Need for closure and multitasking performance: The role of shifting ability

The aim of the study was to test the role need for closure (NFC) plays in multitasking performance. We predicted that this specific motivation, defined as a tendency to reduce uncertainty and ambiguity via cognitively rigid information processing style, would lead to poorer multitasking performance. However, we expected that NFC is not related to this deficiency when associated with high shifting ability. The results supported these hypotheses as it turned out that NFC was related to poorer accuracy in the main task in the easy condition and poorer accuracy in additional task in the difficult condition. In both cases it was true only for participants low on shifting ability suggesting that high shifting ability might compensate worse performance on multiple tasks related to NFC. Presented study is the first one to test the role of NFC in the multitasking context.