The Highs and the Lows of Life: The Moderating Role of Need for Cognitive Closure on Affective Well-Being
Year: 2023
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Research shows that individuals experience divergent affective well-being even when they experience similar major events. However, what fuels such differences are largely unexplored. Drawing from the theory of the need for cognitive closure (NFC), we theorize and test whether individuals NFC, which captures seizing and freezing on salient information to reach a fast conclusion, intensifies the effect of major events on their affective well-being. Across three studies (total N = 2,399), we provide converging evidence that supports our theoretical claim. Specifically, we found that individuals with higher NFC predicted (Study 1) or recalled (Study 2) their affective well-being to be more heavily influenced by major events than those with lower NFC. Lastly, we further substantiated our findings by utilizing a six-week longitudinal data collected around the 20th presidential election in South Korea (Study 3): the amplified influence of the event on affective well-being was prolonged for four weeks after the election for those with higher NFC. Findings are discussed based on the concept of NFC and its contribution to the study of well-being and major events.
Author: 차승은
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7066469075