Need for Closure Effects on Interpersonal Phenomena

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9417422 Nine experiments will be executed over a three year period. They test predictions of a motivated social cognition model in which a major role is accorded the need for cognitive closure (Kruglanski, 1990). The need for closure represents a desire for firm knowledge. Its effects on social cognition are assumed to be mediated by two broad tendencies, toward immediacy and security of gratification. The immediacy-tendency implies the inclination, under heightened need for closure to "seize" on early hypotheses, and the security tendency to "freeze" upon them and stay relatively impervious to subsequent information. The proposed research applies the model to three major issues at the interpersonal level of analysis: persuasion, social perception accuracy and communication. Accordingly, three thematic projects are devoted respectively to these problem areas. Project 1 includes three experiments on the process whereby individuals under high (versus low) need for closure are persuaded by, and persuade, others. Project 2 includes three experiments testing various aspects of the hypothesis that need for closure may in some conditions increase the accuracy of social perception as well as the extent to which individuals with such need are accurately perceived by others. Project 3 includes three studies testing need for closure effects on communicators' tendency to take into account the conversational context of social discourse and audience characteristics. The methodological approach in the present research adopts the principle of multiple operationalism in assessing or manipulating the need for closure. Accordingly, need for closure will be (1) assessed as an individual difference dimension, and manipulated via (2) environmental noise, (3) task attractiveness, (4) mental fatigue and (5) accuracy instructions. The major significance of the project lies in exploring how the process of motivated social cognition, affected by diverse situational conditions and personality tendencies, may impact fund amental social psychological phenomena as persuasion social perception accuracy, and communication. This research explores the way various stressors pervasively present in contemporary urban settings affect individuals judgment and decision making processes. Furthermore, because judgment and decision making typically occur in social interaction contexts those stressors may indirectly affect the way individuals interact with each other. Generally, it is assumed that the various stressors induce a tendency toward closed-mindedness, referred to here as the "need for cognitive closure". The major stressors assessed in the present project will be (1) environmental noise, (2) mental fatigue, (3) boredom and dullness of tasks. Individuals' stable tendency toward close-mindedness will also be assessed via a scale developed especially for this purpose. Finally, we shall investigate the degree to which the inclination toward close mindedness can be counteracted by the goal of accuracy in judgment. The research will investigate three interpersonal processes from the need for closure perspective: persuasion, social perception and communication. It promises to identify the environmental conditions that limit the efficacy of judgment and decision making in social contexts, hence to point to possible ameliorating conditions for carrying out these activities.