Closure or need for closure is a popular psychology term used to describe an individual's desire for a definite cognitive closure as opposed to enduring ambiguity. It is a need usually provoked after experiencing an emotional conclusion to a traumatic life event, such as the breakdown of a close interpersonal relationship or the death of loved one.
The term became popular in the 1990s due to its use in the popular media. The term cognitive closure has been defined as "a desire for definite knowledge on some issue and the eschewal of confusion and ambiguity."[1] Need for closure is a phrase used by psychologists to describe an individual’s desire for a firm solution as opposed to enduring ambiguity.
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The need for closure varies across individuals, situations, and cultures. A person with a high need for closure prefers order and predictability, is decisive and closed-minded, and is uncomfortable with ambiguity.[2] Someone rating low on need for closure will express more ideational fluidity and emit more creative acts.[3]
The Need for Closure Scale (NFCS) was developed by Arie Kruglanski, Donna Webster, and Adena Klem in 1993. Items on the scale include statements such as “I think that having clear rules and order at work is essential to success.” and “I do not like situations that are uncertain”. Items such as “Even after I’ve made up my mind about something, I am always eager to consider a different opinion.” and “I like to have friends who are unpredictable” are reverse scored.[4] Composed of 42 items, the scale has been used in numerous research studies and has been translated into multiple languages. In 2007, Roets and Van Hiel revised the scale, their objective being to resolve some psychometric problems, and thus to make of it a stable, one-dimensional metric.[5]
The Need for Closure Scale exhibits low to moderate association with the following: “authoritarianism, intolerance of ambiguity, dogmatism, need for cognition, cognitive complexity, impulsivity, need for structure, and fear of invalidity, while retaining considerable distinctiveness from those various constructs”.[6] It does not appear to be related to intelligence level nor to social-desirability concerns.
Individuals scoring high on the NFCS are correspondingly more likely to attempt to draw closure at the earliest perceived opportunity, relying on incipient cues, and the first-encountered apparent fit.[3] The need for closure is also said to predispose a very narrow or shallow information search, along with a higher tendency to use cognitive heuristics, when seeking solutions. (Van Hiel and Mervielde, 2003)
In studies on creativity, those individuals with low need-for-closure ratings had inversely higher scores in creativity. They more frequently produced novel solutions that motivated and inspired others in their groups, and the outcomes of the projects in which they participated were rated as correspondingly more productive.[3]
Some researchers have reached the conclusion that a desire for simple structure is what underlies (need for) cognitive closure.[7] Others predict that stressors such as time pressure lead to a tendency to stick with a given strategy because of a heightened personal need for closure.[1]
The term may also be applied to the supposed collective psyche of a society. It rose to worldwide prominence in this sense when calls to achieve 'closure' were used to curtail the process of recounting votes in the United States presidential election, 2000.