Ewa Szumowska

Motivation to comply with task rules and multitasking performance: The role of need for cognitive closure and goal importance

In three studies, we examined the role task rules play in multitasking performance. We postulated that rules should be especially important for individuals highly motivated to have structure and clear answers, i.e., those high on need for cognitive closure (NFC). High NFC should thus be related to greater compliance with task rules. Specifically, given high goal importance, NFC should be more strongly related to a multitasking strategy when multitasking is imposed by the rules, and to a mono-tasking strategy when monotasking is imposed by the rules. This should translate into better multitasking or mono-tasking performance, depending on condition. Overall, the results were supportive as NFC was related to a more mono-tasking strategy in the mono-tasking condition (Studies 1 and 2 only) and more dual-tasking strategy in the dual-tasking condition (Studies 1–3). This translated into respective differences in performance. The effects were significant only when goal importance was high (Study 1) and held when cognitive ability was controlled for (Study 2).

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going”: Motivation towards closure and effort investment in the performance of cognitive tasks

Previous studies have demonstrated that the need for closure (NFC), which refers to an individual’s aversion toward uncertainty and the desire to quickly reduce it, leads to reluctance to invest effort in judgments and decision making. However, we argue that NFC may lead to either an increase or a decrease in effort depending on the availability of easy vs. difficult means to achieve closure and perceived importance of the task goal. We found that when closure could be achieved via both less and more demanding means, NFC was associated with decreased effort unless the task was perceived as important (Study 1). However, when attaining closure was possible via demanding means only, NFC was associated with increased effort, regardless of the task importance (Study 2). Moreover, NFC was related to choosing a more instrumental strategy for the goal of closure, even if this strategy required effort (Study 3). The results are discussed in the light of cognitive energetics theory.

When frequent media multitaskers perform worse and when they do not: The role of self-regulation ability and strategy manipulation

Ophir, Nass and Wagner (2009) showed that as multitasking frequency increases, multitasking performance decreases. Other studies, however, have not replicated this effect (e.g., Minear, Brasher, McCurdy, Lewis & Younggren, 2013). In this paper, we argue that the association between frequent media multitasking and poor multitasking performance depends on self-regulation ability and external factors, such as manipulation of the task execution strategy (sequential vs. free switching). In Study 1, we determined participants media multitasking frequency and measured their self-regulation ability. Then, participants performed a multiple media task in which they could freely switch between browser tabs. The results showed that high media multitasking levels were associated with more switches between tabs but only for participants with low (but not high) self-regulation ability. No differences in performance were observed. In Study 2, instead of measuring self-regulation ability, we manipulated task execution strategy (as an external form of regulation). As predicted, media multitasking frequency and performance on multiple tasks (overall score) were negatively related only in the free switching condition and not in the sequential condition. The results elucidate the relationship between media multitasking frequency and multitasking performance by showing its boundary conditions, and they help explain contradictory findings in the media multitasking literature. Frequent media multitasking is not always related to poor multitasking performance.The relationship depends on self-regulation ability and external factors.High media multitaskers, when low on self-regulation ability, task-switched more.They exhibited poorer multitasking performance when they could freely task-switch.The effect was non-significant when tasks were performed sequentially.

Multifaceted effects of need for cognitive closure on effort : a cardiovascular response study

Need for Closure (NFC) refers to an individual’s aversion to uncertainty and desire to quickly resolve it. Although numerous studies have demonstrated that this need leads to a reluctance to invest effort in judgments and decision making, we argue that NFC may be associated with less or more effort investment depending on key features of the performance situation and instrumentality of effort for achieving closure. Specifically, we expect that high (vs. low) NFC individuals should exert less effort when both low- and high-effort performance options are available and both afford closure. By contrast, they should exert more effort when task-related uncertainty causes that only effortful means are instrumental for the goal of achieving closure. If only a high-performance option allows the task goal to be attained and instructions how to perform a task are clear and specific, there will be no differences between high and low NFC participants. We tested these hypotheses in an experiment framed in terms of Motivational Intensity Theory. The experiment asked participants to solve cognitive tasks under relevant performance circumstances, indexing effort through assessment of systolic blood pressure (SBP) responses. Results were supportive. They help to account for contradictory findings in the NFC literature and add substantively to the broader literature concerned with determinants and cardiovascular correlates of effort.

Disparate roads to certainty processing strategy choices under need for closure

ABSTRACT This paper describes a programme of research addressing an intriguing inconsistency in research findings about cognitive processes under a high need for cognitive closure (NFC). While early studies demonstrated that individuals who seek closure opt for closed-minded cognitive strategies, a growing body of research has identified a number of circumstances in which individuals who are high in NFC engage in effortful, open-minded information processing to an even greater extent than their low NFC counterparts. This has posed the challenge of delineating the circumstances under which people motivated to reduce uncertainty (i.e., attain closure) engage in effortful and open-minded cognition from those situations in which they rely on simplistic, low-effort strategies. This also calls for theoretical advancement in NFC theory. We discuss our proposed solution to this puzzle and the implications of this model for real-world social phenomena.