Le besoin de cognition : une échelle française pour enfants et ses conséquences au plan sociocognitif

Abstract

Summary : Need for cognition : A French scale for children and its consequences on a sociocognitive level. This article proposes a French version of the Need for Cognition scale (Cacioppo et Petty, 1982) to be used with children aged 10 to 14. The results of the standard questionnaire validation procedure are presented. It is then explained how the Need for Cognition variable can be integrated into a French context if variables that traditionally interest French researchers are taken into account, notably the norm of internality (Jellison et Green, 1981 ; Beauvois et Dubois, 1988) and normative clairvoyance (Py et Somat, 1991). Several experiments were carried out to test the implications ofthe Need for Cognition in relation to : the evaluation undergone by the subjects, the formation of impression paradigm and the cognitive dissonance paradigm. Key words : need for cognition, french version for children, impression formation, cognitive dissonance.