Need for cognition and cognitive performance from a cross-cultural perspective: Examples of academic success and solving anagrams

The cross-cultural validity of the Need for Cognition Scale and its relatio nship with cognitive performance were investigated in two studies. In the f irst study, the relationships between the scale and university entrance sco res, course grades, study skills, and social desirability were examined. Us ing the short form of the Turkish version of the Need for Cognition Scale ( S. Gulgoz & C. J. Sadowski, 1995) no correlation with academic performance was found but there was significant correlation with a study skills scale a nd a social desirability scale created for this study. When regression anal ysis was used to predict grade point average, the Need for Cognition Scale was a significant predictor. In the second study, participants low or high in need for cognition solved multiple-solution anagrams. The instructions p receding the task set the participants' expectations regarding task difficu lty. An interaction between expectation and need for cognition indicated th at participants with low need for cognition performed worse when they expec ted difficult problems. Results of the two studies showed that need for cog nition has cross-cultural validity and that its effect on cognitive perform ance was mediated by other variables.