national ingroup. Specifically, it is expected that this relationship will be moderated by nationalism (i.e., an aggressive form of identification based on a desire for national dominance) but not patriotism (i.e., a more neutral love of one's country). The data provided a clear pattern of support for this hypothesis and additional analyses indicated that a high need for closure reduced variability about the use of force among the highly nationalistic but not the highly patriotic.

Contextual Influences on Omission Neglect in the Fault Tree Paradigm

Fault trees are used to organize potential causes of a problem to facilitate better judgments about potential problem solutions. However, fault trees can lead to biased judgments because decision makers tend to overestimate the likelihood of problem causes that are explicitly mentioned in the fault tree and underestimate the likelihood of problem causes that are not. In this research, we examined the impact of context information and need for cognitive closure on these estimates. In 2 experiments, participants with a low need for cognitive closure used the informational content of experimenter provided and self‐generated context information as a basis for making likelihood estimates. In contrast, participants with a high need for closure did not use experimenter provided context information at all but used the ease of producing self‐generated context information (rather than informational content) as a basis for their likelihood estimates.

Effects of need for closure on creativity in small group interactions

Three experiments investigated the consequences of the epistemic motivation toward closure on the emergence of creative interactions in small groups. In the first study, need for closure was manipulated via time pressure. Results showed that in groups under high need for closure (i.e. under time pressure) the percentage of creative acts during group discussion was reduced. The second study replicated this result using an individual differences operationalization of the need for closure. In the third study, groups composed of individuals high (versus low) in need for closure performed less creatively, and exhibited less ideational fluidity during group interaction. Moreover, it was demonstrated that conformity pressure mediates the negative relationship between dispositional need for closure and group creativity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Understanding Responses to Political Conflict: Interactive Effects of the Need for Closure and Salient Conflict Schemas.

Two studies examined the relationship between the need for cognitive closure and preferences for conflict-resolution strategies in 2 different samples of elite political actors. Although research has suggested that high need for closure should be associated with competitiveness, the authors argue that this relationship should be strongest among political actors with a hostile conflict schema, or representation of what a conflict is and how it should be dealt with. The authors provide evidence for this hypothesis using archival survey data on American foreign-policy officials' attitudes toward international conflict at the height of the Cold War (Study 1) and their own data on the relationship between the need for closure and conflict-strategy preferences among samples of activists from 2 political parties in Poland: a centrist party with a reputation for cooperativeness and an extremist party with a reputation for confrontation (Study 2). The broader implications of these findings are discussed.

The impact of Internet interactivity and need for closure on consumer preference

The Internet is used by an ever-increasing number of people worldwide. However, there is little understanding of the interaction between Internet technology and the behavior of different human personality types. This article focuses on the impact of the need for closure on the desired level of interactivity of a given Website. For this experiment, four commercialized Websites were created: (1) flat—with no hyperlinks and no time pressure; (2) flat with time pressure; (3) interactive with no time pressure; and (4) interactive with time pressure. All of the Websites contained identical information presented in different ways. The interaction between need for closure as a personality variable and as a situational variable and level of interactivity of the Website as a variable on consumer behavior was examined. A 2 (high need for closure vs. low need for closure)×2 (time pressure vs. no time pressure)×2 (interactive vs. non-interactive Website) between-subjects design was used. One hundred and eighty-two experienced Web surfers took part in the experiment, and were randomly assigned to one of the Websites. After surfing they completed a questionnaire about their level of satisfaction with the Website, their willingness to purchase the product offered there, and their wish to return to the Website. It was predicted that people with a high need for closure would prefer a Website with fewer hyperlinks, while people with a low need for closure would prefer a Website containing more hyperlinks. Results confirmed our predictions with regard to the conditions without time pressure. In contrast, when participants were under time pressure, the results were completely reversed: People with a low need for closure preferred the flat Website and those with a high need for closure preferred an interactive Website. The implications of the results on Website design are discussed.

The influence of need for closure on consumer’s choice behaviour

Consumers select a decision strategy in a purchase situation that best meets their goals for that situation. One of those possible goals is to obtain closure. The dimension need for closure (NFC) (vs. avoidance) reflects the desire for clear, definite, or unambiguous knowledge that will guide perception and action, as opposed to the undesirable alternative of ambiguity and confusion. The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of NFC on choice behaviour in a low involvement purchase situation. Both high ( N=71) and low ( N=71) NFC participants participated in a shopping experiment. In a simulated environment, participants were asked to choose repetitively between different brands within two low involvement product categories. We found significant differences between high and low NFC participants with regard to the amount of information sought, the amount of information used, the use of decision rules and the level of confidence in their decisions made. Marketing implications, limitations and directions for future research are also provided.

Beyond dogmatism: The need for closure as related to religion

Our theoretical assumption is that behind the dogmatism-religion positive but not systematic relation, a clearer one may exist between religion and need for closure (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). A positive association of religiosity with need for closure was hypothesized (except with the decisiveness facet). Subjects ( n = 239) were administered the Need for Closure Scale (NFCS), the Religious Fundamentalism Scale and a two-dimensional religiosity scale. Religious fundamentalism was positively correlated with the total NFCS, preference for order and predictability. Classic religiosity predicted high need for closure (all facets except decisiveness). However, spirituality-emotional religion was associated with low close-mindedness and low decisiveness but still high discomfort with ambiguity. Discussion includes arguments favouring the usefulness of the need for closure construct for understanding many aspects of religious personality (e.g. dogmatism, authoritarianism, prejudice, multiple conversions, distinction between permanence in order-closure and urgency for closure).

An Empirical Investigation of the Relationships between Ethical Beliefs, Ethical Ideology, Political Preference and Need for Closure

An analysis is presented of the relationships between consumers’ ethical beliefs, ethical ideology, Machiavellianism, political preference and the individual difference variable "need for closure". It is based on a representative survey of 286 Belgian respondents. Standard measurement tools of proven reliability and robustness are used to measure ethical beliefs (consumer ethics scale), ethical ideology (ethical positioning), Machiavellianism (Mach IV scale) and need for closure. The analysis finds the following. First, individuals with a high need for closure tend to have beliefs that are more ethical as regards possible consumer actions, and score higher on idealism and lower on Machiavellianism, than those with a low need for closure. Second, a correlation exists between political preference and ethical beliefs. Third, a significant relationship exists between ethical ideology and political preference for the two largest political parties. Fourth, individuals with a high and low need for closure have different political preferences for right-wing and left-wing parties.

Dispositional Need for Cognitive Closure and Self-Enhancing Beliefs

In 3 studies, the author examined self-enhancing beliefs as a function of dispositional need for cognitive closure. The results of the 1st study revealed that fathers in the Netherlands believed that they devoted more time to their children than did average Dutch fathers; these beliefs were strongest for participants with a high need for closure. Results of Studies 2 and 3 replicated the findings in Study 1 in a controlled experimental context with approaches developed by S. T. Allison, D. M. Messick, and G. R. Goethals (1989) and by D. M. Messick, S. Bloom, J. P. Boldizar, and C. D. Samuelson (1985).

Seizing on the Latest: Motivationally Driven Recency Effects in Impression Formation

Though prior studies have consistently demonstrated that the need for closure enhances the magnitude of primacy effects in impression formation (Freund, Kruglanski, & Shpitzajzen, 1985; Heaton & Kruglanski, 1991; Kruglanski & Freund, 1983; Webster, Richter, & Kruglanski, 1996), the present research explored the circumstances under which it may elicit recency effects instead. Unlike the typical experimental paradigm, participants in the present study were given the impression formation goal only subsequent to having viewed the target information with a different (comprehension) goal in mind. It was hypothesized that under such conditions, the later portion of the target information would be more accessible to participants than the earlier. Because individuals under high need for closure are known to “seize” on the most accessible information (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996), participants were expected to exhibit pronouncedrecencyeffects under those circumstances. These predictions were supported in an experiment in which time pressure was introduced to increase the need for closure and accuracy instructions were introduced to reduce it.

Effects of Epistemic Motivations on the Use of Accessible Constructs in Social Judgment

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that the use of primed constructs to interpret target information will be increased under high need for closure and decreased under high need to avoid closure. Supporting this hypothesis, Experiment I found that subjects high in need for closure (induced by increasing cognitive load) were more likely to characterize an ambiguous target in terms of primed traits. Subjects high in need to avoid closure (induced by stressing the importance of impression accuracy) were less likely to characterize the target in terms of primed traits. Experiment 2 found that subjects high in dispositional need for closure were more likely to characterize the target in terms of primed traits than subjects low in dispositional need for closure. By grouping subjects based on individual differences in need for closure, Experiment 2 provides convergent validity for the hypothesis and rules out alternative interpretations for the results of Experiment 1.

Motivated resistance and openness to persuasion in the presence or absence of prior information.

Three experiments investigated the relation between need for cognitive closure and persuasion. In the 1st study, Ss high on an individual-differences measure of need for closure were more resistant to persuasion by their low need-for-closure counterparts than vice versa. In the 2nd study, Ss in a noisy environment, assumed to instill a relatively high need for closure, were more resistant to persuasion than Ss in a quiet environment, but only in presence of an initial informational base for an opinion. In its absence, Ss in the noisy (vs. quiet) environment were less resistant to persuasion. The interaction between need for closure and informational base was replicated in the 3rd experiment reverting to the individual-differences measure of need for closure. The discussion considered implications of these findings for further persuasion phenomena.

Motivated augmentation and reduction of the overattribution bias.

Three experiments investigated whether the need to have (or avoid) cognitive closure affects observers' tendency to display attributional bias. Results of each experiment indicate that the overattribution bias was magnified under high need for cognitive closure and attenuated under high need to avoid closure. In Experiments 1 and 3, the relevant motivational state was manipulated situationally, whereas in Experiment 2 an individual-differences measure of the closure motivation was used. These divergent operationalizations yielded convergent results. Furthermore, when in Experiment 3 the task consisted of attributions to the situation, high need for closure augmented, and high need to avoid closure reduced, situational rather than dispositional overattributions. The results imply general motivational boundary conditions for inferential biases across judgmental contents.

Interactive Effects of Need for Closure and Initial Confidence on Social Information Seeking

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that need for closure interacts with initial confidence in determining the extent of information seeking. Specifically, we predicted that when initial confidence is high, the higher the need for closure the weaker the information seeking tendency. In contrast, when initial confidence is low, the higher the need for closure the stronger the information seeking tendency. The two studies described in this report differed in how they operationalized the need for closure. In Experiment 1, the relatively high need for closure assumed to be engendered by an unfamiliar task was lowered in one condition through instructions stressing the costs of inaccurate judgments. In Experiment 2, the need for closure was lowered in one condition through provision of a detailed guidance for task execution. In both studies initial confidence was manipulated via the number of choice alternatives presented to subjects. This number was two in the high confidence condition and four in the low c...

Contextual Effects in Hypothesis Testing: The Role of Competing Alternatives and Epistemic Motivations

Two experiments were executed to study how persons test hypotheses about others. Experiment 1 demonstrated that subjects can be sensitive to contextually presented alternatives to a given hypothesis. Subjects who addressed the hypotheses that an interviewee was an architect or a painter selected different information than did those who addressed the hypotheses that the interviewee was an architect or a computer engineer. In both cases, subjects' informational choices appeared guided by the principle of diagnosticity. Notably, they predominantly selected information whose diagnostic value with respect to the pertinent hypothesis-alternative pair was high rather than low. Experiment 2 demonstrated that subjects' sensitivity to a contextually mentioned alternative (architect) to a given target hypothesis (painter) may be affected by their motivational orientation. Subjects with a high need for openness (as manipulated by high fear of invalidity) and low need for closure were more likely to seek diagnostic information demarcating the hypothesis from the alternative than subjects with a high need for closure and low fear of invalidity. Thus, the present research highlights the subjective determinants of information diagnosticity: It suggests that diagnosticity may depend on the cognitive context of hypothesis testing (the type of alternatives juxtaposed to a target hypothesis), and on individuals' epistemic motivations, which may affect their sensitivity to contextually suggested hypotheses.