Kwestionariusz Potrzeby Poznania: Construction and empirical verification of the scale measuring cognitive motivation

The study addresses the question of links between narcissism and position in proximate social groups, defined as approval, popularity (positive, negative and overall) and centrality. Four studies were conducted to create a Polish adaptation of the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo i Petty, 1982) - a scale measuring need for cognition, defined as a tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive tasks. Kwestionariusz Potrzeby Poznania (KPP) was constructed as an experimental tool - designed to use in experimental studies to effectively control the need for cognition in a population in which its average level is elevated, i.e. in students. A single-factor structure was shown by confirmatory factorial analysis carried out on data from two different samples (Study 1b and 1c). Further studies confirmed the reliability (Study 2) and the validity of KPP. Specifically, students scored lower on KPP than academic workers. Moreover, there was a positive relation between need for cognition and openness, conscientiousness, and decisiveness. A negative relation with close-mindedness and no relation with social desirability were also observed (Study 3). Most importantly, Study 4 showed that the constructed scale is effective in predicting behaviour in an anagram solving task (average time spent solving the task), based on the KPP score. peerReviewed publishedVersion