Predicting Everyday Life Behavior by Direct and Indirect Measures of Need for Cognition

Abstract. Need for Cognition (NFC) as the intrinsic motivation to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive endeavors has been a useful predictor of dispositional differences in information processing and task performance in experimental settings. In order to explore the role of NFC in everyday life behavior and to further validate the NFC-IAT, we examined the effects of directly and indirectly assessed NFC on self-reported behavior in a broad variety of situations in daily life where the engagement and joy of thinking could play a role. Accordingly, 95 participants were interviewed with a structured interview about everyday life situations, and direct and indirect measures of NFC were obtained. Both, directly and indirectly assessed NFC independently predicted NFC-related behavior, indicating that the combination of both measures results in a more comprehensive prediction of self-reported behavior. Our results show that NFC can be a helpful predictor of behavior not only concerning academic performance or in experimental paradigms, but also in everyday life.