People frequently underestimate how long it will take them to complete a task. The prevailing view is that during the prediction process, people incorrectly use their memories of how long similar tasks have taken in the past because they take an overly optimistic outlook. A variety of evidence is reviewed in this article that points to a different, although not mutually exclusive, explanation: People base predictions of future duration on their memories of how long past events have taken, but these memories are systematic underestimates of past duration. People appear to underestimate future event duration because they underestimate past event duration.

The data suggest that listening to music may serve to improve cardiovascular recovery from stress, although not all music selections are effective.

The Types of Intuition Scale (TIntS) measures three types of intuition identified in a literature review by Pretz and Totz (2007): holistic, inferential, and affective. Holistic intuitions integrate diverse sources of information in a Gestalt‐like, non‐analytical manner; inferential intuitions are based on previously analytical processes that have become automatic; and affective intuitions are based on feelings. Current intuition measures inadequately assess these distinct types. We report four validity studies: Study 1 reports the reliability and factor structure of the TIntS and correlations with extant intuition and personality measures. Study 2 presents a confirmatory factor analysis. Studies 3 and 4 examine the predictive validity of the TIntS with respect to clinical decision making in occupational therapy and musical performance. Scales were internally consistent and stable over time, and factor analyses supported the predicted distinctions among them. Correlations with existing measures of intuition, personality, and behavior showed that the TIntS is unique in its assessment of all three types of intuition in one measure. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

It often takes people longer than planned to finish tasks. Even though people are aware that their estimates have come up short in the past, they continue to underestimate the duration of future projects. Studies have shown underestimation for such tasks as writing papers, performing everyday and school tasks, completing a computer assignment (Buehler, Griffin, & Ross, 1994;Connolly & Dean, 1997;Griffin & Buehler, 1999;Koole & Spijker, 2000;Newby-Clark, Ross, Buehler, Koehler, & Griffin, 2000;Taylor, Pham, Rivkin, & Armor, 1998), building a computer stand (Byram, 1997), doing a spell check task (Francis-Smythe & Robertson, 1999), completing tax forms (Buehler, Griffin, & MacDonald, 1997), finishing Christmas shopping (Buehler & Griffin, 2003), completing Web development projects (Moløkken & Jørgensen, 2005), programming software (Jørgensen & Sjøberg, 2001), reading a manuscript (Josephs & Hahn, 1995), and waiting in line for gas (Konecni & Ebbesen, 1976).In the business world, underestimation of task duration has numerous negative consequences: missed deadlines, budget overruns, terminated contracts, and loss of business. These negative effects of task underestimation may be quite large in the multimillion dollar software design business (Connolly & Dean, 1997).The memory bias account (Roy, Christenfeld, & McKenzie, 2005) supplies a possible explanation for this tendency to underestimate future duration: Our memories for past durations are incorrect, causing corresponding errors in prediction. People remember past task durations as being shorter than they actually were, and therefore, when they consult them to predict the next task, they underestimate how long that task will take.Memories of past task durations will generally be based on estimates, rather than on actual measured durations, since it is rare that people know the exact beginning and ending times of tasks, especially when the task is completed over a number of different sessions. Studies of software development companies have shown that the people in charge of predicting how long projects will take rarely know the actual duration for previous, similar projects (Jørgensen & Sjøberg, 2001;Moløkken & Jørgensen, 2005). Furthermore, research has indicated that there is a tendency to underestimate task duration retrospectively (for reviews, see Block & Zakay, 1997;Fraisse, 1963;Poynter, 1989;Wallace & Rabin, 1960). If people rely on estimations and estimations tend to be short, predictions are likely to underestimate actual durations.It is unlikely that when people predict future duration, they recall every past instance of similar tasks and estimate the duration for each. At times, people may recall the duration of a specific instance, but they may also call upon a more general representation that they have for that task that is based on past experience. This past experience could be one of performing the task directly or observing others. A prediction then could be made by adjusting this general representation of duration for a task up or down on the ba...

In the present study we examined how different aspects of a person's life, such as the amount of stress experienced, levels of optimism, and the amount of musical training received, were related to their motives for listening to music (for emotional regulation and/or for cognitive stimulation) and their preferences for what types of music to listen to. Participants (N = 154) completed surveys measuring stress, optimism, music uses, and music preferences. Results indicate that high stress ratings predicted the use of music for emotional regulation. Additionally, optimistic individuals also tended to use music emotionally, meaning that stress and optimism, though highly negatively correlated, appear to influence uses of music independently. People with more music training followed a different pattern; even though they had higher stress ratings and lower optimism ratings overall, individuals with music training tended to listen to music for cognitive reasons more than for emotional regulation. These findings help us further understand the variables that lead to individual differences in music uses and preferences.