Editing Closure (psychology) (section)

==Need for Closure Scale==
The need for closure in [[social psychology]] is thought to be a fairly stable dispositional characteristic that can, nonetheless, be affected by situational factors.  The Need for Closure Scale (NFCS) was developed by [[Arie W. Kruglanski|Arie Kruglanski]], Donna Webster, and Adena Klem in 1993 and is designed to operationalize this construct and is presented as a unidimensional instrument possessing strong discriminant and predictive validity.<ref name="Neuberg">{{cite journal | last1 = Neuberg |first1= S. L. |last2= Judice | first2 = T. |last3= West |first3 = S. G. | date = June 1997 |title=What the Need for Closure Scale measures and what it does not: Toward differentiating among related epistemic motives |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume= 72 |issue= 6 | pages = 1396–1412 |doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.72.6.1396}}</ref>

People who score high on the need for closure scale are more likely to exhibit impression [[primacy effect]]s to correspondence bias, make stereotypical judgments, assimilate new information to existing, active beliefs, and, in the presence of prior information, resist persuasion.<ref name="Neuberg" />{{failed verification|date=April 2020}} Someone rating low on need for closure will express more ideational fluidity and creative acts.<ref name= Chirumbolo2004>{{cite journal | last1=Chirumbolo |first1=A. |last2=Livi | first2 =S. |last3= Mannetti |first3= L. | last4 = Pierro |first4 = A. |last5 = Kruglanski | first5 =A. |date=June 2004 | title =Effects of Need for Closure on Creativity in Small Group Interactions | journal =European Journal of Personality | volume =18 |issue=4 |pages=265–78 |doi = 10.1002/per.518|s2cid=144190667 }}</ref>  Items on the scale include statements such as "I think that having clear rules and order at work is essential to success," and "I do not like situations that are uncertain." Items such as "Even after I've made up my mind about something, I am always eager to consider a different opinion," and "I like to have friends who are unpredictable" are reverse scored.<ref name= Kruglanski1993>{{cite journal |last1= Kruglanski |first1= A. W. | last2 = Webster |first2=D. M. |last3=Klem | first3 =A |date=November 1993 |title = Motivated resistance and openness to persuasion in the presence or absence of prior information |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=65 |issue=5 | pages =861–76 |pmid=8246114 |doi = 10.1037/0022-3514.65.5.861}}</ref>

Composed of 42 items, the scale has been used in numerous research studies and has been translated into multiple languages. Although Webster and Kruglanski (1994) treated the Need for Closure Scale as unidimensional (i.e., as measuring a single factor), the scale actually contains two orthogonal factors, decisiveness and need for structure. Thus, using a total scale score can overlook effects for each factor and complicate interpretations.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Stalder |first= D. R | date= April 2012 | title = Investigation of the two-factor model for the English version of the Need for Closure Scale | journal = Psychological Reports | volume=110 |issue= 2 |pages = 598–606 | doi = 10.2466/03.09.20.PR0.110.2.598-606 |pmid = 22662413|s2cid= 8345812 }}</ref> In 2007, Roets and Van Hiel tried to resolve this issue by revising the scale so it would measure only one thing.  They came up with a set of new decisiveness items that provided a viable alternative for the old Decisiveness subscale of the NFCS, which was poorly related to the other NFCS facet scales and had questionable validity. The new items were developed with explicit reference to decisiveness but formulated in such a way that they relate to the need rather than to the ability to decide.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roets |first1= A. |last2= Van Hiel | first2 = A |date = February 2007 | title = Separating ability from need: Clarifying the dimensional structure of the need for closure scale |journal= Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |volume=33 | issue =2 |pages=266–80 |doi = 10.1177/0146167206294744|pmid= 17259586 |s2cid= 34733882 }}</ref> In 2011, Roets and Van Hiel created an abridged and empirically validated NFC scale consisting of only 15 items from the original NFC.

NFCS items correlate positively with [[authoritarianism]], intolerance of ambiguity, [[dogmatism]], need for order and [[structure]] and negatively with cognitive complexity and [[impulse (psychology)|impulsivity]], among several other cognitive tools and personality traits.<ref name = "Webster, D. 1994" />

High NFC scores consistently correlate with items on the C-Scale (conservatism) as well as other measures of political and social conservatism.<ref>Jost, Kruglanski et al 2003, Political Conservatism As Motivated Social Cognition</ref>