Arie W. Kruglanski
PERSONALITY SCALES
The Need For Closure Scale (NFCS)
Need for closure is the desire for certainty. The need for closure scale measures the degree to which a person has that desire. People who obtain high scores on this scale value order, dislike ambiguity, make decisions, and form impressions quickly and have strong opinions.
The original NFCS was developed and published in 1994 by Webster and Kruglanski. An updated version of the NFCS, was published in 2007 by Roets and Van Hiel.
PLEASE NOTE: When reporting results both scales need to be referenced.
Webster, D. M., & Kruglanski, A. W. (1994). Individual differences in need for cognitive closure. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 67(6), 1049–1062.
Roets, A., & Van Hiel, A. (2007). Separating ability from need: Clarifying the dimensional structure of the need for closure scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 33(2), 266-280.
The NFCS comes in two versions: a full 41 item questionnaire and a short 15 item questionnaire.
The NFCS can be computed as a total NFC score by adding all the items. It is also possible to derive sub-scale scores for each of the five sub-scales, by summing up items according to their sub scale designation. The designations are indicates as as follows:
‘a’— measure the need for order,
‘b’ –- measure the need for predictability,
‘c’— measure decisiveness,
‘d’— measure avoidance of ambiguity,
‘e’— measure closed mindedness.