Opening the Closed Mind: The Effect of Exposure to Literature on the Need for Closure

TLDR

The need for cognitive closure is linked to suboptimal information processing, reducing creativity and rationality. The study tested whether exposure to fictional short stories, versus nonfiction essays, reduces need for cognitive closure. One hundred participants read either an essay or a short story matched for length, difficulty, and interest, then their need for closure was measured. Participants who read short stories showed a significant decrease in self‑reported need for closure, especially among habitual readers, suggesting fiction may improve information‑processing and creativity. Funding was provided by the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, and some participants did not complete the manipulation, reducing effective sample sizes.

Abstract

Abstract The need for cognitive closure has been found to be associated with a variety of suboptimal information processing strategies, leading to decreased creativity and rationality. This experiment tested the hypothesis that exposure to fictional short stories, as compared with exposure to nonfictional essays, will reduce need for cognitive closure. One hundred participants were assigned to read either an essay or a short story (out of a set of 8 essays and 8 short stories matched for length, reading difficulty, and interest). After reading, their need for cognitive closure was assessed. As hypothesized, when compared to participants in the essay condition, participants in the short story condition experienced a significant decrease in self-reported need for cognitive closure. The effect was particularly strong for participants who were habitual readers (of either fiction or non-fiction). These findings suggest that reading fictional literature could lead to better procedures of processing information generally, including those of creativity. Acknowledgments We thank the Desautels Centre for Integrative Thinking, Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, for funding the research presented in this article. Notes 1Please note that effective sample sizes in statistical analyses were smaller because some of the participants did not successfully complete the experimental manipulation (reading of the text).