Resting on laurels: The effects of discrete progress markers as subgoals on task performance and preferences.

Abstract

People are especially efficient in processing certain visual stimuli such as human faces or good configurations. It has been suggested that topology and geometry play important roles in configural perception. Visual search is one area in which configurality seems to matter. When either of 2 target features leads to a correct response and the sequence includes trials in which either or both targets are present, the result is a redundant-target paradigm. It is common for such experiments to find faster performance with the double target than with either alone, something that is difficult to explain with ordinary serial models. This redundant-targets study uses figures that can be dissimilar in their topology and geometry and manipulates the stimulus set and the stimulus-response assignments. The authors found that the combination of higher order similarity (e.g., topological) among the features in the stimulus set and response assignment can effectively overpower or facilitate the redundant-target effect, depending on the exact nature of the former characteristics. Several reasonable models of redundant-targets performance are falsified. Parallel models with the potential for channel interactions are supported by the data.Keywords redundant-target effect; similarity; systems factorial technology; configural; topology People detect more quickly, and more accurately, a left parenthesis, when presented within a certain context, "( )," than when presented alone, "(" (Pomerantz, Sager, & Stoever, 1977;Pomerantz et al., 2003). Similarly, people seem to better identify a nose, within the context of a face, than when the nose is presented alone (Tanaka & Farah, 1993, 2003Tanaka & Sengco, 1997). 1 This kind of result is counterintuitive from certain basic perspectives, given that context adds more details to the display and therefore distracts attention and/or increases processing load as well as possibly masking the target. Also, in many such studies context is controlled such that by itself it provides no information with respect to the required response. Nonetheless, people exhibit better performance in the Correspondence concerning this article should be addresses to Ami Eidels, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405. E-mail: aeidels@indiana.edu. Supplemental materials: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/XXXXXXX.supp 1 Salutary effects of context were observed in many other cases, such as the recognition of a letter within the context of a word (Reicher, 1969) or the recognition of a target object preceded by the context of an appropriate scene (Palmer, 1975 presence of certain contexts than with other contexts or with less context. What is so special about these facilitating contexts? What is special about faces and good figures that aids in their processing? According to one view, highly symmetrical (i.e., good) or highly learned (faces) figures are processed as gestalts, that is, as unified wholes (Garner, 1974;Palmer, 1999). Another related v...

The Small-Area Hypothesis: Effects of Progress Monitoring on Goal Adherence

“….05). Participants were more likely to come back with the card that highlighted remaining (vs. accumulated) purchases, possibly because attention to accumulated purchases encourages resting on one's laurels (Amir and Ariely 2008).…”

“…In the course of pursuing their various goals, individuals adjust and direct their efforts on the basis of their perceived progress toward a goal's end state (Amir and Ariely 2008;Bandura and Cervone 1983;Carver and Scheier 1998) and prefer actions they see as more impactful in advancing them toward goal attainment (Brendl and Higgins 1996;Förster et al 1998). Building on the notion that motivation increases as a function of perceived impact of actions, we suggest that the way people monitor progress will influence their motivation.…”

Quantification of Self in Third‐Party‐Administered Wellness Programs: The Impact of Perceived Self‐Empowerment

“…Past research has examined the motivational impact of subgoals and progress markers along the path of a long‐term goal attainment effort (Pervin ; Soman and Shi ). Amir and Ariely () have found that the degree of progress certainty impacts whether such progress markers have a positive or negative impact on motivation. QOS allows for significant subgoal setting and progress marking.…”

The effects of goal progress cues: An implicit theory perspective

“…Similar effects have been recorded for other external representations of progress towards completing a task, such as physical movement (Koo & Fishbach, 2010b). Amir and Ariely (2008) have shown in a video game setting that progress bars that indicate the extent of a task completed impact both task evaluations and performance in that level of the video game. Therefore, we suggest that goal progress cues that represent progress towards completing a task are perceived favorably by entity theorists because for them, explicit representation of progress towards completion serves as a proxy for achievement and provides external validation of their competence.…”