Person-task fit: Emotional consequences of performing divergent versus convergent thinking tasks depend on need for cognitive closure

Abstract

We investigated how people high (vs. low) in the Need for Cognitive Closure (NFC) experience working on divergent and convergent thinking tasks. Based on the notion of person-task fit we hypothesized that individuals high in NFC (but not those low in NFC) would feel less competent when solving divergent (vs. convergent) thinking tasks, because, being open-ended, divergent thinking tasks do not offer closure. We also predicted that, consequently, high NFC individuals would experience less positive emotions and more negative emotions when performing a divergent (vs. convergent) thinking task. To test this idea, we measured NFC among participants (N = 549) from five European countries and asked these participants to complete a divergent (vs. convergent) thinking task and to appraise their own competence and emotions. Participants high in NFC (but not these low in NFC) felt less competent and experienced less positive and more negative emotions when solving a divergent (vs. convergent) thinking task. The association between task type and emotions was mediated by perceived competence but only for participants high in NFC.

Correlation between the Need for Cognitive Closure and Narrative Creativity in Secondary Education

“…Wronska et al [ 16 ] pointed to the importance of creativity in the psychological phenomena of people and highlighted the importance of creativity in the life of each person. Their study showed that participants high in NFC were less competent and felt more negative emotions when solving the divergent character tasks.…”

The Effect of Thinking Actively in a Social Context and Creative Problem-Solving Learning Models on Divergent-Thinking Skills Viewed from Adversity Quotient

“…Divergentthinking skills are one of the competencies that can be developed. Divergent thinking is the ability to find varied answers or solutions to a problem (Wronska et al, 2018). The skills are recognized as part of creativity in the formation and renewal of unique, original, and unreasonable ideas (Alfonso & Romo, 2016;Antink & Lederman, 2015).…”

Multivariate morphological brain signatures enable individualized prediction of dispositional need for closure

“…Second, NFC scales with emotional distress in both general populations (Berenbaum et al, 2008 ) and clinical populations with anxiety disorders (Freeman et al, 2006 ). For instance, self-reports of distress feelings, as well as cardiovascular measures (e.g., systolic blood pressure and heart rate), are increased in proportion with dispositional NFC in the decision-making processes (Wronska et al, 2019 ). Similarly, individuals scoring higher in the NFC experience more negative affect when they encounter an inconsistent (vs. consistent) cognition, regardless of whether the ultimate outcome is positive or negative (Di Santo et al, 2020 ; Wronska et al, 2019 ).…”