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Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University

Previous research has shown that Need for Cognition (NFC), the individual tendency to engage in and enjoy cognitive endeavors, contributes to academic performance. Most studies on NFC and related constructs have thereby focused on grades to capture tertiary academic success. This study aimed at a mo...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Grass, Julia, Strobel, Alexander, Strobel, Anja
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5432647/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28559876
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00790
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author Grass, Julia
Strobel, Alexander
Strobel, Anja
author_facet Grass, Julia
Strobel, Alexander
Strobel, Anja
author_sort Grass, Julia
collection PubMed
description Previous research has shown that Need for Cognition (NFC), the individual tendency to engage in and enjoy cognitive endeavors, contributes to academic performance. Most studies on NFC and related constructs have thereby focused on grades to capture tertiary academic success. This study aimed at a more comprehensive approach on NFC's meaning to success in university. We examined not only performance but also rather affective indicators of success. The current sample consisted of 396 students of different subjects with a mean age of 24 years (139 male). All participants took part in an online survey that assessed NFC together with school performance and further personality variables via self-report. Success in university was comprehensively operationalized including performance, satisfaction with one's studies, and thoughts about quitting/changing one's major as indicators. The value of NFC in predicting tertiary academic success was examined with correlation analyses and path analysis. NFC significantly correlated with all success variables with the highest correlation for study satisfaction. Path analysis confirmed the importance of NFC for study satisfaction showing that NFC had a significant direct effect on study satisfaction and via this variable also a significant indirect effect on termination thoughts. This study clearly indicates that NFC broadly contributes to the mastery of academic requirements and that it is worthwhile to intensify research on NFC in the context of tertiary education.
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spelling pubmed-54326472017-05-30 Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University Grass, Julia Strobel, Alexander Strobel, Anja Front Psychol Psychology Previous research has shown that Need for Cognition (NFC), the individual tendency to engage in and enjoy cognitive endeavors, contributes to academic performance. Most studies on NFC and related constructs have thereby focused on grades to capture tertiary academic success. This study aimed at a more comprehensive approach on NFC's meaning to success in university. We examined not only performance but also rather affective indicators of success. The current sample consisted of 396 students of different subjects with a mean age of 24 years (139 male). All participants took part in an online survey that assessed NFC together with school performance and further personality variables via self-report. Success in university was comprehensively operationalized including performance, satisfaction with one's studies, and thoughts about quitting/changing one's major as indicators. The value of NFC in predicting tertiary academic success was examined with correlation analyses and path analysis. NFC significantly correlated with all success variables with the highest correlation for study satisfaction. Path analysis confirmed the importance of NFC for study satisfaction showing that NFC had a significant direct effect on study satisfaction and via this variable also a significant indirect effect on termination thoughts. This study clearly indicates that NFC broadly contributes to the mastery of academic requirements and that it is worthwhile to intensify research on NFC in the context of tertiary education. Frontiers Media S.A. 2017-05-16 /pmc/articles/PMC5432647/ /pubmed/28559876 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00790 Text en Copyright © 2017 Grass, Strobel and Strobel. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Grass, Julia
Strobel, Alexander
Strobel, Anja
Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University
title Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University
title_full Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University
title_fullStr Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University
title_full_unstemmed Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University
title_short Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University
title_sort cognitive investments in academic success: the role of need for cognition at university
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5432647/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28559876
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00790
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