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Motivated closing of the mind: “Seizing” and “freezing”
Abstract
A theoretical framework is outlined in which the key construct is the need for (nonspecific) cognitive closure. The need for closure is a desire for definite knowledge on some issue. It represents a dimension of stable individual differences as well as a situationally evocable state. The need for closure has widely ramifying consequences for social-cognitive phenomena at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and group levels of analysis. Those consequences derive from 2 general tendencies, those of urgency and performance. The urgency tendency represents an individual's inclination to attain closure as soon as possible, and the permanence tendency represents an individual's inclination to maintain it for as long as possible. Empirical evidence for present theory attests to diverse need for closure effects on fundamental social psychological phenomena, including impression formation, stereotyping, attribution, persuasion, group decision making, and language use in intergroup contexts.
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“the default mindset of most adults is a relatively inactive state where the past unduly influences the present (e.g., Hart et al., 2009; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996).”
From Psychological flexibility as a fundamental aspect of health (2010) · cites this paper as Kruglanski & Webster, 1996
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“Participants high and low in need for closure (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996) may differ in their propensity to behavioral priming effects.”
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“The construct of need for cognitive closure has had an elaborate theoretical foundation (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996; Webster & Kruglanski, 1998), and the NFCS was found to predict a wide range of important socialcognitive processes in well-controlled experimental settings (see the review by Webster…”
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BackgroundAt “Permanent Risk”: Reasoning and Self‐Knowledge in Self‐Deception
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“Our specific interest in this regard is in a motivational variable of demonstrated relevance to hypothesis-testing, the need for cognitive closure (Kruglanski, 1989; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialSelf-citationNeed and Ability to Achieve Closure: Relationships with symptoms of psychopathology
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“The need for closure is defined as the desire for a quick and firm answer to a question and the aversion toward ambiguity or uncertainty (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996).”
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“Although people’s need for cognitive closure and their intolerance of ambiguity have been thought of as similar concepts (Iannello et al., 2017; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996), the results here confirm the discriminant validity of these concepts as being distinct.”
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“Participants completed the 15-item Need For Closure scale (α = .82) to measure the extent to which the desire for cognitive resolution motivates decision making (Kruglanski, 1990; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996; Roets & Van Hiel, 2011).”
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“The Need for Closure concept was introduced to develop a theoretical framework for inter-individual differences in this cognitive-motivational aspect of decision making (Kruglanski, 1990; Kruglanski and Webster, 1996).”
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“Time famine is detrimental to work performance, especially for creative and innovative processes, as it requires to reduce ambiguity and create certainty [8,9,54,55].”
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“In two computer-mediated negotiation experiments and a field study among managers of various companies, they found that the interpersonal effects of anger were moderated by the need for cognitive closure (a personality characteristic that influences information processing tendencies; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996; Webste…”
BackgroundBasic Trust and Posttraumatic Growth in Oncology Patients
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“It reminds Kruglanski's conceptualization of “seizing” instead of “freezing” as a tendency to new situations (Kruglanski & Webster 1996 ).”
BackgroundPunctuated incongruity: A new approach to managing trade-offs between conformity and deviation
Patil, S. V., & Tetlock, P. E. (2014) · Research in Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.riob.2014.08.002 · Cited by 23
Raglan, G. B., Babush, M., Farrow, V. A., Kruglanski, A. W., & Schulkin, J. A. (2014) · BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · doi:10.1186/s12911-014-0122-6 · Cited by 23
“Need for cognitive closure (NFCC) is a “desire for definite knowledge on some issue [5]”.”
BackgroundSelf-citationThe Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Dynamics of Self-Regulation in the Leadership Process
Sassenberg, K., & Hamstra, M. R. W. (2016) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2016.08.001 · Cited by 24
Meaning in life among Korean college students based on emotionality and tolerance of uncertainty
Garrison, Y. L., & Lee, K. (2017) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.02.044 · Cited by 24
“Studies show that low tolerance of uncertainty is correlated with the need for cognitive closure (Berenbaum, Bredemeier, & Thompson, 2008; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996).”
BackgroundSankaran, S., Szumowska, E., & Kossowska, M. (2017) · Motivation and Emotion · doi:10.1007/s11031-017-9613-y · Cited by 23
“Thus, the typical effects of NFC, such as a less extensive search for information, limited number of generated hypotheses, primacy effect in impression formation, numerical anchoring, or preference for quick decisionmaking (Kruglanski and Webster 1996) were usually interpreted as a general reluctance to invest effort…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialHow Conspiracy Theories Spread
DeWitt, D., Atkinson, M., & Wegner, D. (2018) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190844073.003.0021 · Cited by 24
Political ideology and compensatory control mechanisms
de Leon, R. P., & Kay, A. C. (2020) · Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.cobeha.2020.02.013 · Cited by 23
Paradoxical thinking as a paradigm of attitude change in the context of intractable conflict
Bar‐Tal, D., Hameiri, B., & Halperin, E. (2021) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/bs.aesp.2020.11.003 · Cited by 23
How Good Are Fast and Frugal Heuristics?
Gigerenzer, G., Czerlinski, J., & Martignon, L. F. (2002) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511808098.033 · Cited by 24
Kemmelmeier, M. (2010) · International Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1080/00207591003587705 · Cited by 23
Velden, F. S. T., Beersma, B., & Dreu, C. K. W. D. (2009) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.2009.27.3.437 · Cited by 23
Reactions to an offense in relation to authoritarianism, knowledge about risk, and freedom of action
Feather, N. T., Boeckmann, R. J., & McKee, I. (2001) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.35 · Cited by 23
Bar‐Tal, D., & Halperin, E. (2014) · International Journal of Social Psychology Revista de Psicología Social · doi:10.1080/02134748.2013.878568 · Cited by 30
“…conflict tend to search and absorb information that validates the societal beliefs of the repertoire while ignoring and omitting contradictory information (Halperin & Bar-Tal, 2011; Kelman, 2007; Kruglanski, 2004; Kruglanski & Webster, 1996; Kunda, 1990; Porat, Halperin, & Bar-Tal, in press).”
BackgroundInfluentialUncertainty and Ambiguity in Health Decisions
Han, P. K. J. (2016) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-3486-7_10 · Cited by 22
Why life speeds up: Chunking and the passage of autobiographical time
Landau, M. J., Arndt, J., Swanson, T., & Bultmann, M. N. (2017) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2017.1308878 · Cited by 22
“For example, individual and situational variation in need for structured knowledge (Neuberg & Newsom, 1993) or elevated needs for epistemic closure (Kruglanski & Webster, 1996) should lead people to seize on simple interpretations of their experiences – that is, interpretations that are easily…”
BackgroundAymes, G. L., Acuña, S. R., & Villegas, G. O. (2020) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su12187670 · Cited by 32
“Kruglanski and colleagues found that stress often induces a need for closure that inhibits the flow of ideas, a critical component of creative thinking [47].”
BackgroundBar‐Tal, D., Vered, S., & Fuxman, S. (2020) · Political Psychology · doi:10.1111/pops.12687 · Cited by 34
Metadata
- Authors
- Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- ORCID
- Kruglanski, Arie W.
- Venue
- Psychological Review
- Published
- 1996-04
- Volume
- 103
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 263-283
- ISSN
- 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1471
- OpenAlex
- W1994106556
- Cited by
- 2,379
- References
- 87
- Citations by year
- 2026: 105 · 2025: 104 · 2024: 75 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 110 · 2021: 130 · 2020: 150 · 2019: 96 · 2018: 135 · 2017: 107 · 2016: 98 · 2015: 92 · 2014: 107 · 2013: 88 · 2012: 108
- FWCI
- 80.97
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh052578-05, 5k05mh001213-03)
- National Institute of Mental Health (1R01 MH 52578, KO5/MH01213)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychology of Social Influence
- Keywords
- need for closure, cognitive closure, impression formation, stereotyping, attribution, persuasion, group decision making, individual differences, social cognition
- MeSH terms
- Cognition, Decision Making, Humans, Intelligence, Language, Personality
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