The need for closure and the spontaneous use of complex and simple cognitive structures.

Journal of Social Psychology, The, October, 2003 by Mervielde, Ivan; Van Hiel, Alain

The authors performed 2 experiments that explored the causal role of need for closure in producing the use of simple structures. In particular, the authors gave the participants a cue that called for a complex or a simple solution on a cognitive complexity task. The authors created the participants' need for closure through the use of time pressure. The results of both experiments revealed that participants only generated complex solutions in the complex cue-no time pressure condition. The discussion is focused on the effects of need for closure in tasks calling for adaptive and spontaneous flexibility.

Key words: cognitive complexity, flexibility, need for closure, need for structure, time pressure

NEED FOR CLOSURE theory (Kruglanski, 1989; Kruglanski &...

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