Who Cares More about Ambiguity? Gender Differences in the Need for Structure and the Need for Cognitive Closure

Abstract

The need for cognitive closure is a tendency to having a clear and unquestionable knowledgeof a particular subject, through which individual can reduce uncertainty, formulate judgement andtake action. The need for structure is a tendency to structure and organize the environment. Theaim of the study was to identify gender differences in both of these motivational constructs. Contrary to the hypotheses, with respect to the total score of both the scale examining the need forcognitive closure and the scale of the need for structure, results were obtained indicating thatwomen were characterized by a higher level of these types of epistemic motivations in comparisonto men.