This study examined the relationship between the need for cognition, defined as the tendency to engage in effortful cognitive activity, and metacognition which is one's thinking about thinking and how these variables relate to intellectual task performance. Participants completed measures of need for cognition, metacognition, and problem-solved GRE analytical items. There was a significant correlation between the need for cognition and metacognition. However, only the need for cognition was a significant predictor of intellectual task performance. (Contains 1 table.)