Time of Semester as a Factor in Participants’ Obedience to Instructions to Perform an Aversive Task

Navarick, Douglas J.; Bellone, John A.

doi:10.1007/bf03395696

Cited by 22 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…However, the initial data were collected in the last 3 weeks of the fall semester and the second data collection was early, the following spring semester. Research has found participants at the end of a semester perform more poorly on repetitive and aversive tasks (Navarick & Bellone, 2010); tend to be higher in impulsivity, sensation seeking, neuroticism, and need for power (Zelenski, Rusting, & Larsen, 2003); and tend to be in an ego-depleted state that impairs their engagement in effortful, regulated processing (Casa de Calvo & Reich, 2007). So while collecting the corrected control group we also collected 18 experimental group participants who replaced randomly selected participants from the fall.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of an Ego Depletion Manipulation on Performance-Based and Self-Report Assessment Measures

2016

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We investigated the impact of ego depletion on selected Rorschach cognitive processing variables and self-reported affect states. Research indicates acts of effortful self-regulation transiently deplete a finite pool of cognitive resources, impairing performance on subsequent tasks requiring self-regulation. We predicted that relative to controls, ego-depleted participants' Rorschach protocols would have more spontaneous reactivity to color, less cognitive sophistication, and more frequent logical lapses in visualization, whereas self-reports would reflect greater fatigue and less attentiveness. The hypotheses were partially supported; despite a surprising absence of self-reported differences, ego-depleted participants had Rorschach protocols with lower scores on two variables indicative of sophisticated combinatory thinking, as well as higher levels of color receptivity; they also had lower scores on a composite variable computed across all hypothesized markers of complexity. In addition, self-reported achievement striving moderated the effect of the experimental manipulation on color receptivity, and in the Depletion condition it was associated with greater attentiveness to the tasks, more color reactivity, and less global synthetic processing. Results are discussed with an emphasis on the response process, methodological limitations and strengths, implications for calculating refined Rorschach scores, and the value of using multiple methods in research and experimental paradigms to validate assessment measures.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Impact of an Ego Depletion Manipulation on Performance-Based and Self-Report Assessment Measures

2016

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“…In terms of task performance, early participants attempt more items on symbol substitution tasks (Richter et al, 1981), scan more items in a digit scanning task (Richert & Ward, 1976), and spend more time completing difficult items on an anagram task (Hom, 1987). Participants who sign up late in semester are also more likely to withdraw from an aversive task, when given the chance, than those who sign up early (Navarick & Bellone, 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The locus could be internal-related to the inherent quality of the participant, or externalrelated to environmental pressures. To give an example: A participant who engages in a study late in semester may perform poorly on a task (Hom, 1987) or withdraw (Navarick & Bellone, 2010) because of an inherent lack of motivation or external pressures such as looming essays and exams. Support for the internal account comes from research showing differences between early and late participants in personality traits such as personal structure (Roman, Moskowitz, Stein, & Eisenberg, 1995) and compliance (Aviv, Zelenski, Rallo, & Larsen, 2002).…”

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confidence: 99%

Some participants may be better than others: Sustained attention and motivation are higher early in semester

Nicholls

Loveless

Loetscher

et al. 2015

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology

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Many studies use multiexperiment designs where experiments are carried out at different times of semester. When comparing between experiments, the data may be confounded by between-participants effects related to motivation. Research indicates that course-credit participants who engage in research early in semester have different personality and performance characteristics compared to those tested late in semester. This study examined whether the semester effect is caused by internal (inherent motivation of the participant) or external (looming exams, essays) factors. To do this, sustained attention and intrinsic/extrinsic motivation was measured in groups of course-credit (n = 40) and paid (n = 40) participants early and late in semester. While there was no difference in sustained attention between the groups early in semester, the course-credit group performed significantly worse late in semester. The course-credit group also showed a significant decrease in intrinsic motivation with time whereas the paid participants showed no change. Because changes were not seen for both groups, the semester difference cannot be due to external factors. Instead, the data demonstrate that course-credit participants who engage early have high sustained attention and intrinsic motivation compared to their late counterparts, who leave their participation to the last minute. Researchers who use multiexperimental designs across semester need to control for these effects--perhaps by using paid participants who do not vary across semester.

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“…Third, because the present study isolated the effects of pain, the potential influence of salient psychosocial variables (e.g., anxiety, depression, fatigue, hope, and social support) that could impact performance was not measured. Research shows that college students high in hope are more tolerant of pain than their less hopeful peers (Snyder et al, 2005), and students who volunteer early in the school year have higher hope levels than students who volunteer late in the semester (Navarick & Bellone, 2010). However, presumably, effects of the construct of hope would be randomly distributed across both the control group and pain group, such that observed differences between the two groups would be attributable to effects of pain rather than differences in level of hope.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 89%

The Effects of Cold Pressor-Induced Pain on PASAT Performance

Tapscott

Etherton

2014

Applied Neuropsychology: Adult

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Although clinicians have frequently observed that patients with chronic pain experience cognitive deficits related to memory and concentration, research on these deficits is equivocal, with some studies showing significant impairment and others suggesting minimal deficits. As such, the present study sought to examine the relationship between laboratory-induced pain and performance on the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) using a mixed factorial design. Seventy-two nonclinical volunteers were randomly assigned to a pain group, who took the PASAT while experiencing cold pressor-induced pain, or a control group, who took the PASAT while experiencing painless room-temperature water immersion. To account for practice effects, all participants were administered 1 practice trial and 3 standard trials of the PASAT, with the final trial administered in cold pressor-induced pain or painless water immersion. The results revealed a significant interaction between condition and PASAT performance, F(1, 64) = 23.63, p < .001, partial η(2) = .27. The control group increased performance by 6 items while the pain group showed no such improvement. The results suggest that because the pain group did not demonstrate the same practice effects relative to the control group, their performance was impaired by cold pressor-induced pain. However, the impairment was relatively mild (about 0.5 standard deviation) and did not occur in all participants.

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Time of Semester as a Factor in Participants’ Obedience to Instructions to Perform an Aversive Task

Cited by 22 publications

References 18 publications

The Impact of an Ego Depletion Manipulation on Performance-Based and Self-Report Assessment Measures

The Impact of an Ego Depletion Manipulation on Performance-Based and Self-Report Assessment Measures

Some participants may be better than others: Sustained attention and motivation are higher early in semester

The Effects of Cold Pressor-Induced Pain on PASAT Performance

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