Need for Cognition Scale (Short Form)

NFC-SF

psychologysocial scienceseducationFree for research use

Permission: Free for research use. Free for non-commercial academic research, with no licence fee. Cite the original publication.

An 18-item short form of the Need for Cognition scale measuring an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity.

Items

Response format

5-point Likert scale

Version

1.0

Ready-to-cite methods sentence

Need for cognition was assessed using the 18-item short form of the Need for Cognition Scale (Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984), with nine negatively-worded items reverse-scored. Reliability in the original validation sample of 527 University of Iowa students was high (theta = .90, a maximized coefficient alpha; Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984).

Citing this in a methods section? See the APA 7 guide (Author–date citations for psychology and the social sciences). Or compare all six citation styles.

Use NFC-SF in Folio Surveyor

Add it to a study with the full items, scoring, and analysis built in.

Open Surveyor

Save NFC-SF Cite NFC-SF in a new doc

Reliability & validation

Notes

Cacioppo, Petty, and Kao (1984) reported a theta coefficient (a maximized Cronbach's alpha) of .90 for the 18-item form in 527 University of Iowa students.

Validation population

527 University of Iowa students (Cacioppo, Petty, & Kao, 1984)

Cronbach's α

0.9

Response anchors

Strongly disagree · Disagree · Neither agree nor disagree · Agree · Strongly agree

Known limitations

Unidimensional measure; subscales are not recommended. The original scale used a −4 to +4 response format, but 1–5 and 1–7 Likert variants are common; report the format used and apply reverse scoring against the response range in use.

Original citation

Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., & Kao, C. F. (1984). The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48(3), 306-307.

https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4803_13

Questions researchers ask

What does the NFC-SF measure?

An 18-item short form of the Need for Cognition scale measuring an individual's tendency to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive activity.

How many items does the NFC-SF have?

The Need for Cognition Scale (Short Form) (NFC-SF) has 18 items.

Is the NFC-SF free to use?

The NFC-SF is free to use for non-commercial academic research. You don't need to pay a license fee, but you should always cite the original publication.

Is the NFC-SF reliable?

Validation studies report Cronbach's α of 0.9. See the reliability section for the population studied and full statistics.

Who developed the NFC-SF, and how do I cite it?

Cacioppo, J. T., Petty, R. E., & Kao, C. F. (1984). The efficient assessment of need for cognition. Journal of Personality Assessment, 48(3), 306-307. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4803_13

Or track new research mentioning NFC-SF as it publishes

Library entry verified September 2026. Metadata is provided for reference; item wording is available inside Folio Surveyor, subject to each instrument's licensing.