FURTHER VALIDATION OF THE SHORT FORM OF THE NEED FOR COGNITION SCALE

Summary.-This research examined the validity of the short form of the Need for Cognition Scale. Contrary to expectation, the scale was not related to private self-consciousness or a self-directed problem-solving strategy. Consistent with expectation, however, the scale was related to preferences for various activities, both intellectual and social, that reflect an underlying need for cognition. These results are seen as supporting the validity of the short form of the scale. Cadoppo and Petty (1) developed a "need for cognition" scale designed to assess differences in the desire to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activities. Research with the scale has tended to support its validity (1, 3). Later, a short form (2) which has impressive convergent validity with the full version (r= .95) and excellent reliability estimated by theta of .90 (2) was developed. As relatively little work has been done with this version, the present research was designed to address this deficit. People high in need for cognition should be "thinkers" who enjoy mental activities and have high need to understand. Based on this rationale, we expected scores on the short form of the scale to correlate positively with a measure of individual differences in tendencies toward introspection, self-reflection, and a general awareness of one's inner thoughts, the Private self-consciousness scale (4). We also predicted that scores on the short form would correlate positively with a measure of self-directed religious problem-solving style (5), i.e., a problem-solving approach which emphasizes personal freedom from God, agency, and active coping. The present study also addressed relatively neglected research on validity with the Need for Cognition Scale: behavior and activity preferences. If the short form is a valid measure of tendencies toward the enjoyment of cognition, then the scale should correlate in predicted ways with measures of intellectual and social activities that differ in their cognitive requirements. The present research developed a questionnaire requesting people to imagine themselves in six different situations, a waiting room with magazines, a library (only nonfiction book options were provided), a gift certificate for a bookstore (fiction books), selecting a movie to rent, watching TV, and a free weekend without studying (choice among various social activities). A final section asked for a global ranking of the previous six activities (e.g., magazines, movies, etc.). To convey more dearly the stimulus materials, the first situation is presented in detail. This situation stated "Imagine you are in a waiting room and there are many people ahead of you. Please rank order the following magazines in the order you would be most likely to look at them to occupy your time." The choices were: GQ or Mademoiselle, Newsweek, Psychology Today, Omni, National Inquirer, and Scientific American. Within each of the six vicarious situations, subjects were asked to rank order their preferences for the activities specified. It was predicted that scores on the short form would be positively correlated with preferences for high need for cognition activities in each of the six situations, as well as in the global category.'