Definition
The Need for Closure (NFC) – defined as an individual’s desire for “an answer on a given topic, any answer … compared to confusion and ambiguity” (Kruglanski 1990, p. 337; see also Kruglanski and Webster 1996) – varies along a continuum with a strong need to attain closure at one end and a high need to avoid closure at the other end. Although NFC may be temporarily increased by situations (e.g., noise or time pressure), people also substantially differ in their chronic level of “dispositional closure.”
The Original Need for Closure Scale
To measure stable individual differences in NFC, Kruglanski developed the 42-item NFC scale (Kruglanski et al. 1993; Webster and Kruglanski 1994). The scale includes five facet scales representing various ways in which NFC expresses itself. Individuals high in dispositional NFC prefer order and structure while abhorring chaos and disorder in their lives. They also prefer predictability, desiring knowledge that is stable...
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Roets, A., Van Hiel, A. (2017). Need for Closure Scale. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_51-1
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