Think your way to happiness? Investigating the role of need for cognition in well-being through a three-level meta-analytic approach

• Main Authors: LUA, Verity Y. Q., OOI, Wei Ming, SITI A'ISYAH BINTE MOHD NAJIB, TAN, Christine Yin Ting, MAJEED, Nadyanna M., LEUNG, Angela K. Y., HARTANTO, Andree
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2023
• Subjects: Meta-analysis; Need for cognition; Well-being; Ill-being; Cognition and Perception; Social Psychology
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3864; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/5122/viewcontent/ThinkYourWayHappiness_av.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

While the extent to which individuals engage in and enjoy cognitive abilities, commonly known as need for cognition (NFC), has been suggested to promote adaptive behaviors associated with well-being, there has not been a systematic examination of the strength of the relationship between NFC and well-being. This meta-analysis sought to examine the association between NFC and well-being. Based on 108 effect sizes extracted from 52 samples (50 records), a small to medium positive relationship (r = .20, 95% CI [.16, .23], p r|s = [.07, .45]). Exploratory moderation analyses showed that age moderated the relationship between NFC and well-being, whereby the positive relationship was stronger in younger samples. The gender proportion of the sample also moderated the relationship between NFC and well-being for certain specific measures of well-being, whereby the positive relationship between NFC and well-being was stronger among females.