Need for Cognition Scale — Short Form

What it measures

Measures the tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity. High need for cognition individuals spontaneously engage in elaborative thinking, seek out complex information, and process messages centrally rather than peripherally. Central to the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) of persuasion. The NCS-18 is the 18-item short form of the original 34-item Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982); it was developed by Cacioppo, Petty, and Kao (1984) to provide a briefer measure suitable for surveys where the full 34-item version is impractical. It retains the same unidimensional structure and shows high convergent validity with the full scale (r > .95 in most samples). Use the NCS-18 when brevity is required; use the full 34-item NCS (see NFC, ID 444) when maximum reliability is needed or when the scale is a primary construct of interest.

Response format

Likert (1–5 or -2 to +2); total derived from sum of all items

Scale items

• I would prefer complex to simple problems. (R in reverse-scored form: 'I would prefer simple to complex problems')
• I like to have the responsibility of handling a situation that requires a lot of thinking.
• Thinking is not my idea of fun. (R)
• I would rather do something that requires little thought than something that is sure to challenge my thinking abilities. (R)
• I try to anticipate and avoid situations where there is likely a chance I will have to think in depth about something. (R)
• I find satisfaction in deliberating hard and for long hours.
• I only think as hard as I have to. (R)
• I prefer to think about small, daily projects to long-term ones. (R)
• I like tasks that require little thought once I've learned them. (R)
• The idea of relying on thought to make my way to the top appeals to me.
• I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems.
• Learning new ways to think doesn't excite me very much. (R)
• I prefer my life to be filled with puzzles that I must solve.
• The notion of thinking abstractly is appealing to me.
• I would prefer a task that is intellectual, difficult, and important to one that is somewhat important but does not require much thought.
• I feel relief rather than satisfaction after completing a task that required a lot of mental effort. (R)
• It's enough for me that something gets the job done; I don't care how or why it works. (R)
• I usually end up deliberating about issues even when they do not personally affect me.

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

(R)=reverse-scored. Freely available. Higher score = greater need for cognition. The 18-item short form (NCS-18) derived from the original 34-item NCS (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982). Widely used as an individual difference moderator in persuasion, attitude change, and information processing research. Central to ELM research.

Recommended companion scales

Citation

Cacioppo, J.T., Petty, R.E., & Kao, C.F. (1984). The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48(3), 306–307.

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