Core self-evaluations as causes of satisfaction: The mediating role of seeking task complexity

This study examined the mediating role of task complexity in the relationship between core self-evaluations (CSE) and satisfaction. In Study 1, eighty three undergraduate business students worked on a strategic decision-making simulation. The simulated environment enabled us to verify the temporal sequence of variables, use an objective measure of task complexity, and control confounding factors. In Study 2, we surveyed 108 full-time employees. In addition to verifying the temporal sequencing of variables in Study 1, both studies demonstrate that people with higher CSE actually choose/seek higher levels of complexity on their tasks, which directly or indirectly increases their task/work satisfaction.     

Étude des stratégies d’adultes présentant un retard mental dans la résolution de la Twenty Questions Task

A Twenty Questions problem solving Task was given to 30 mentally retarded adults, 30 mentally nonretarded adults matched on chronological age, and 12 mentally nonretarded children matched on cognitive efficiency. Four strategies were identified on the basis of a subject-by-subject analysis. Results showed group differences of frequency in the use of the strategies. Moreover, results indicated that the more frequent strategy used by the mentally retarded adults is the one which consists in identifying the categories without using them to efficiently reduce the problem space. The interpretation of the results as reflecting a conceptual deficit or a chronicle cognitive sub-functioning of the mentally retarded adults depicted in the literature is discussed.     

How to explain receptivity to conjunction-fallacy inhibition training: Evidence from the Iowa Gambling Task

Intuitive predictions and judgments under conditions of uncertainty are often mediated by judgment heuristics that sometimes lead to biases. Using the classical conjunction bias example, the present study examines the relationship between receptivity to metacognitive executive training and emotion-based learning ability indexed by Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) performance. After completing a computerised version of the IGT, participants were trained to avoid conjunction bias on a frequency judgment task derived from the works of Tversky and Kahneman. Pre- and post-test performances were assessed via another probability judgment task. Results clearly showed that participants who produced a biased answer despite the experimental training (individual patterns of the biased → biased type) mainly had less emotion-based learning ability in IGT. Better emotion-based learning ability was observed in participants whose response pattern was biased → logical. These findings argue in favour of the capacity of the human mind/brain to overcome reasoning bias when trained under executive programming conditions and as a function of emotional warning sensitivity.     

Task choice and semantic interference in picture naming

Evidence from dual-task performance indicates that speakers prefer not to select simultaneous responses in picture naming and another unrelated task, suggesting a response selection bottleneck in naming. In particular, when participants respond to tones with a manual response and name pictures with superimposed semantically related or unrelated distractor words, semantic interference in naming tends to be constant across stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs) between the tone stimulus and the picture–word stimulus. In the present study, we examine whether semantic interference in picture naming depends on SOA in case of a task choice (naming the picture vs reading the word of a picture–word stimulus) based on tones. This situation requires concurrent processing of the tone stimulus and the picture–word stimulus, but not a manual response to the tones. On each trial, participants either named a picture or read aloud a word depending on the pitch of a tone, which was presented simultaneously with picture–word onset or 350 ms or 1000 ms before picture–word onset. Semantic interference was present with tone pre-exposure, but absent when tone and picture-word stimulus were presented simultaneously. Against the background of the available studies, these results support an account according to which speakers tend to avoid concurrent response selection, but can engage in other types of concurrent processing, such as task choices.     

Social cognitive model of adjustment to engineering majors: Longitudinal test across gender and race/ethnicity

We conducted a longitudinal test of a social cognitive model of academic adjustment in a sample of 732 engineering students. The model, designed to explain students' satisfaction with and intentions to persist in their majors, integrated features of social cognitive career theory's (SCCT) segmental models of satisfaction, interest, choice, and performance (Lent & Brown, 2006; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Students completed measures of academic support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, satisfaction, positive affect, and intended persistence at three time points (at the end of their second, third, and fourth semesters in engineering). A bidirectional version of the model offered good fit to the data, both in the larger sample and across gender and racial/ethnic groups. Self-efficacy was the most reliable direct predictor of academic satisfaction and intended persistence across the third and fourth semesters, though other social cognitive variables also contributed, either directly or indirectly, to predictions at one time point or the other. We consider implications of the findings for further research and practice on academic adjustment and persistence in STEM fields.     

Examining the relationships between self‐efficacy,task‐relevant attentional control,and task performance: Evidence from event‐related brain potentials

Self‐efficacy (SE) is a modifiable psychosocial factor related to individuals’ beliefs in their capabilities to successfully complete courses of action and has been shown to be positively associated with task performance. The authors hypothesized that one means through which SE is related with improved performance is through enhanced task‐relevant attentional control during task execution. To assess this hypothesis, we examined the relationships between SE and behavioural and neural indices of task performance and task‐relevant attentional control for 76 young adults during the completion of a flanker task. Results showed that greater SE was associated with greater response accuracy and P3b amplitude across task conditions, and faster RT under more difficult task conditions. Additionally, P3b amplitude was found to mediate the relationship between SE and task performance in the difficult condition. These findings suggest that greater attentional allocation to task‐relevant processes, including monitoring stimulus‐response relationships and focusing attention on working memory operations, may help explain the association between SE and improved task performance.     

The influence of a reading task on children’s eye movements during reading

In the present study, second graders (n= 23), fourth graders (n= 16), sixth graders (n= 24) and adults (n= 21) read texts adopted from children’s science textbooks either with the task to answer a “why” question presented as the title of the text or for comprehension when their eye movements were recorded. Immediately after reading, readers answered a text memory and an integration question. Second graders showed an effect of questions as increased processing during first-pass reading, whereas older readers showed the effect in later look-backs. For adult readers, questions also facilitated first-pass reading. Text memory or integration question-answering was not influenced by the reading task. The results indicate that questions increase the standards of coherence for text information and that already young readers do modify their reading behaviour according to task demands.     

Ensemble statistics as units of selection

The current study investigated whether attentional mechanisms operate on ensembles as higher-order units for selection. In Experiment 1, we presented sets of circles and asked participants to compare the mean sizes of the sets while concurrently detecting a small probe appearing at a centroid of one of the sets. We found that, both with and even without the task instruction to favour larger mean sizes, people's mean size judgement was more accurate for the sets with larger mean sizes. In addition, detection of the probe appearing in the set with the largest mean size was facilitated by a matching task instruction. However, when the task instruction favoured smaller mean sizes, mean size judgement became more accurate for the sets with smaller mean sizes. These results suggest that attentional selection can be based on ensembles. In Experiment 2, we found further evidence that attention was directed towards the centroid of an ensemble, rather than towards an individual member of the ensemble. Together, these results suggest that attentional modulation can operate at the level of ensembles instead of selecting individuals separately and that the centroid of an ensemble can be the locus of selection based on an ensemble.     

Help or hinder? When recommendation signage expands consideration sets and heightens decision difficulty

This research examines whether recommendation signage helps or hinders the consumer when faced with choosing from large product assortments. In spite of frequent usage and retailer intuition suggesting that providing recommendation signs (e.g., “Best Seller,” “Award Winner”) should help consumers in the choice process, we propose that signs can hinder choice for consumers with more developed preferences by adding to the complexity and difficulty of the decision process. In three experiments using horizontally differentiated products in multiple categories, we provide evidence that recommendation signs create preference conflict for consumers with more developed preferences, leading these consumers to form larger consideration sets and ultimately experience more difficulty from the decision-making process. In addition, we show that these effects are mitigated for consumers with less developed preferences and when the choice is from a small assortment. The results suggest that recommendation signage may not be an effective tool for aiding choice from large assortments; instead signage can exacerbate the difficulties associated with having too many choices, with implications on purchase quantity.