Passionate Thinkers Feel Better
Self-Control Capacity as Mediator of the Relationship Between Need for Cognition and Affective Adjustment
Abstract
The present study tested a possible explanation for the positive relationship between the motivation to engage in cognitive endeavors (need for cognition, NFC) and indicators of affective adjustment (e.g., higher self-esteem, lower depression) that has been demonstrated in previous studies. We suggest that dispositional self-control capacity mediates this relationship, since NFC has been found to be related to self-control capacity, and self-control capacity is crucial for adjustment. NFC, dispositional self-control capacity, self-esteem, habitual depressive mood, and tendency to respond in a socially desirable manner were measured among 150 university students via self-report. Regression analyses and Sobel tests revealed that self-control capacity was a potential mediator of the positive relationship between NFC and affective adjustment. The findings were robust in terms of social desirability.
References
1986). The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.
(2002). Ego depletion and self-control failure: An energy model of the self’s executive function. Self and Identity, 1, 129–136.
(2006). Self-regulation and personality: How interventions increase regulatory success, and how depletion moderates the effects of traits on behavior. Journal of Personality, 74, 1773–1801.
(1994). Losing control: How and why people fail at self-regulation. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
(1998). Self-regulation as a key to success in life. In D. Pushkar W. M. Bukowski A. E. Schwartzman D. M. Stack D. R. White, Eds., Improving competence across the lifespan: Building interventions based on theory and research (pp. 27–36). New York: Plenum.
(2009a). High-school students’ need for cognition, self-control capacity, and school achievement: Testing a mediation hypothesis. Learning and Individual Differences, 19, 135–138.
(2009b). Messung dispositioneller Selbstkontroll-Kapazität: Eine deutsche Adaptation der Kurzform der Self-Control Scale (SCS-K-D) [
(Measuring dispositional self-control capacity: A German adaptation of the Brief Self-Control Scale (SCS-K-D) ]. Diagnostica, 55, 2–10.2010). University and school students’ motivation for effortful thinking: Factor structure, reliability, and validity of the German Need for Cognition Scale. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 26, 263–268.
(2011). On the relationship between need for cognition and self-control capacity. Manuscript submitted for publication.
(1994). Need for Cognition: Eine Skala zur Erfassung von Engagement und Freude bei Denkaufgaben [
(Need for cognition: A scale measuring engagement and happiness in cognitive tasks ]. Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie, 25, 147–154.1982). The need for cognition. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 42, 116–131.
(1996). Dispositional differences in cognitive motivation: The life and times of individuals varying in need for cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 119, 197–253.
(2003). Eine revidierte Fassung der deutschsprachigen Skala zum Selbstwertgefühl von Rosenberg [
(A revised version of the German adaptation of Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale ]. Zeitschrift für Differentielle und Diagnostische Psychologie, 24, 3–7.2005). Self-discipline outdoes IQ in predicting academic performance of adolescents. Psychological Science, 16, 939–944.
E. P. (1996). Individual differences in intuitive-experiential and analytical-rational thinking styles. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 390–405.
(2001). Self-control and accommodation in close relationships: An interdependence analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 263–277.
(2005). Parenting and adolescent externalizing and internalizing problems: The role of self-control. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 29, 58–69.
(2008). Unlocking the energy dynamics of executive functioning: Linking executive functioning to brain glycogen. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 3, 245–263.
(2007). Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 325–336.
(2006). Self-regulatory processes defend against the threat of death: Effects of self-control depletion and trait self-control on thoughts and fears of dying. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 49–62.
(1988). Some effects of the need for cognition on course grades. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 67, 175–178.
(2004). Measuring one component of dispositional self-regulation: Attention control in goal pursuit. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 555–566.
(2008). Toward a physiology of dual-process reasoning and judgment: Lemonade, willpower, and expensive rule-based analysis. Psychological Science, 19, 255–260.
(1984). Curiosity and need for cognition. Psychological Reports, 54, 71–74.
(1987). The convergent and discriminant validity of the need for cognition scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 51, 441–450.
(2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, 36, 717–731.
(2006). Academic underachievement: Relationship with cognitive motivation, achievement motivation, and conscientiousness. Psychology in the Schools, 43, 401–411.
(1995). Private self-consciousness factors, need for cognition, and depression. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 10, 431–443.
(2004). Self-regulatory strength. In R. F. Baumeister K. D. Vohs, Eds., Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 84–98). New York: Guilford.
(2003). Intellectual performance and ego depletion: Role of the self in logical reasoning and other information processing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 33–46.
(2002). Bericht über die deutsche Adaptation der State-Trait Depression Scales (STDS) [
(Report about the German adaptation of the State-Trait Depression Scales (STDS) ]. Diagnostica, 48, 80–89.1999). Die Soziale-Erwünschtheits-Skala-17 (SES-17): Entwicklung und erste Befunde zu Reliabilität und Validität [
(The Social Desirability Scale-17 (SDS-17): Development and first results on reliability and validity ]. Diagnostica, 45, 173–177.2007). Using multivariate statistics (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.
(2004). High self-control predicts good adjustment, less pathology, better grades, and interpersonal success. Journal of Personality, 72, 271–324.
(2005). Self-regulation and self-presentation: Regulatory resource depletion impairs impression management and effortful self-presentation depletes regulatory resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 88, 632–657.
(2004). Interpersonal functioning requires self-regulation. In R. F. Baumeister K. D. Vohs, Eds., Handbook of self-regulation: Research, theory, and applications (pp. 392–407). New York: Guilford.
(