Relation of ambiguity tolerance to cognitive and affective needs : A cross cultural content analysis

Abstract

Ten Bulgarian and ten French doctoral students in psychology rated each of the 188 items of need for closure, need for structure, need for cognition, need to evaluate, need for precision, intolerance of uncertainty, and need for affect scales. Experts were provided with a written definition of tolerance – intolerance of ambiguity and indicated whether and to what extent these items relate to ambiguity tolerance construct. The strength of items’ relation to ambiguity tolerance (weak, moderate, or strong) was compared across expert groups and across scales. Cases of cross-cultural disagreement in judgements and lack of consensus among experts were examined.