Grass Julia, Strobel Alexander, Strobel Anja
Personality Psychology and Assessment, Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of TechnologyChemnitz, Germany.
Differential and Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität DresdenDresden, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2017 May 16;8:790. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00790. eCollection 2017.
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.
以往的研究表明，认知需求（NFC），即个体参与并享受认知活动的倾向，对学业成绩有促进作用。因此，大多数关于NFC及相关构念的研究都聚焦于成绩，以衡量高等教育阶段的学业成就。本研究旨在采用更全面的方法来探讨NFC对大学学业成功的意义。我们不仅考察了学业表现，还考察了学业成功中更多与情感相关的指标。当前样本包括396名不同专业的学生，平均年龄24岁（139名男性）。所有参与者都参与了一项在线调查，该调查通过自我报告评估了NFC、学业成绩以及其他人格变量。大学学业成功通过综合考量学业表现、对学业的满意度以及关于放弃/更换专业的想法等指标来衡量。通过相关分析和路径分析检验了NFC在预测高等教育学业成功方面的价值。NFC与所有成功变量均显著相关，其中与学习满意度的相关性最高。路径分析证实了NFC对学习满意度的重要性，表明NFC对学习满意度有显著的直接影响，并且通过该变量对终止学业的想法也有显著的间接影响。本研究清楚地表明，NFC广泛有助于掌握学术要求，并且在高等教育背景下加强对NFC的研究是值得的。
