ABSTRACT
Webster and Kruglanski (1994) created the Need for Cognitive Closure (NFC) construct to describe and explain individual differences in the extent to which people aim for and achieve rm belief in order to reduce uncertainty and ambiguity. Research shows that the NFC inuences the way in which people create and use mental representations such as schemas, prototypes, and stereotypes, and determines the way that they think and feel about the social world and how they act within it (review in Kruglanski et al. 2009). Individuals with a high NFC prefer order, predictability, and decisions that are easy to make, and are usually close-minded, tending to feel discomfort when they encounter ambiguity. A high NFC promotes supercial analysis and leads people to search only for information that ts into their already existing belief structures. This results in a simplied picture of social situations, which is resistant to change and promotes the feeling that outcomes can be predicted and that all required information is available explicitly in their belief system. In contrast, a low NFC relates to a greater tolerance for ambiguity and creates the conditions for insightful and detailed analysis. People with a low NFC are open to new information and less likely to make rigid, unchanging, and nal judgments. They perceive any given situation as complex and move beyond stereotypes and already existing understandings in order to consider alternative interpretations that allow them to assimilate new information and adapt to changes.
