Investigating Associations Between Need for Cognition, Subjective Well-Being, and Emotional Competencies

The research project aims to investigate the relationships between Need for Cognition (NFC), Subjective Well-Being and Emotional Competencies. NFC represents a stable personality trait indicating how much individuals enjoy thinking and engaging in cognitive challenges. Subjective Well-Being comprises life satisfaction as well as the experience of positive and negative emotions. Emotional Competencies, as defined by Berking and Znoj (2008), include nine fundamental abilities that enable effective regulation of negative emotions: awareness (1), clarity (2), sensations (3), understanding (4), modification (5), acceptance (6), resilience (7), self-support (8) and readiness to confront (9). Individuals with high NFC tend to engage more actively and reflectively with their environment and approach problems analytically. This promotes adaptive behaviour and may reduce fear of challenges. Consequently, people with higher NFC might be better able to develop and apply adaptive Emotional Competencies, thereby enhancing their Well-Being. Previous research has already shown a correlation between NFC and Well-Being (Lua et al., 2024; Zerna et al., 2024), as well as the mediating roles of emotion regulation strategies (Grass et al., 2018; Hui et al., 2023) and problem-oriented coping (Bye & Pushkar, 2009). Building on these findings, this study examines the relationships between NFC and the various aspects of Subjective Well-Being and focusing especially on the mediating role of Emotional Competencies in this connection.