Need for cognitive certainty

Abstract

There are a number of “needs” for human cognition in social psychology. These include need for cognition, need for closure and need for certainty. Need for cognition refers to one’s interests for long rhetorical discussions with people around. For instance, a young theologian would be willing to discuss in an argumentative way on the matter of pre-destiny (qadar) for hours. Need for closure represents one’s inclination to put a clear cognitive boundary between what are familiar, known, committed and believed and what are not. Such inclination does not allow any leak from “outside” into “inside”.