Two routes to closure: Time pressure and goal activation effects on executive control

In the present study the impact of need for cognitive closure (NFC) manipulations via time pressure and explicit closure goal activation on executive control was investigated. Although there is some evidence that NFC, measured as an individual variable, is related to better performing in attentional tasks involving executive control, these results have never been validated across different manipulations of NFC. Thus, in the present study we induced NFC via internal and external time pressure and tested the impact of these manipulations on the performance in tasks that measure executive control, i.e., the Stroop and switching tasks. The results revealed that induced high (vs. low) NFC, indeed boosted performance in executive control tasks. Moreover, there was no difference in the effect of both NFC manipulations on task performance. The implications regarding the role of executive control and specific NFC manipulations in social cognition are discussed.