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Abstract

In two samples, the total 34-item Need for Cognition scale (Cacioppo and Petty, 1982) and three subscales identified by Tanaka, Panter, and Winborne (1988) were intercorrelated and, in Study 1, correlated with gender, sex-role orientation, composite ACT, and cumulative grade point average. Coefficient alpha reliability estimates were consistent with previously reported values. The inter-correlations among the three subscales were generally in the .40 to .60 range and were consistent with the subscales being facets of a higher-order need for cognition construct. Osberg's (1987) finding that the 34-item Need for Cognition scale was related to masculine, but not feminine, sex-role orientation was replicated using a different measure of sex-role orientation. The subscales showed a similar pattern of relationships to sex-role orientation. The Need for Cognition total score had low, but significant, relationships to composite ACT and cumulative grade point average.

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References

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Correlates of Need for Cognition Total and Subscale Scores

Abstract

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