Epistemic Motivation and Groups’ Reaction to Change: Effects of Need for Cognitive Closure on Norms Transmissions in a Laboratory Micro-culture

Epistemic Motivation and Groups’ Reaction to Change: Effects of Need for Cognitive Closure on Norms Transmissions in a Laboratory Micro-Culture Stefano Livi (stefano.livi@uniroma1.it), Lucia Mannetti, (lucia.mannetti@uniroma1.it) Antonio Pierro (antonio.pierro@uniroma1.it) Department of Social and Development Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza” Via dei Marsi, 78, 00183, Roma, Italy Arie W. Kruglanski (arie@psyc.umd.edu) Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA David A. Kenny (kenny@uconnvm.uconn.edu) Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269-1020 Moreover, need for closure can also represent a stable individual disposition. In fact, some individuals may display a systematic proclivity to value closure positively, while, on the other hand, some others may be predisposed to avoid closure and prefer openness (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994). Consequences of need for closure are to be found in the urgency and permanence tendencies. The urgency tendency refers to the inclination to quickly seize on closure, relying on early cues and first answers despite their validity. The permanence tendency reflects the propensity to freeze on existing knowledge in order to preserve past and future cognition. Need for closure has both cognitive and social consequences, as the urgency and the permanency tendencies affect a wide range of psychosocial phenomena mediated by information processing at individual, interpersonal and group level (for a review see Kruglanski, 1996; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996; Webster & Kruglanski, 1998). Abstract The role of need for cognitive closure (NCC, Kruglanski, 1989, 2004) plays in the transmission of a group norm is studied applying the Jacobs and Campbell's (1961) experimental generation paradigm. It is hypothesized that the permanence tendency, linked to an high Need of Cognitive Closure produces a greater resistance to change of experimentally induced group norms. Two studies were conducted on a total of 320 participants In the first, NCC was induced with noise of the environment in which task is performed (vs. control condition without noise), in second study NCC was measured with the NCC Scale, Italian version, and an high score of participants (vs. control condition represented by participants with low score) is used. Results showed that participants in condition of high NCC (both experimentally induced and measured) change less, through generations, the experimentally induced norm, and that this effect is produced by the conformity of the newcomers of each generation. Instroduction Within the framework of Lay Epistemology Theory (Kruglanski, 1989), Need for Cognitive Closure was defined as a desire for a quick firm answer (any answer) to a question (Webster & Kruglanski, 1998). from this point of view, the term “need” is used to indicate a motivational tendency or an inclination, rather than a tissue deficit, that is function of an individual weight of costs and benefits of a closure (or a lack of closure) of the epistemic process (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996). Need for closure can be situationally induced or represent a stable trait of individual difference, and varies along a continuum of motivation of closure, ranging from an high need to obtain closure to a strong need to avoid closure. The antecedents of the epistemic motivation towards a non specific closure can be found in those circumstances that highlight the perceived benefits and reduce the perceived costs of closure. Those contextual factors are for instance time pressure, environmental noise, mental fatigue, boredom or dullness of a cognitive task. By contrast, the need to avoid closure may be instilled in those conditions that stress the costs of closure and the benefits of a lack of closure (i.e. accountability, fear of invalidity, evaluation apprehension). Overview of the Studies and Hypotheses. In social group context, permanence tendency assumed to be induced by a heightened need for closure implies that groups experiencing such a need would be unlikely to change and so would remain relatively stable across shifting circumstances. This hypothesis was tested in two studies using generations design (Jacobs & Campbell, 1961; Kenny, Hallmark, Sullivan, Kashy, 1993) to investigate need for closure effects on stability of individual behavior, conformity to the group norms, and persistence of norms across generations. Stability of group norms across shifts in membership relatively sparse research attention from social psychologists (Kenny et al., 1993; Nielsen & Miller, 1997). The few extant studies of this phenomenon demonstrate that an arbitrary norm may exhibit some stability (Jacobs & Campbell, 1961), inversely related to the norm’s degree of arbitrariness, that is, deviation from members’ own inclinations (MacNeil & Sherif, 1981), and effortfulness of maintenance (Weick & Gilfillan, 1971). Those findings imply that member motivations (e.g., follow own inclinations or the desire to save effort) may constitute an important underlying factor of