Introduction.
University students increasingly rely on smartphones in academic settings, using them both as tools for learning enhancement and as substitutes for cognitive effort. However, the psychological factors shaping these patterns remain underexplored. Cognitive style, coping strategies, and dispositional optimism may influence whether students use smartphones as supports for learning or as replacements for mental processing.
Purpose.
This study aimed to investigate how cognitive style (analytical vs. intuitive thinking) relates to two types of smartphone use—enhancement and substitution—and to examine whether coping strategies mediate, and optimism moderates, these relationships.
Method.
A total of 160 participants (80% female; M age = 37.49) took part in the study, most of whom were working students enrolled in undergraduate programs. Smartphone use was measured through two self-developed scales assessing enhancement (organizational and learning support) and substitution (delegating cognitive tasks). Analytical thinking was assessed using the Cognitive Reflection Test (Frederick, 2005), coping strategies were measured through problem-oriented and avoidance-oriented subscales, and optimism through the Life Orientation Test-Revised (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994). Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics, ANOVA, Pearson correlations, multiple regression, mediation analyses following Baron and Kenny's procedure, and moderation analyses with interaction terms.
Results.
The hypothesis that analytical thinking would predict enhancement use and academic performance (H1) was not supported. Avoidance-oriented coping significantly predicted substitutive smartphone use (β = .215, p = .006), partially mediating the weak relationship between cognitive style and smartphone use. Analytical thinking showed a small negative association with avoidance coping (b = -.154). Optimism marginally moderated the link between avoidance coping and substitutive smartphone use (p = .066), buffering the tendency to rely on smartphones as cognitive substitutes. No moderation emerged for enhancement use.
Conclusions.
Findings suggest that avoidance coping fosters substitutive smartphone use, while optimism mitigates this tendency. Promoting adaptive coping and reflective thinking may help students engage with smartphones as learning aids rather than cognitive replacements.