How Much Do You Need a Clear Answer?
Order, predictability, quick decisions and the itch of an open question
Some people can leave a question open for weeks; others feel a pull to settle it now, almost any answer being better than none. Psychologists call that pull the need for cognitive closure, and it shapes far more than taste in planning: how fast you judge people, how you react to a change of plan, and how willing you are to reopen a decision once it is made. This test measures its five facets separately.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about your ordinary days, not about crises - almost everyone wants certainty when something serious is at stake.
What it measures
The five facets of the Need for Closure Scale: preference for order, preference for predictability, decisiveness, discomfort with ambiguity and closed-mindedness. It is not need for cognition, which is about enjoying thinking, and not a decision style: it is the motive to reach an answer and keep it.
Based on: Need for Closure Scale (Webster & Kruglanski, 1994; 15-item version by Roets & Van Hiel, 2011)
Possible results
Order
How much you want structure in your surroundings and your days.
Predictability
How much you want to know what is coming.
Decisiveness
How quickly and easily you commit to a choice.
Discomfort with ambiguity
How much an unanswered or unclear question bothers you.
Closed-mindedness
How reluctant you are to reopen a view once you hold it.
Common questions
Is need for closure the opposite of need for cognition?
No, though they are modestly related. Need for cognition is about enjoying effortful thinking; need for closure is about wanting an answer and keeping it. A person can love thinking hard and still want every question settled quickly, or dislike puzzles and be perfectly relaxed about leaving things open.
Does need for closure change with circumstances?
Yes, and this is one of the best-documented findings. Kruglanski's experiments raised it temporarily with time pressure, noise and fatigue, and lowered it by making people accountable for getting things right. So a high score can partly reflect a tired, rushed period of your life rather than a fixed trait.
Is a high need for closure a bad thing?
Not in itself. It helps people act, plan and finish things, and many jobs reward it. The research warns about two specific effects - seizing on the first plausible answer and freezing on it afterwards - which lead to snap judgements and stereotyping. Knowing you lean this way lets you slow down on the decisions where being wrong is expensive.
Sources
- Webster, D. M., & Kruglanski, A. W. (1994). Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1049
- Roets, A., & Van Hiel, A. (2011). Item selection and validation of a brief, 15-item version of the Need for Closure Scale. Personality and Individual Differences. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.09.004
- Kruglanski, A. W., & Webster, D. M. (1996). Motivated closing of the mind: “Seizing” and “freezing”. Psychological Review. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.2.263
An honest note The items are Quinthea's own wording adapted from the Need for Closure Scale, so your scores are not comparable to its published norms. Researchers still debate whether need for closure is one trait or several: decisiveness in particular behaves differently from the other facets in several studies, which is why it was revised in later versions. Most samples were Western students, and preferences for order and predictability also depend on culture, workload and stress.