Abstract
It is a common occurrence in daily life to be interrupted prior to completing a task. Such interruptions may have deleterious effects for limited self-resources, especially if they occur just prior to task completion. This hypothesis was tested in three experiments. In the first two, participants initially engaged in a card sorting task, and then subsequently performed a self-control task. In Experiment 3, participants first engaged in a word search task and then worked on an executive function task. In all instances, participants who were interrupted just prior to attaining their goal of completing the initial task, but not those who were stopped earlier in the task or who were allowed to finish, showed evidence of impairment on the subsequent measures. The findings suggest that the desire to pursue a goal increases as goal attainment draws nearer, and that the amount of self-control needed to stop working on a task is modified by situational variables such as goal distance.
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Notes
Due to the fact that the cards became worn down over time, some participants assigned to the 4 min condition actually completed the task. For the purpose of the analyses, they were included in the completion group. Whereas this is reasonable based on our theory, the data also supports that there were no differences in CPT performance between people who were assigned to be stopped after 4 min but finished early (M = 0.03, SD = 1.40) and those who were initially assigned to the completion group (M = 0.26, SD = 1.29), t(38) = 0.519, p = 0.607. In Experiment 2, steps were taken to ensure that the cards did not wear down, and no participants in the 4 min condition completed the task prior to interruption.
For analysis conducted on the manipulation check questionnaires, the data from one participant was not included because the participant chose not to answer the manipulation check questions.
Two participants inadvertently skipped the manipulation check questions.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by Grant DA015131 provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse to Mark Muraven. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Nicholas Freeman, Department of Psychology, University at Albany, Albany, New York 12222. Electronic mail may be sent to nfreem@gmail.com.
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Freeman, N., Muraven, M. Don’t interrupt me! Task interruption depletes the self’s limited resources. Motiv Emot 34, 230–241 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-010-9169-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-010-9169-6