Need for Cognition and External Information Search: Responses to Time Pressure during Decision-Making

Abstract

The relationship between need for cognition (a motivation to engage in thinking and cognitive endeavors), time pressure, and predecisional external information search was experimentally investigated, using an information display board paradigm. Under time pressure, subjects accelerated processing, and reported less confidence in their decision. Low-need-for-cognition (NC) subjects expended less cognitive effort to the task than did high-NC subjects, as was indicated by cognitive responses and self-reports. Differences in search strategy in response to time pressure were found only among subjects low in need for cognition and not among high-NC subjects. Under time pressure low-NC subjects, compared to unpressured low-NC subjects, exhibited search strategies that are more variable in amount of information assessed across alternatives, indicating the use of more heuristic strategies.