0361-476X/$ - see front matter  2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2004.11.002 Contemporary Educational Psychology 30 (2005) 286–313 www.elsevier.com/locate/cedpsych The eVect of goal instructions and need for cognition on interactive argumentation  E. Michael Nussbaum ¤ Department of Educational Psychology, Box 453003, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-3003, USA Available online 21 January 2005 Abstract This study examines the eVect of goal instructions on students’ reasoning and argumentation in an interactive context (discussing a topic on-line). Goal instructions specify the goal of a discussion. General goals (to persuade or explore) were crossed with speciWc goals (to generate reasons or counterarguments/rebuttals) in a 3 £ 3 randomized design using 224 undergraduates. The design also controlled for need for cognition, which measures dispositions to think. The goal instruction to “generate as many reasons as possible” resulted in deeper, more contingent arguments, closer to Mercer’s (1996) notion of exploratory talk, whereas the persuade goal resulted in arguments that were more adversarial and somewhat better supported. The other goals had less dramatic eVects. Need for cognition also predicted total argument claims and depth. These Wndings have important implications for building richer interactive discussions that promote the integration of ideas.  2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Argument; Computer mediated communication; Critical thinking; Discussion groups; Goals; Group discussion; Internet; Need for cognition; Persuasive discourse; Web-based instruction  The author would like to thank Tina Jacobson for providing invaluable assistance with data collec- tion, scoring, and data interpretation, and also Charles Prindiville for assisting with scoring. CarolAnne Kardash and Gregg Schraw also provided helpful input and advice. Gale Sinatra, Peggy Perkins, and Matt McCrudden graciously provided access to their students for research purposes. The research was support- ed by a grant from the OYce of Research, University of Nevada, LasVegas. ¤ Fax: +1 702 895 1658. E-mail address: nussbaum@unlv.nevada.edu.