Abstract

The purpose of these studies are to develop Korean version of Need for Cognition Scale. In a pilot study, 57 items were prepared as an item pool. Item generation procedure was not based on translation of Need for Cognition Scale items(Cacioppo & Petty, 1984) but based only on the original concept of Need for Cognition. 25 items were retained after the two studies(pilot and study 1) had been finished. Those criteria for item selection were item-total correlation, mean difference of high-low groups(classified by total score), and internal consistency. The sample of the pilot study was consisted of 273 students from two universities. For study 1, 72 adults and 253 students from 4 universities were tested. 34 items which survived the pilot study were factor analysed and yield one major factor. In study 2, the remaining 25 items scale was administered to 556 respondents(180 adults and 376 university students) to validate the factor structure obtained in study 1, to examine the mean difference between students and adults and between sex(male and female), and to determine whether the scale tapped a construct distinct from social desirability and good impression. The factor structure was replicated in study 2, significant tests were revealed that the mean of students'(male') was more higher than adults'(females'). Where as, the scale score was weakly but significantly related to both social desirability scale and good impression score. Study 3 was prepared to examine whether the scale taken the Korean version of Need for Cognition, and a questionnaire which asked some aspects of consumption behavior. Results indicated that need for cognition was related to the amount of information search behavior and to the time consumption of choice decision. Also the results suggested that the types of information which had more weighted in choice were different by the level of need for cognition. Results form these studies suggested that the scale had an acceptable level of reliability and validity.