Ithaca College

Leigh Ann Vaughn and her students published a paper, Regulatory fit as input for stop rules, in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Professor Vaughn, along with students Sandra Schwartz ('05), Jill Malik ('05), Zhivka Petkova ('06), and Lindsay Trudeau ('06), published the results of their work conducted in the Psychology Department.

The project involved how people decide when to stop pursuing a task.

The effort we put into a task is important to our optimal enjoyment or performance at it. For example, a crossword puzzle that is not interesting probably is not worth doing, and if playing the piano, running, thinking about a new business venture, or any other task-oriented activity is not enjoyable today, perhaps it is best to stop early and try more tomorrow.

If one is trying to meet a performance goal, however, it is important to do as much as it takes to achieve an adequate level of performance in the current situation, whether one’s goal is doing well in a course, getting a good score on the GRE, staying on the track team, or making a profit.

What affects how much effort we put into an activity when we are either task or performance focused? Research suggests that feelings can serve as input for stop rules: decision rules about when to stop working on a task. Enjoyment stop rules promote stopping when a task is no longer enjoyable. Our research suggests that if people have an enjoyment stop rule in mind when working on a task, they will do more if they feel right than if they feel wrong. In that context, feeling right appears to suggest that the task is still enjoyable and it is not time to stop.

By contrast, sufficiency stop rules promote stopping when we have attained an adequate level of performance. Our research suggests that if people have a sufficiency stop rule in mind when working on a task, they will do less if they feel right than if they feel wrong. In that context, feeling right appears to suggest that an adequate performance has been reached and it is time to stop.

In short, although prior research has shown that it is more enjoyable to do things in a way that feels right, our research suggests that there are situations in which one may achieve more by doing things in a way that feels wrong.

Vaughn, L. A., Schwartz, S., Malik, J., Petkova, Z., & Trudeau, L. (2006). Regulatory fit as input for stop rules. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 601-611.